Reading Eggs TOS Review

Reading Eggs

Reading Eggs is an online, interactive program designed to help children learn to read while having fun. The program consists of a collection of games to teach phonetic sounds and concepts as well as sight words. There are 120 learn to read games as well as 96 spelling lessons. These 120 lessons are sorted into 12 maps with 10 lessons each. Each lesson focuses on a couple concepts and has the learner practice them in games. Upon completing a game the user has the option to replay that game or continue on to the next. There is also the ability to go back to a previous map. Free activity sheets are also available which correspond to the lessons in each map.

In addition to the lessons students have the opportunity to visit the story factory, music cafe, skills bank, driving tests, puzzle park, general store, and arcade. An area entitled Storylands is coming soon according to the website. These can be accessed through the introductory page when the user first gets on as well as through the sidebar. The side bar has small icons as well as words to reference the varying activities.

While a child is playing on reading eggs, their egg character follows a track through a map and stands on the lesson where they are currently learning.

There is also an assessment test available to help place the student at the correct level of Reading Eggs. The user simply has to answer a series of questions and the program automatically places them at the appropriate level.

This is a sample question from the assessment.



Reading Eggs offers a 14 day free trial so you can try it out and see if it works for your family.

As reading eggs is designed to help children learn to read, the recommended ages are 3 -7. Reading Express is a companion website designed for 7-12 years. Reading Express is designed to help children increase their reading and comprehension skills. Among the features are books to read, comprehension activities, individual and competitive games.

Comprehension gym in Reading Eggspress

An email is periodically sent to the parents registered email detailing their student(s) progress and achievements.

Subscription Information
Monthly Subscription    $9.95
6 Month Subscription  $49.95
12 Month Subscription $75.00
Discount for second child when purchased at same time

Purchase includes full access to Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress. Book Packs which go along with Reading Eggs are also available.



My Thoughts

My 7 year old son started off using Reading Eggs by taking the assessment/ placement test. I was surprised at the results as they were lower than his reading level and I don't believe he made mistakes on the test. As a result he was placed below his level for working through the program. He used it at this level, but the material was review for him.

He did enjoy the games and remarked on several occasions that it was a lot of fun to have games where he did different things. Some of the lessons have similar games, but using new material. I liked the variety of games on Reading Eggs. I believe the diversity helped to keep his interest and encouraged him to play as much as he did.

Reading Eggs  is very easy to navigate due to the use of icons in the sidebar to describe places where the child wants to go as well as the well sized arrows which move in the direction they are pointing. I believe this would help children to focus on where they should be doing next. Having said these things I do find the individual maps to be somewhat cluttered with scenery and extra pictures. Many of these pictures move in some way when the mouse rolls over them as well.

I also liked having activities my son could do while waiting for the next activity. These activities helped to keep him engaged and not lose interest.


The feature I liked the most in Reading Eggs is the Story Factory. After choosing a title users choose pictures and then write a story. My children struggle with writing and this activity helped them to write a simple story. The challenge in Story Factory was choosing pictures for all the pages in the story before writing it. Several times as he wrote his story my son realized the order in which he put the pictures didn't really work for what he was writing. We were not able to find a way to change the pictures without losing his writing.

Overall, Reading Eggs didn't teach my son phonics/ phonetic patterns which he did not already know, but I think it would have been extremely beneficial for him when he was learning to read. He has always enjoyed computer activities and games and I am fairly confident Reading Eggs would have taught and reinforced many concepts for him. Reading Eggs does a superb job helping children have fun while learning many fundamental skills and concepts essential to reading.

Both of my children enjoyed Reading Express tremendously. They liked having the opportunity to read books online. I liked the fact that they were then able to take a comprehension quiz about what they read and it wasn't drudgery for them.

Other members of the TOS Crew had the opportunity to also use Reading Eggs. Visit the Crew Blog to read about other families experiences with Reading Eggs.

Disclaimer: I was given a free limited time subscription to use for the purpose of writing this review.  I have not been compensated in any other manner and all thoughts expressed here are solely my own.