bekids Reading - Word Games

What is bekids Reading - Word Games app?

The bekids Reading app is full of books produced by the Oxford University Press. Built around those books are additional activities and content to engage and educate kids.

The books have a read, quiz, and play structure.

Kids read the books which are all supported with content read aloud, beautifully drawn pictures, and excellent animation. After the book, comes a quiz to check kids' comprehension or observation. At the end, they get to play with an interactive scene related to the book as a reward.

Alongside each book are the Fantastic Challenges. These have further learning activities linked to the words and content in the preceding book. In these, players arrange letters to spell words, words to complete sentences, match spoken words to written words and more.

What we love about bekids Reading app.

As with the other apps in the bekids family, this one displays top-notch presentation and design. Every menu, loading, and activity screen is beautifully presented with plenty of kid appeal.

As well as looking good, we found the content excellent too. There is a vast amount of entertaining and educational books and activities. The content is from Oxford University Press, an organisation whose reputation should provide reassurance of the quality. The range includes books from the well-known children's author Paul Shipton.

While the bekids Reading app does not explicitly refer to any particular phonics approach, what kids learn using it will mesh with most learn-to-read methods their schools use. The pronunciations of each phoneme match good practices.

As you'll see later in this review of bekids Reading, you can buy the app outright rather than subscribing; this is a very welcome option. Whether you choose to subscribe or buy, depending on your circumstances and needs, it is far better to have the choice.

The up-front cost might feel high relative to the monthly fee, but you'll start saving money after just seven months. In addition, you'll have more control over your app budget and have the app available to pass on to any younger kids.

What skills does it teach?

bekids Reading helps build early reading skills. It has activities which focus on word, sentence and text-level literacy skills. Quizzes work to grow comprehension and extract meaning from text.

Many of the books contain messages about responsibility and include social-emotional aspects.

What age is it appropriate for?

The content within this app will suit preschool kids and perhaps those a little older. The upper age suitability is likely to be five or six, depending on how well each kid's literacy develops.

Is bekids Reading app easy to use?

The main menu screen of bekids Reading is simple to understand, even for young kids. The books and their activities appear along the bottom of the screen, and kids swipe and tap to browse and select them. The books are locked until kids read the preceding titles to ensure they progress logically.

The game and navigation elements are all well-sized relative to the device screen. The books' text size is not adjustable by the users but will be fine for most readers.

How will students benefit?

The bekids Reading app is a great way to help kids carry on practising and learning literacy skills when their parents aren't free to help them. The reading material is accessible and levelled appropriately, while the accompanying animated pictures provide helpful context and visual appeal.

By default, the books autoplay, reading out their content, animating the scenes and then turning the page to the next. However, you can toggle this to manual if your kids want longer to appreciate each page. A helpful finger icon reminds them that another page awaits once they swipe.

The associated activities strike a balance between being fun enough to make kids want to play them and providing educational benefits. Knowing they'll have to answer a quiz will keep the reader's attention focussed, and the other activities reinforce understanding in an entertaining way.

When kids can practice independently, shared reading time with their parents becomes a time of praise and encouragement as they show how fluent their reading has become and the new words they have learned.

How will parents benefit?

One of the strengths of educational apps is their ability to suit different circumstances. Parents naturally want to spend time with their kids, supporting them as they learn but work, family responsibilities, and more have their demands too.

The bekids Reading app is not a replacement for the time kids should spend reading with parents, but it supports them when parents cannot help. This makes the app more than a digital babysitter.

Kids will be able to access books that have something new to teach them. The app will provide support compatible with what kids should know. For example, we were pleased to see that the app pronounces letter sounds in line with how phonics works.

For example, some people (and apps) over-embellish letter sounds by adding an extra component. They might say 'suh' instead of 'sss' for the sound of the letter S. This is unhelpful for kids as the embellished sounds do not appear in words.

The bekids Reading app will give parents a guilt-free and educational activity they can make available for their kids when they need to get on with other tasks.

How will teachers benefit?

The content in bekids makes it most suitable for preschool learners, although its upper levels overlap with the expected reading levels of the first year or two of school. Bought as an outright purchase, rather than a subscription, bekids Reading could be a cost-effective way for schools to help kids with delayed literacy skills.

How much does bekids Reading app cost?

You can access two books and their associated activities as soon as you download the app without registering or subscribing.

There are two ways to get your kids full access to the activities and books within bekids Reading: purchase and subscription.

You can purchase the app with all nine levels or as an essentials pack with levels one to three. You can upgrade to the complete set of levels later, but it will cost more than if you buy them at the start.

Alternatively, you can subscribe monthly. A subscription will cost as much as the outright purchase in ten months, so determine if your kids will get long-term use from the app. Also, factor in that younger siblings might use the app in future if you buy it.

Once your subscription is active, your kids can access all of the app's features and content.

Is bekids Reading app safe to use?

There are no advertisements shown in bekids Reading before or after you register or in any of the paid-for options.

The books within bekids Reading are from Oxford University Press and contain themes, images, and content suitable for young kids.

The app's parental section is behind a parental lock that asks for your birth year. Here, parents can view their kid's progress, choose languages, and clear the app's downloaded content to free up space on the device without uninstalling it.

What can bekids Reading app improve on?

We'd have liked a supported reading mode where the speech in their app is silenced to allow parents to read the stories with their kids. A simple toggle behind the parental lock would prevent kids from accidentally activating it while letting parents get a different method of use from their purchase.

We'd like to see a few more accessibility options. The text in the books will be fine for most but options to increase the size, change the font, or adjust the background colour of the speech bubbles might help some kids.

Overall rating of the app.

We've awarded the bekids Reading app five stars. The whole experience of the app is difficult to fault. The learning material is excellent, the presentation exquisite, and the value superb. Download the app and try the free content with your kids to see if they agree it is a great way to build and consolidate their literacy skills.