The Critical Thinking Co. #hsreviews

We get lots of reviews through the TOS Crew, but most of them are geared towards the older children.  Lately we’ve been using Alphabet Song Game from The Critical Thinking Co.  It’s geared towards toddlers through grade one.  That being the case, the youngest three have really been liking it!  Did I mention this particular game is a free download now(at time of posting)?

My youngest are 4 years old, 4 years old, and 21 months old.  They have loved using this Windows download software.  Super easy to download and install.  I made sure it downloaded with an icon on my desktop so I didn’t have to go searching for it as well.  

Ready to learn some of the basics of the Alphabet Song Game?  Maybe some more about the Critical Thinking Co. too?  So let’s start with the simplest bits!

I was first drawn to The Critical Thinking Co. as a possible review for our family do to learning how it was going to not just teach my children facts, but rather how to think as well.  Having my children learn how to think critically is a wonderful skill for them to learn.  Critical thinking is problem solving.  You’re not just teaching them what to think but empowering them by teaching them how to d the thinking on their own.

Right now The Critical Thinking Co. now offers over 200 titles in reading, math, writing, science, and history.  And, a great number of those are available for free as well.  This company not only wants to empower your children to learn to think for themselves critically but also to make sure all children can afford the software to help them learn.  Sounds like a great plan in my mind!

One of their current free downloads is the Alphabet Song Game which is what we reviewed.

Like I mentioned above, my three youngest girls really have enjoyed this program.  They loved the songs and learning about their letters.  I would recommend you use this with a touch screen device if possible as my little ones were all about trying to poke through my laptop screen at the right answer!  You see you’re supposed to touch(with the mouse on my computer) the correct answer, the letter coming next, the letter they’re saying, etc.  And when your device is not a touch screen, they don’t get the same reward.  I’m a bit slower than them it seems!

Within this program the children learn the letter names, to identify the uppercase and lower case letter shapes that go along with the names, as well as the order of the alphabet through the alphabet song.  You start out with uppercase by default though you can go in and change what lesson and skip straight to lowercase or even to the mixed section.  There are 9 lessons in the uppercase, 9 lessons in the lowercase, and 4 lessons in the mixed area.

When you go through in the default order it goes by lesson starting in the uppercase section.  It will automatically ask you at the end of the lesson if you want to go to the next lesson if you received a 90% or above.  If you didn’t receive that score it will ask you to play again.  My girls loved to redo the lessons(even if they got 100%)!  You can also reset the user.  

Did I just lose you?  Wondering about that reset the user?  Well it simply means that you reset so that it doesn’t show that you’ve done any of the lessons.  This would be wonderful if you’re using this for multiple children and they each want the sense of accomplishment that comes when getting 100% on all the lessons themselves.  Since I was using it with three at once we didn’t need to do this except when we had finished all the lessons and my girls thought that meant they couldn’t do them anymore.  A quick click of a button later and tada they once again had all undone lessons!

There is a spot within the program where I was able to see other offerings that go along with the Alphabet Song Game. I just have to say that my kids cannot wait(or maybe it’s me) until Letter Sounds Songs and Games comes out in June of this year!  Sounds like a great next step up from learning the letter names!  Such fun for the kids and a great way to learn.

While I used this program with my toddler and preschoolers it can be used for up to first grade per the company.  There are areas in the game that are more challenging.  They ask about mirror images and might be beneficial to older students.  My next up in age child is 6 years old and already knows his alphabet as well as is starting to read.  He wasn’t very interested in the program and his sisters didn’t want to share it with him!

Want to read about the other programs available from The Critical Thinking Co.?  Check out the rest of the TOS Crew reviews over on their Main Page to see what the other reviewers thought.   We were all reviewing different programs that are offered by this company.  You can also find The Critical Thinking Co. on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and Pinterest.  We personally cannot wait to try out some other of the programs from this great company!