The Ooka Island Adventure is a downloadable hero-mission in 3D designed to teach young children how to read fluently and well. The Ooka Island Adventure combines the highly engaging components of a state-of-the-art virtual world with the scientifically proven OokaMethod that builds literacy skills.
Carefully embedded within the Ooka Island Adventure are dozens of interactive instructional activities that captivate the child and motivate them as they learn essential pre-reading, reading, spelling, and writing skills. After completing the Ooka Island Adventure, children will be on their way to reading fluently and well for life.
Here is a little trailer video with highlights about the game:
On their journey, they have been learning and reviewing letter sounds and blends, sight words, and working on their reading comprehension. Most of all, they have been having FUN!!
Why we like Ooka Island:
First of all, the graphics and music are wonderful! All three kids have been entertained by how fun it is to watch. Mini Cooper cant play the games, but she has asked more then once to 'play Ooka Island'-AKA, watch others play.
The games are really fun! Mustang and Charger have been taking turns playing the various games, and though they are easier for Mustang then Charger, and they both are able to enjoy the games. Our favorite is a cake decorating game where you are to decorate the cake with the correct letter sound.
I also appreciate that the games are truly educational, not just games that have letters and numbers and *say* they are educational. I think that Ooka Island does a great job of introducing the phonics sounds and blends. I did feel that the sight words are not repeated as much as I would like prior to asking the student to recognize them, but overall they are taught well.
Overall, we really are enjoying the Ooka Island program. It has been a great chance for my children to practice their computer skills in addition to their reading skills. Because of Ooka Island, I am pursuing a computer station just for the kids so that they can spend more time with this and other online games.
The only thing I didnt love was that it is a super large file and took a couple of hours to download. It has also had a few bugs, but I think that is expected with a new software program. The tech support at Ooka Island seems to be working hard to get it up and running smoothly. The Ooka Island support staff is friendly and responds very quickly to questions or issues you may have about the game. Our super hero decided to become invisible shortly after we started our game, and it took just a few hours from when I emailed support to fix our little guy.
Ooka Island is a paid subscription that starts at just $12.95 a month depending on how many students and how long of a subscription you want. I am personally considering extending my subscription so I can certainly say that I think it's worth the money. They offer a 14 day free trial, if you would like to check it out for yourself! And, for a limited time only Ooka Island is offering 30% off a monthly subscription if you use the above code.
If you would like to read more reviews on Ooka Island, check out the TOS Review Crew Blog.
Happy Exploring and God Bless!!
This is an Old Schoolhouse Review. Thank you to the Ooka Island creators for providing my family with a complementary subscription to Ooka Island for the purpose of review. I was not compensated in any other way and the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
We really thought this was a good program, too. Though the bugs bothered us a bit more. We're also considering extending our subscription.
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