Edurino Mika - Phonic Skills Games, Letters & Sounds, Writing Practice - Fun Educational Toy for Kids 4+ - Includes 1 x Mika Figurine and App Access for Engaging Phonics Learning, Handwriting Practice

We all know screen time should be limited and that is what we practice in our family. However we also live four hours away from family so we do have long journeys and ultimately it is a digital world we live in. So if there are occasions we use screens we at least want to make sure that the activities are age appropriate and safe and for me I like them to be of educational value. Well Edurino ticks all those boxes, my son is four (just started school) and hasn't played any games on screens before and has only ever watched shows so I wasn't sure how he would cope with this. It is simple to use, you open the app ( that you can download on iPads/androids and a fire tablet) you select the character you want to play with and place it on the centre which opens the programme. Then you use their pen to select which game you want to play. They are unlocked in levels as such so you have to complete one game before moving to the next and you complete one bubble before the next. Once you have completed it once then it's free choice. For my son I had to do each game with him a couple of times and then he has been relatively independent. As a parent you can set time limits and you can create different profiles for different children. There is also a parent access area which is password protected. This is a vibe review which means I got the product for free but to use it I went and bought a starter pack directly from the company which has the ergonomically designed pen and another character. This specific character is for phonics and great for reception age kids but there are many others including numbers and coding so would suit multiple ages and grow with the child. A great product.

We already have another Edurino figurine which came as part of a starter kit with the chunky tablet pen/stylus included, which although not strictly necessary is definitely worth having especially for the handwriting games which are part of the ‘Mika’ access. Being able to purchase the figurines alone is great as there is a fair saving to be had over the full starter kit as you build your collection of characters to access more skill areas within the app.The rubber ‘Mika’ figurine is used to unlock the accompanying iOS/Android app, in reality it is this app that you are mostly paying for. In these days of so many free apps - free usually meaning full of adverts and mining all your personal data - it is easy to be put off by such a high price, however you shouldn’t be. The app is very well thought out and clearly developed with the involvement of educational professionals with lots of educational games. Using the figurine to activate the app is quite a fun little addition, although clearly a cunning marketing tactic to get your kids wanting to collect them all. There is of course the downside of adding to the ever difficult balancing act of screen time, although there are at least simple parental settings to restrict usage.Priced at £25 this may seem quite expensive but it does provide a top quality educational tool to help develop literacy skills.

I waited a couple of weeks to see if how my son uses it over time. On the first week, he used it daily, second week maybe 3 times. After that, he hasn’t look back at it.He really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. He would tell me he unlocked a new stage and finished the story. He is 7 years old. I’m aware it is aimed at kids aged 4-8. I did think it would have been a little more challenging. I set the age to 8 rather than 7 in hope the difficulty would increase and challenge my son. Unfortunately it didn’t. My son is generally good at reading and writing. Which is probably why he found it easy. Certainly if he was younger, this would have been perfect for him. As I said, he enjoyed it a lot the first week. But it seemed he was using it to play it as a game rather than to educate himself.The fix toy is a clever design. Especially how you set it up. You place it on the iPad screen and recognises which set you purchase. The app is easy to use and set up. You can create different profiles and set their age. You do need to buy a pen to get the full experience of this. But you can get away with using your finger. Kind of defeats the purpose.

My kid already has this game on his iPad and he uses these Edurino characters for some time now.The games that come with this Fox Edurino character are very interesting and educational for my kid.The toy is very easy to use for my 4 years old kid and he can turn on the game with the toy without any help.Overall I am very happy with these games as they are very useful for my kid and I highly recommend it.Hopefully my review was Helpful for you.

First of all - the app. The app is easy to find in the relevant store and quick to download and set up. It walks you through all the stages and even lets your child create an avatar which is lots of fun for them and gives them a sense of control over their learning.It's easy and straightforward enough that children of phonics age can use the app by themselves, simply placing the figure of their choice on the screen - this then loads the relevant learning system for them.The figures themselves remind me of the Toni box figurines, and are well made and will put up with quite a bit of bashing I think.I was a bit worried that we'd need the pen to make use of this figurine but for now the touch screen elements seem to be doing the job so far.

This app is easy to download and set up with the feature Mika, which is well made and designed. It’s easy to use and so creative. It’s also portable, easy to travel with and can be tided away easily and effectively.Overall this is a brilliant educational app and can not fault it in any way, my 5 years old boy loves it.