Can My Two-Year-Old Use ABCmouse.com?

I had heard of ABCmouse.com before Toot was even born, and I was patiently waiting for her to be old enough to use it. I had assumed it was for preschoolers and school age kids. Then I found out that the suggested starting age is actually two years old!

I thought “Can my two-year-old use ABCmouse.com?” I had my doubts that there wouldn’t be much she could handle at such a young age and it wouldn’t be worth it.

So what can a two-year-old do? Is it worth it? Let’s take a look!

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What even is ABCmouse.com?

It’s an online learning academy for kids! They think they’re just playing games and watching videos, but they’re actually learning! The suggested age range is two to eight years old. They have over 8,500 standards-based learning activities and over 850 lessons.

I was very surprised at how much structure is involved in how the lessons are taught. There’s a lot to it so I’ll be brief. You really have to try it out for yourself to see all of the different activities and ways kids can learn.

The learning path is the main lesson plan for your child. It’s carefully planned out by the creators based on your child’s age.

If your child wants to do their own thing, there are plenty of activities, games, songs, books, videos, and other areas to explore independent of the learning path.

Your child gets their own avatar that you can customize to look like them! And they get a bedroom, fish tank, and hamster cage they can customize too. You earn tickets by completing activities, and you can use your tickets to buy more items or pets. Positive reinforcement!

ABCmouse.com is, of course, a website that your child can use on a desktop or laptop. But they also have an app now! I have it on Toot’s Kindle Fire. I also have the app on my iPhone for when we get stuck somewhere and I need a distraction.

So what can toddlers do?

Surprisingly, a lot! Toot’s favorite areas of ABCmouse.com include the Toddler Time area, the coloring section, and the music videos.

Toddler Time is an area with all of the toddler level resources in one place. It has simple games, books that are read to your child, coloring pages, songs, and easy puzzles.

The coloring section allows your toddler to color in several different ways. There’s a fill color option that Toot does NOT like! You tap an area and it fills in with the selected color.

She prefers the free color option where she can draw normally over the picture and completely go out of the lines. I don’t question her artistic method. lol! But if your kid wants to color in the lines but by herself, there’s an option to do that. It magically only colors in a certain area.

She loves the music videos. No, they don’t have Taylor Swift or Beyoncé. They’re nursery rhymes and educational songs with cartoon videos!

Her favorite is Wheels on the Bus. She’ll sit and watch that one over and over while singing along.

I love the beginner books because it gives me a break from reading to her. The app reads the books and highlights the words so she can prepare to be a reader in the future. They’re usually pretty short at only a minute or two so she can move on quickly. Toddler attention span is limited. lol

What can they grow into?

She’s not quite ready for some of the games. They’re a bit more complicated and will require her to be older and able to follow directions. The ones I looked at seemed to be pretty fun for older kids!

There’s a farm and a zoo area where kids can learn facts about animals. Yes, she can look at these now, but I feel like she will get more out of these areas when she’s older and has a longer attention span.

Right now she just yells, “A GIRAFFE!” then moves on to the next animal. There’s a lot more depth to it for when she’s older.

Math! Right now she knows how to count to ten, and gets the concept of two or three objects. But there’s a lot of math activities available for when she is a little bigger and can grasp more math concepts.

Reading! There are SO MANY BOOKS in the ABCmouse.com library.

I enjoy helping her navigate around the world, but I can’t wait for her to be able to figure it all out herself. She’ll be able to fully explore every aspect when she’s a little older.

Final Verdict: So can my two-year-old use ABCmouse.com?

YES!

I’m really impressed by how much information is packed into this app/website and how well planned out it is. I was skeptical at first because she’s at the beginning of the age spectrum, but it has proven to be an excellent toddler learning tool.

We were at her pediatrician’s office for her two-year checkup and I let her play while we waited. The doctor came in and saw that she was playing ABCmouse.com. He said his kids had used it too, and they loved it! Both he and his wife are pediatricians, and they have two smart kids.

If Toot is going to have screen time, it might as well be educational. And this app is definitely educational!

Try it out yourself for a month for free to see how your toddler likes it!

Quick tips for successful toddler learning

• Try everything out yourself before letting your toddler loose so you know where everything is.
• Help your toddler navigate the map and activities. Don’t just throw the tablet at them and run away.
• Let them use the app because they probably aren’t ready for a mouse or laptop touch pad.
• If they get frustrated with an activity, move on to something else. There’s always something else to try.
• Try to do at least one of the learning path activities each time you play, but don’t expect your toddler to want to do more than one. They’ll get to know where they want to go and what they would like to do. And it’s not always on the learning path.

Have you tried ABCmouse.com?

Or have you thought about trying it? Does your two-year-old use ABCmouse.com? Let me know in the comments below!

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