Go Go Kabongo! - A New TOS Review!!

From the name you must be thinking ... "What in the world??"  And that statement would belong in the online world of Go Go KaBongo.  Why?  Because Go Go KaBongo is a zany world where online reading readiness resides.

The Product:

Go Go KaBongo helps to develop the cognitive reading skills necessary for your child to read.  They created it for children 4-7 to play and explore all while building the following skills:

• Attention and Focus
• Memory Skills
• Processing
• Planning
• Visualization
• Comprehension

As the parent you create an account for your child.  Then your child has the ability to create their own cartoon like character that is as zany as their online world.  Next your child can explore the world.  There are three 'habitats' and within each habitat are three games and each game has six levels.  As your child plays the game will automatically progress to the next level when appropriate.  This chart will show you just what skills are being learned within each game.

Once your child succeeds in their particular game they earn rewards that they can use elsewhere in their 'world'.  You can either choose a sticker for your sticker book, an item for your treehouse (the command center), or an item for your skate park.

As a parent you will get progress reports emailed to you that gives you a summary of what your child has been doing that week.  The summary includes a list of the games, the level your child is at and the skills that are being worked on.  They also include a learning activity for the week and tell you (the parent) to go check out their parent resources.  Along with your child's progress the Parent Center has printables, activities, and featured articles.

If you are interested you can go and check them out for FREE!  And what's more is that right now 2 habitats are FREE!  If you like this program and you think it's a good fit for you and your family you can purchase the third habitat, Twisting Tornadoes, for $4.95.  And that price is a one time cost.

Our Experience:

Instead of telling you what I thought I interviewed Audrie, who was the main user on this review.  I asked her to tell me about some of her favorite games and this was her answer:

"My favorite is Photo Safari.  What you do is you see an animal, then you have to take a picture of that animal.  Then you go and find what the animal wants and take a picture of that item.  Then the pictures go into a black thing (a photo book of sorts, says mom)  And when the time runs out you can't add any more pictures.  Then you get a reward (which I mentioned earlier in the review.)

Design-A-Door is where you have to remember (with her eyes covered as she's telling me) what the pictures are and then you have to grab them from the side on the left and put them onto the door in the CORRECT place!  I used to get frustrated with this one, until I figured out that I had to put them in the CORRECT place.

My last favorite is Desert Dash.  You have to go and get the bubbles and pick a letter.  Then you have to put the letter in the right place, by the big rock,  at the beginning and it makes a word!

I really like when I get to play Go Go KaBongo. It is a lot of fun!"

Arianna also played it and enjoyed most of the games.  She also loved the Design-A-Door and Photo Safari.  She also liked Robo Bobo which is a game that is puzzle like.  You have a picture and it's missing some parts and you have to pull the parts off of a conveyor belt and place them in the correct spot on the picture.

My Thoughts:

If you have a child who is reading and reading well, this is not the program for you.  Arianna does not need this program.  She likes to play it and I will allow her, but not as much as Audrie.

Audrie enjoys it ... A Lot.  But to be honest I wasn't very sure about the program.  In the beginning I thought it was just too game like.  But after her frustration with Design-A-Door I realized it was truly a teaching tool.  She had to slow down, listen to the instructions and be sure she was paying attention to the order and shape and color of the missing pieces.

The best thing about the program is that it's FREE for 2 of the 3 available habitats.  And the cost of the habitat forever is so little, that this program is definitely worth checking out.  Why don't you do that now?  Go and see what other Crew members thought about Go Go KaBongo.

*** I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for a thorough and honest review. Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of money for any of my reviews. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences with the products and services that I receive.***