Funbrain Review

 

            Funbrain is a website for children aged 2 to 6. As we can see in the picture above, for users to access the account, they need to give out information about themselves. This would ask about the gender and age, it also asks if the parents are guiding them or not.

            First of all, it is good to know that they are giving the users some idea about the games here need the assistance and guidance of the parents. The website is supported with sounds in case younger children who have yet to learn how to read may play the games as well. We all know that the children at the age of 2-3years old are starting to read letters and words only, they still need the voice recordings of the instructions for them to use the website properly. This website can be easily manipulated because it only requires clicking. If we would be assessing its appearance, it is evidently child friendly. The colors that they use are pastel colors which are not irritating to the eyes of the children.

             The games that the website would lead you to are ones that are suitable for the age that you entered upon logging in. Most of the games need the assistance of the parents. The website doesn’t only offer games but also stories they can read alone or with their the parents. There are also some activities that the parents can print out and give to their children. As we can see, this website is not purely for children only; they also include activities that the parents can do for and with their children.

            The games in the website gives feedback immediately, and the words used here are children-friendly. They would only say “try again” or they will give you around of applause depending if you answer incorrectly or correctly. The website is also repetitive with the instructions that the children need to do. Going back to the developmental characteristic of the children, they need to always have repetition because this is how children learn. They need to experience it again and again and repetition can help them retain newly-learned words.

The topics that we could learn from the reading games are rhymes, alphabets, simple spelling words and some stories. Math topics could be counting numbers, addition and subtraction and ordered pairs.

The things mentioned above are characteristics of a good children’s website. However, the question again that I would like to stress on you is: “What age usually do we really introduce technology to them?” Here we can see that as early as 2 years old they are already exposed to this kind of media.I personally think that the usage of technology depends on how the adult and teachers will use it to the fullest of its ability. As a teacher, parent, or guardian, we need to be more creative in thinking of activities where we can integrate these games to our subjects.

Generally speaking, this website is good for the teachers, parents, students. It just needs an innovative mind to be able to exhaust the different lessons to broaden as perspective.

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References:

Funbrain Jr. (2012-20015).  The http://www.funbrainjr.com/stories/BrainyBlueberryAndTheBackpackBalloon/