SmartyAnts – A Whole New Way for Children to Learn to Read

I have a fun and exciting new product to tell you about today. It just launched on October 15th! It’s called SmartyAnts and it’s a whole new way for children to learn to read. SmartyAnts was created by Mike Wood, the original founder of Leapfrog – which should tell you its quality.

SmartyAnts is both an online learning world and a take-anywhere Reading Pup. Together, they teach reading to children aged 4 – 7. Check out the website here. The pup isn’t available quite yet, but will be very soon. We will have a review of the pup on ToyXplosion very soon, so stay tuned for that!

In the Smarty Ants World, children are surrounded by fun, laughter and joy while they learn the basic reading skills to help them become great readers.  If you attach your “Reading Pup” to the computer (through the USB Port) while your child is playing on SmartAnts.com, then fun songs will be downloaded to your Reading Pup to reinforce the basic reading skills your child is learning at that time.  The Smarty Ants world is designed to match your child’s learning style and personality, ensuring they are always engaged, challenged and rewarded when taking their first steps toward the power and enjoyment of a lifetime of reading.

Here’s a quick video which gives you an idea of what SmartyAnts is like.

Welcome to Smarty Ants! from Commish on Vimeo.

Your purchase of the Smarty Ants Phonics Reading Pup comes with a free 30-Day Membership to SmartyAnts.com. More info about SmartyAnts below…

Smarty Ants is designed to each Pre-Kindergarten through First grade reading skills in accordance with state standards.  The Smarty Ants World is a password-protected, secure website.  It was created to help your child discover the life long fun, wonder and reward of becoming a great reader.

The Smarty Ants World has been built to adapt and provide a personalized experience for children regardless of their age, grade or reading level.  For children who grasp reading concepts quickly or have advanced skills, the program accelerates to keep them engaged and challenged.  For children who are struggling, the system slows the pace and increased the educational support and scaffolding.  We do this to insure each child succeeds every step of the way, so they can build their confidence and develop a joy for reading.

We believe that the first time your child sounds out a new word and the first time your child builds and reads a story are magical, motivational and emotional moments.  Therefore as soon as possible, we teach children the sounds of just enough letters needed to create and read their first story.  We continue by teaching more letter sounds, more word-building, and more story-building through 67 stories, which take your children through the end of First Grade reading.  The curriculum includes over 125 interactive learning videos which introduce the most important pre-reading and reading concepts.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
Each time your child and your child’s Ant Avatar learn new letter sounds, build new words, and create new stories they receive virtual awards.  These moments are captured in photos taken by the Camera Bee and appear in articles about your child’s accomplishments in the Daily Woof newspaper delIvered by the virtual pet Dog.

SHARING IS CARING
After registering at SmartyAnts.com and answering a few questions the help us tailor the experience to your child’s reading ability you will have the opportunity to designate up to five e-mail addresses of people who you wish to share in your child’s reading progress- ie grandparents, aunts, godparents, friends.  They will receive emails of the Daily Woof newspaper and virtual copies of the stories and music videos your child has created.

After each new story is built, it’s ready to be printed out by your child to read and share.  For each new story your child build, the story is “published as a virtual Story Book and Music Video, with your child’s very own Ant name on the cover.  These stories are placed in the Reward Room where they can be reviewed and shared at any time.

TAKE US WITH YOU
Children can take their Phonics Reading Pup wherever they go, to listen and learn, until they’re ready for the next download of songs.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
At Smarty Ants, we know children have the most fun, stay motivated and learn more effectively when they’re able to choose where and how they learn.  In the Smarty Ants World, your child is free to explore and choose from eight Skill-Building Games and two Story-Building and Reading Games.  Whichever learning activity your child chooses, the content is adapted to their personal learning path.  At each game, your child can pick the level of difficulty that feels right for them at that time.  Children can always switch games whenever they want, and their personal content travels right along with them.

Through the Smarty Ants World, scaffolding has been developed to provide positive support for children as they learn new concepts.  Scaffolds enable children to build on what they already know when learning new material.  Once they have mastery of a new concept, the scaffolds are removed allowing them to work independently.