Age of Learning has launched a standalone ABCmouse mobile game for Netflix members worldwide, according to a company announcement. The app includes more than 300 games, books, and animated lessons for children ages 2 to 8. It is available through the iOS App Store and Google Play at no extra cost for Netflix subscribers, without ads or in-app purchases.
What Happened
According to the Age of Learning press release, the game covers reading and writing, math, science, health, art, music, and social-emotional learning. While built for children ages 2 to 8, it mainly targets ages 4 to 6. A toddler track for ages 2 and 3 includes the character Todd Ler'Fox, while older kids get reading and math lessons for ages 7 and 8. Players can complete all activities offline after the initial download.
The Netflix version includes only a small part of the full ABCmouse platform, which requires a separate subscription for its full library of more than 13,000 learning activities, according to the launch announcement. The initial Netflix lineup features phonics practice in Letter Bubbles, counting exercises in Paint by Numbers, handwriting practice in Rainbow Traceables, and geography lessons in Passport to Adventure.
The Bigger Picture
In its launch announcement, Age of Learning says pre-K children who used ABCmouse for at least one hour across two days per week doubled their early reading and math gains in an internal randomized controlled trial. That trial's underlying report was not available for independent review, and published studies show more varied results under specific conditions. As we previously reported, researchers have questioned how well early learning apps translate to real-world skills.
A two-year published evaluation by Age of Learning researchers tracked 230 at-risk pre-K students using a naturalistic design and 571 kindergarteners using a quasi-experimental design. Instead of doubling learning gains in a randomized pre-K trial, the researchers found that pre-K students who finished more digital activities had higher kindergarten readiness scores (d = .47). Among kindergarteners, regular use accelerated literacy and math growth, with effect sizes between d = .23 and d = .66. For both groups, completing activities, rather than just having access to the app, was what predicted whether lower-performing students caught up to their peers.
Independent peer-reviewed research on ABCmouse has focused on elementary students rather than pre-K learners. A quasi-experimental study of 60 second-grade students found that children using ABCmouse made statistically significant gains in phonological awareness compared to students receiving traditional instruction alone, with an average post-test score of 12.25 versus 11.22 (p = 0.019). Another independent study of 20 struggling second-grade readers randomly assigned students to use either ABCmouse or Starfall to evaluate reading performance.