ABCya! Review: Best Educational Games for Kids (2024)

Keeping kids entertained and engaged can be a challenge. Whilst there are countless websites and apps available, not all of them offer a healthy balance of fun and learning.

If you're searching for a platform that can educate and entertain your child, then look no further than ABCya.

ABCya offers hundreds of games from Pre-Kindergarten to Sixth Grade on a wide variety of skills and subjects, from logic to math, reading, and music theory.

In this blog post, we'll be diving deep into all that ABCya has to offer. We'll explore the platform's features to help you decide if ABCya fits your child's educational journey.

This detailed ABCya review will cover:

• What is ABCya and how does ABCya work?
• How much does ABCya cost?
• What an ABCya lesson is like
• Best ABCya courses
• Who are ABCya instructors?
• How I reviewed ABCya, and what I did and didn’t like
• Who ABCya is for
• Can you buy ABCya as a gift, is it legit, and what’s the refund policy?
• ABCya alternatives and other ABCya reviews
• Is ABCya worth it?
• FAQs

Let’s get started!

What is ABCya?

ABCya is an educational gaming platform with over 300 games for pre-kindergarteners to sixth graders on various skills and subjects, from reading to math, logic, writing, music, painting, and more.

These games aim to transform the learning experience for kids, introducing a fun and interactive way to gain arithmetic and literacy skills along with problem-solving and critical thinking.

Who are the instructors?

While all games are approved by certified public schol teachers, ABCya doesn’t offer classes in a traditional sense.

ABCya was created by Alan and Lisa Tortolani in 2005, who were public school teachers in search of educational games to elevate the learning experience in their classrooms.

Alan created a Math BINGO app in 2011 to reinforce basic arithmetic skills, which soared to the top of the educational category in the Apple store and was featured on Apple’s website, and was installed on demo iPads at hundreds of Apple retail stores in the US.

Today, IXL Learning owns ABCya, the same edtech company that offers various platforms for learners such as the leading language education platform Rosetta Stone.

How does ABCya work?

ABCya houses games in the following categories:

• Art and Music
• Language Arts
• Math
• Science
• Social Studies
• Typing and Writing

ABCya games can also be classified by genre and include Bingo games, Crosswords, Hunt Games, Multiplayer modes, Puzzle and Platformer Games, Racing, and Word search.

Depending on your kids’ or students’ interests, ABCya also offers games in various themes, from Car Games to Cat Games, Food, Story Games, Robot Games, Sports Games, and more.

Core curriculum standards are also incorporated with ABCya, and the platform has games organized by grade level so you can select games appropriate for your child’s age or grade level.

For example, since the Core Curriculum Standards stipulate that a first grader should know how to distinguish basic geometrical figures, you can choose games for a first grader that help achieve that, such as a game that asks students to fill in missing shapes or complete puzzles.

ABCya has a free version that offers access to all the games on the desktop but only a limited selection of games via the mobile app.

A paid subscription unlocks the full library of games as well as an ad-free experience, with the ability to play on ABCya on five devices for the Family subscription and 30 devices for a Classroom subscription.

How much does ABCya cost?

ABCya has a free version, Family Premium, and Classroom Premium subscription tiers.

Free

The free version of ABCya allows access to all the regular games on the desktop computer and saves three games. But it can only be played or saved on one device.

Premium Family

The Premium Family offers an ad-free experience and access to all the games both on the desktop and the mobile version and the ability to use ABCya on five devices with all the unlocked features.

Additional features include being able to set a timer for ABCya games so you can control the usage of your child or student, select the categories that they can access, play games at full screen, and save all favorite games with no limits.

You also have unlimited access to ABCya worksheets, teacher resources, and activity pages.

As of this writing, a Family Premium subscription costs $9.99 per month, or a discounted price of $44.99 for six months, and $69.99 per year.

Premium Classroom

A Premium Classroom subscription offers everything that the Family Premium does, except that instead of five, you can have all of what ABCya offers in 30 devices.

As of this writing, a Premium Classroom subscription costs $25 per month.

ABCya free trial

You don’t need to pay for anything to try all of the games on the platform. All of ABCya’s games are free on desktop, and a free account on the mobile app grants access to six games a week.

What a lesson is like

Kids won’t find long lectures with ABCya. Instead, they'll be actively participating, solving puzzles, and mastering new concepts with the help of role-playing, magicians, unicorns, dogs, talking paintbrushes, and more.

Each game is designed to help a child acquire a skill, whether it’s practicing the alphabet by recognizing uppercase and lowercase letters or learning about the water cycle and more.

Each game comes with an Educator Info section at the bottom to help teachers and parents learn about what skills the game practices so that you can see if a game aligns with your and your child’s learning goals.

In the Educator Info section, you can also find tips such as suggested ways to warm up for the lesson or ways you can follow up after the game to reinforce learning.

Best ABCya games

The most popular games in ABCya and the skills they reinforce include:

• Fuzz Bugs Factory: logic puzzles
• Golf: basic physics
• Fuzz Bugs Fuzzathlon: hand-eye coordination
• Ten Baskets: gravity
• ABCya paint: storytelling and imagination

Here are the best ABCya games for each category:

Pre-Kindergaten

Same and Different. In this game, students can practice color and shape by comparing donuts that come in various shapes and colors.

Alphabet Bingo: This game teaches students to practice the alphabet by matching sounds with letters on the Bingo card. It also comes in uppercase and lowercase letters, making it perfect for kids to start learning their ABCs.

Kindergarten

Blue Ribbon Blitz. This educational activity also lets kids practice comparing not only shapes and sizes, but also the length, width, height, or weight of an object.

Make a House. In Make a House, your child or student can simply have fun decorating a house with different roofs, ornaments, windows, and more. It also offers an option to save or print their work and presents a perfect opportunity for kids to have fun with their imagination.

Grade 1

Adventure Man. This activity is a fun way to learn the months of the year. Students help Adventure Man recover the treasure and overcome temple spirits by answering questions about the order of the months of the year, what comes after which month, etc.

Fuzz Bugs Farm. In this game, kids are introduced to consonant digraphs, which are two or more constants that represent one sound together. Players help their Farm Animal make its way across the game board by creating words. Up to four players can play at one time, or a single player can play against the computer.

Grade 2

Ice Cream Talk. In Ice Cream Talk, students practice recognizing nouns and verbs by collecting scoops of ice cream and correctly identifying the nouns and verbs in the sentences. Collecting 10 scoops without making any mistakes unlocks a fun bonus game.

Pancake Panic. This free educational game lets kids practice identifying hom*ophones, which are two or more words having the same pronunciation but different meanings. It includes three rounds that increase in difficulty as well as a brain-break bonus round.

Grade 3

Break the Bank. Academic skills are not the only skills you can start kids early on. In this game, kids practice adding coins and bills, as well as reviewing the names of the coins and identifying the person featured and the value of each coin or bill.

True Colors. This game introduces kids to the basics of color theory by mixing primary colors to make secondary and tertiary colors as well as pairing up colors on the color wheel to create complementary colors. Your student will also learn all about color shading, how adding black or white changes colors, or how to mix colors to perfectly match a target hue.

Grade 4

Animate. In Animate, kids tap into their imagination and creative narratives through tools like brushes, stickers, and text. Students create and illustrate animation frames and can play their animations repeatedly, save them, and even share them with friends and family.

Bow and Angle. This activity is all about angles. In this game, kids learn how to measure and draw angles. Players must draw and identify angles to protect themselves from sneaky shadow ninjas

Grade 5

Detective X. This math game for kids lets students practice solving equations. Students must solve three different mysteries by using addition and multiplication to solve simple equations.

USA Geography Puzzle. In this game, players fill in a map of the United States. There are two levels of difficulty. In the “Easy” mode, students are given a map of the United States with the state outlines. In the “Hard” mode, the map does not contain the state outlines. Perfect for parents and teachers to practice students on the US geography.

Grade 6+

Taking Notes – Rhythm and Pitch. This is a musical theory game designed to introduce students to the basics of music theory. Players can choose between lessons on rhythm or pitch, where they explore the notes of the treble clef scale through interactive explanations. Players can then choose to take a quiz to test their knowledge of the lessons or create their musical composition.

Prehistoric Puzzle. In this science game for kids, students participate in a paleontological dig with Rivette, a paleontologist. Students review the processes and tools used on paleontological digs, as well as facts about dinosaurs. Students uncover ten different dinosaurs at the dig site.

ABCya for business

ABCya isn’t designed for businesses, but it offers its full features of games and resources for educators via a Premium School Plan.

The Premium School Plan offers an ad-free experience, access to all the games on the desktop and the mobile version, and the ability to use ABCya on unlimited devices with all the unlocked features.

Educators will also have unlimited access to ABCya worksheets, teacher resources, and activity pages.

You can also set a timer for ABCya games, select categories that students can access, and save all favorite games.

As of this writing, a Premium School Plan costs $16.67 per month or a one-time payment of $1,999.99 per year.

How I reviewed ABCya

To write this review of ABCya, I browsed all the game categories to see the range of topics covered, reading through Educator Info sections to get a good grasp of the skills practiced for each game.

I then checked out the different subscription tiers to understand ABCya’s offerings and get a good sense of how teachers and parents can integrate ABCya into the learning experiences of their kids and students.

I also compared ABCya with competitors to see what sets it apart from other gamified learning providers.

And finally, I rounded out my research by looking through reviews from parents on the platform’s effectiveness.

What I liked about ABCya

Fun to fuel learning

The games are not just random entertainment but are designed to capture kids’s attention and help them develop essential skills in reading, math, and other areas. Whether it's solving puzzles, collecting rewards, or competing against the clock, the games keep kids engaged.

Variety of curriculum-aligned games

ABCya boasts a sheer number of options covering a wide range of subjects and grade levels. This keeps things fresh and engaging and you can use ABCya to reinforce skills for a particular grade level or help your child meet learning goals.

Easy to navigate

ABCya is intuitively laid out, making it easy for kids to navigate and find the games they want to play. Kids can simply jump right in and start learning, searching for games according to their, interests, subjects they want to focus on, or whatever catches their attention.

What could be improved

Advertising

While ads are a way for ABCya creators to offer access to the games for free, some ABCya users have complained that some ads have been unrelated to kids’ products and services. This can be disruptive for learning and can mislead students into clicking random links.

Limited ways to track progress

While the paid versions of ABCya offer parents and educators to track progress, there are limited ways to create customizable learning paths. Allowing parents or educators to create learning paths paves the way for a tailored learning experience for a child’s specific needs.

Who ABCya is for

Anyone involved in early childhood education will find ABCya a valuable tool for meaningful learning experiences.

ABCya is a fantastic resource for parents to supplement their child’s education at home.

ABCya allows parents to find age-appropriate games aligned with the learning goals for whatever age or grade level a child is in.

Likewise, teachers and homeschoolers alike can integrate ABCya into lesson plans.

Can I buy ABCya as a gift?

Absolutely! You can give the gift of a fun learning experience to any kid in your life or anyone involved in educating children.

Simply select a card design and choose an amount. The minimum is $10 and the maximum is $500.

You can also customize the amount as long as it’s in the increments of $5.

You may email the gift card yourself or enter the recipient’s email and an optional message.

Finding great games on ABCya

Before diving in, consider your and your child’s learning goals. Are you focusing on specific skills like reading comprehension, basic math operations, or critical thinking?

Consider what your learning objective is, and then look for games that will help meet that goal.

A great place to start is by clicking Common Core Standards on ABCya’s navigation panel at the top of the homepage.

This will lead you to a page that shows you which games are aligned to specific Common Core standards, making it easier to find games that target the skills you want your child to practice.

You can also browse games on ABCya by grade level or subject.

ABCya's categorization system helps you navigate the extensive library efficiently, and you can jump right in from the home page.

Simply click your child’s grade level and browse through the games that will be appropriate for that grade level, which are further categorized into Word Games, Number Games, and all sorts of categories.

And if you or your child is interested in learning a particular subject, you can scroll through the Subjects on the homepage and select the one that piques your interest, like “Reading,” “Math,” or “Science.”

Is ABCya legit?

ABCya is a legitimate platform and is certified by the kidSAFE Seal Program to ensure that it’s a safe online learning environment for your kids or students.

All of ABCya’s educational computer activities were also either created or approved by certified school teachers.

Additionally, ABCya has a generally positive reputation among educators and parents for its educational content.

ABCya refund

ABCya does not offer refunds. All fees for subscription accounts are prepaid and not refundable.

While you may cancel your subscription account at any time, ABCya will not offer a refund or credit for any fees previously paid.

ABCya alternatives

While ABCya offers a great variety of games, parents and teachers have great alternatives, especially ones that offer structured learning paths or also incorporate socio-emotional learning.

Starfall offers a structured learning path in reading, phonics, and math which goes deeper than ABCya to develop strong literacy skills. It also incorporates animated stories to provide an immersive learning experience, which is perfect for children who love stories.

Starfall also offers enhanced accessibility for children with visual, hearing, or mobility impairments. It’s easy to navigate with custom-designed activities that are screen-reader compatible, keyboard accessible, and completely captioned.

Another great alternative is PBS Kids. It incorporates themes of social and emotional learning alongside a variety of learning formats, including educational shows and games. It’s perfect for parents and teachers alike who are looking to use different modes to keep learning engaging.

ABCya reviews: What others have said

Since my aim was to write the best ABCya review, I also wanted to see what others have said about the platform to get a well-rounded perspective.

Based on Reddit, the free version has irked many parents and teachers for ads unrelated to kids’ products or services.

Common Sense Media reviews also highlight that while there’s a variety of games to play with, ABCya doesn’t “go deep” and that you can’t track the total number of games played or any other progress data:

Hundreds of simple games are organized by grade level and subject, so they're really easy for kids to get to and use. The ads are a pain, especially on the home page, but once kids get to a game page it's not as bad. Learning is through trial and error or competition. But it doesn't go deep. Kids can choose multiplayer games to get the zing of playing with their peers. Games come with written, and sometimes audio, instructions. Some keep point totals, but you can't track the total number of games played or any other progress data. 

On the other hand, reviews on the ABCya platform show it has garnered a lot of praise from parents and teachers alike for its ability to keep kids engaged while they learn, writing:

The kids love how interactive [ABCya] is

ABCya provides a fun and safe environment for kids

Most of the time my boys don't feel like they are doing work

There's nothing better than watching your kids learn with a smile

Overall, there’s no doubt about the interactiveness of ABCya games, but parents and teachers must supervise kids while learning to keep track of their progress and make sure the ads on the free version don’t mislead the children into clicking links.

Evaluating ABCya

Features: An ABCya premium plan grants not only ad-free and unlimited access to all of the educational games and activities on the platform but also parent and teacher resources such as downloadable worksheets, and the ability to save games and play all of them on the mobile app.

Content quality: ABCya games are engaging and capture children’s attention through a gamified learning experience. They incorporate clear instructions, age-appropriate examples, and high-quality audio and visuals to keep learning fun and interactive.

Content breadth: ABCya offers a vast library of content that spans various categories, from reading and math to science and social studies. There are courses suitable for children from pre-kindergarten up to grade 6.

Supporting materials: ABCya has downloadable worksheets and printables that allow children to practice concepts learned in the games offline. Each game also comes with written information to help parents and teachers maximize the lessons out of the game.

Payments & refunds: A Family premium plan costs $9.99 per month or $69.99 per year, while a Classroom subscription costs $25 per month. A School subscription costs $1,999.99 per year. ABCya does not offer refunds.

Support: ABCya provides a comprehensive help section with FAQs and troubleshooting guides. You can also message them through the website if you encounter any issues while using the platform.

How to open an ABCya account

The good news is that ABCya actually doesn't require you to create an account. You can access and use all of the educational games directly on their website.

But if you’re subscribing to a premium plan on ABCya and creating an account in the process, click on the “Login” button located in the top navigation bar.

Click “Join Now” and you’ll be directed to a subscription page with different plan options. Choose the plan that best suits your needs and proceed to checkout.

During checkout, you'll be prompted to create an account by entering your email address and setting a password.

Once your subscription is activated, you can log in to your account using the email and password you created.

Is ABCya worth it?

In my opinion, yes, ABCya is worth it, but with some considerations.

Keeping kids engaged while learning and making sure the skills we are teaching them are reinforced can be a taxing task, but platforms like ABCya offer a way to keep learning fun and memorable for children.

An ABCya subscription offers an ad-free experience in a vast library of games on all sorts of subjects from Reading to Social Sciences, along with access to hundreds of teacher or parent resources such as worksheets and other activities.

However, if you’re looking for platforms that provide a structured learning path, go deeper in developing strong literacy skills, and are accessible for children with visual, hearing, and mobility impairments, then ABCya might not be for you.

Alternatives like Starfall have enhanced accessibility and go more in-depth in reading, phonics, and math, providing a more solid foundation for your child or student.

Either way, ABCya offers unlimited access to all the games on the desktop for free, and you should try it as much as possible to see if it complements your child's learning style.

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ABCya – Frequently asked questions