As a result of school closures and disruption due to coronavirus, we’ll make Teach Your Monster to Read completely free across the world, in order to help children learn to read whilst at home.
We want to help out as much as we can, so we’ve made Teach Your Monster to Read completely free until Monday March 23rd on Apple (today) and Amazon (from Thursday) as well as at teachyourmonstertoread.com. It’s also just 0.99 on Google Play Store*.
This means if anyone downloads it to their device for free this week, it will cost them nothing and it will be free to continue to use on that device thereafter.
It’s easy to get kids playing at home. There are 2 ways:
1) If you don’t want to track students’ progress:
Simply share this page with parents. Kids can then get playing straight away, with no passwords required.
You could post this message to parents:"We use Teach Monster to help kids learn to read in school and it's been made free to use at home due to coronavirus disruption. Download free this week on Apple: apple.co/2V92VL5, on Amazon (from Thurs) https://amzn.to/2VgOwfR, or 0.99 on Android: bit.ly/2cohkeR"
2) If you want to track students’ progress:
Login or sign up at teachyourmonster.org. Set up every child as a player on our website. Print off and send home their password cards (which can be downloaded from your dashboard). Kids can then log in to their player accounts on our website or app. You can see their progress on your dashboard.
Our app (featuring all 3 extensive games) is free on Apple app store now (Tuesday March 17 2020) and Amazon (from this Thursday) and also laptops and PCs at teachyourmonstertoread.com. It's just £0.99 / $0.99 on Google Play Store*.
It is usually £4.99 / $4.99 and it has no in-app purchases or adverts. It will now be free to download until Monday March 23rd on Apple and Amazon stores. Once downloaded, it's free to continue to use on that device thereafter.
Download links here:
*Due to Google Play Store policy not allowing a new sale to start within 30 days after the completion date of the last sale, we’re unable to give our app away for free on Google Play Store because we just recently ran a free promotion. For this reason, we've priced it at £0.99 / $0.99.
Teach Your Monster to Read, has now been played 100 million times across the world!
The award-winning educational game helps children learn to read by taking them on a magical journey, meeting colourful characters along the way and collecting fantastic rewards. As children teach their own monster to read, they rehearse a range of essential reading skills; matching letters to sounds, blending, segmenting, tricky words and reading full sentences.
Played millions of times by millions of children
- The first game is called 'Teach Your Monster to Read: First Steps' and it was launched 2013.
- There are now 3 games, which are available in one app on smartphone and tablet, as well as free on the web.
- The games have been played in almost every country in the world.
- Over 11 million children have now played the games.
- The games are played by around 1 to 2 million children every month.
Funded by the Usborne Foundation
The BAFTA-nominated game is funded by the Usborne Foundation, a charity set up by Peter Usborne and his children, Nicola and Martin, to support initiatives to develop early literacy. Teach Your Monster to Read also generates funds via app sales, which help to keep the game running as well as fund the foundation's new initiatives.
Find out more about the team behind the game
Our Bafta-nominated game is FREE on all app stores from Monday 4th March 2019 to Sunday 10th March 2019.
Helped over 10 million children learn to read
Teach Your monster to Read is the immensely popular game that makes learning to read fun. It has now been played almost 100 million times worldwide and helped over 10 million children learn to read.
The game was developed by The Usborne Foundation, a charity founded by children’s publisher, Peter Usborne MBE, with a mission to help children around the world learn to read.
We believe that every child should be given the opportunity to learn and develop. Giving our phonics and reading app away for free enables teachers and pupils to benefit from using the game in classrooms and at home.
Complements phonics programmes used in schools
The game covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences. There are three levels which between them cover the first two years of the reading journey. Developed in conjunction with leading academics from the University of Roehampton, it is educationally robust and complements all synthetic phonics programmes used in schools.
Widely praised by teachers and parents across the globe
- The kids absolutely love this game - and they’re learning!
- I am using the app with my reception class. The children are loving it! They are all really keen to progress and can be heard talking to their monsters as they are working with each phoneme.
- Far and away the best reading tool we have found for our kids.
- I was stunned to see how much they enjoyed playing this. It blew me away.
- It’s phonics based approach is pedagogically sound and up to date with the latest thinking on the topic. All education software should be this well thought through.
Free period
The game will be free to download between Monday 4th March 2019 to Sunday 10th March 2019. Once downloaded, it will remain completely free to play on your device after this period.
Download on iTunes
Download on Google Play Store
Download on Amazon
Help our charity by spreading the word!
Example tweet / Facebook post: Get the BAFTA-nominated literacy app, Teach Your Monster to Read, for FREE this week only. Hurry, ends Sunday 10th March! apple.co/2f0Dgi1, amzn.to/2bXrdUe and tinyurl.com/GoogleTeachMonster #monsterscanread #phonics @monsterscanread
For press enquiries, please contact: [email protected]
The Teach Monster team has been tremendously busy working on the latest update to the game. We're so pleased to bring you version 3.3 of Teach Your Monster to Read, which is packed full of fun additions and 'quality of life' changes for your children to enjoy. Let's check out what's new!
- You can now dress your monster up as a princess, a superhero, a unicorn or a dinosaur! These new costumes are hidden throughout the 3 games. A special prize goes to the first monster to collect them all! Let us know if you manage to hunt them all down :)
- There are snazzy new certificates for every game your monster completes. This much-loved feature of the web version of the game has now been brought to the app. Tap on the trophy icon on the login screen to view your achievements.
- You can now play practice mode with logged in monsters. We’ve also improved the interface to make it easier to jump into the game.
- The popular running mini-game (you know... the one with the flowers) has been updated so it’s smoother to play.
- There are more exciting prizes in the first game and the stars you collect are now carried across all three games.
- Many small bugs have been fixed, including a multi-logout error, a keyboard bug when entering star codes and a proxy-related issue. We’ve also improved our error reporting in case of future ‘monsters in the system’.
All of this is thanks to your wonderful feedback and reviews. We read and respond to everything we can, so please keep them coming.
Very occasionally, the Teach Your Monster to Read app is completely free to download for a short period of time. Once you've downloaded the app, there's nothing to pay after the free period ends.
If you don't want to miss out when our app goes free on all app stores, simply join our mailing list today and you'll be the first to know when the app is next free.
Teach Your Monster to Read fans love to share their passion for the game in all sorts of ways. We enjoy seeing pictures of your amazing monster creations and it's great to read all about how the monsters inspire children across the globe. Recently we received a beautiful poem written by Judith, from the perspective of her grandson, who loves to play Teach Your Monster to Read...
Most days I have extra fun
Teaching my monster to read
Dodging meteors then when done
I have my monster to feed.
We pop words into his mouth
He chomps them by the score
We journey north, west and south
Until we have some more.
I have trickies to chase and tickle
Until I catch them in my pocket.
Sometimes I get in quite a pickle
When I can’t guide my rocket
Lots of letter planets to explore
Adventures, challenges as we go
A secret gate, a hidden door
Stars to collect, paths to follow.
Passing goblins, spells to read
That part is quite hard
Because if I don’t succeed
My way ahead is barred.
So I try and try my very best
To read the goblin’s spell
I’ve done it ! (though it is a test)
I’m told I’ve done so well.
Soon my monster will love to read
Surrounded by his books
He’s had his words, a tasty feed
He grabs them with his hooks.
So now my monster lives with me
We both love reading together
As I sit upon his knee
Monster friend and I forever.
By Judith from the perspective of her grandson James.
Do you have any inspiring creations of your own? Let us know on Facebook. We'd love to hear from you.
This review by Peter Cassidy is based on his observations of his daughter, Emily Cassidy-Oki, using the product.
Peter’s daughter Emily playing ‘Teach Your Monster to Read’.
“Teach Your Monster to Read” is the perfect blend of game and teaching-tool for families or educators looking to get their children / students intrinsically motivated to read. Emergent readers can choose the beginning levels that offer captivating and achievable challenges in a framework of contextual narratives. Creating the monster is just the beginning and the gamers will soon realise that reading leads to advancing the story and to helping develop one’s monsters with add-ons that they can choose along the way. Rewards are gathered and the goal of exploring more planets is embedded in a strategic linguistic journey that teaches reading and phonemic awareness. Context-rich graphics and riddles presented in this wonderful journey lay the groundwork for choosing the right paths leading to learner empowerment. The wide variety of skill-based activities add a surprise element that is facilitated by a narrator who encourages every step of the way. Parents, teachers and children will not be disappointed by this free resource that was created for the purpose of supporting learners as they develop a foundation for lifetime reading skills.
We’re excited to announce that all three Teach Your Monster to Read games will be available on Android tablets and iPad in March 2016!
What’s new in the tablet version:
- Connects to the online version of the game – great for teachers and students
- Includes First Steps, Fun With Words and Champion Reader
- Hours of game play in one app – covers two years of learning
- Children can now change their monsters!
Keep a lookout for further announcements and the app launch in the coming weeks.
Keep on reading!
What do people think of Teach Your Monster to Read?
“My class have reaped loads of benefits from using the programme and the difference in some of their reading skills has been dramatic.
– Maria Andrews, Foundation Phase Teacher
This game is the absolute best quality phonics game I have come across for educational and fun value.
– Marie Lewis, Rochdale
It’s Halloween next week and the monsters are getting very excited!
We’ve put together a competition to decorate or design a monster hat in time for All Hallows Eve.
Three winners will each receive £50 worth of Usborne books for their school.
To help teachers with their phonics lessons, Teach Your Monster to Read has produced three physical phonics games. These games can be played in a classroom, hall or the playground and with a full class of children.
Find out more about the games and to print off the instructions.
