Editorial Review
1st level of the Learn to Read series!
Packed with musical audio CDs, flash cards, a workbook, and a library of 24 magical books, Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read Kindergarten is a great way to get started with basic phonics skills. Kids learn about letters and sounds, learn how to put them together to form words, and then read great stories and books using the words just learned. Plus, a CD-ROM with 28 computer activities is designed to reinforce new skills with fun games designed to be played independently.
Research shows that the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read program is:
- Recommended by 97% of users
- 9 out of 10 users say it improves their child's overall school performance
- 88% of users say it improved their child's reading level by one or more grades
- 88% of users say it taught their child to read
Study conducted by an independent research firm of 160 consumers, March, 2007.
What s Included:
- 1 workbook with stories and activities
- 10 companion books
- 14 Hooked on Phonics® storybooks
- 3 audio CDs
- 1 CD-ROM
- 2 progress posters to track learning success
- 1 set of fun stickers kids love
- 1 Parent's guide
- 4 flash card sets
What Parents Say:
- "Not only did he learn to read, he enjoys reading."
Colleen
Mother of Christopher
- "The teachers at school are amazed."
Briana
Mother of Brenna, age 4
- "He does not struggle at all and likes to take his books to my husband to show Dad he can read."
Sara
Parent
- "I really enjoyed watching him learn to read."
Colleen
Mother of Christopher
Windows System Requirements
Windows 98/2000/Me compatible
Pentium® Class 133 MHz or higher
32-MB RAM
20-MB free hard-drive space
4X CD-ROM drive
16-bit depth graphics
640x480 display
16-bit sound card
Standard keyboard and mouse
2-MB video card
Macintosh System Requirements
Mac OS version 7.6 through 10.3
This program runs in Classic mode for all versions of Mac OS 10 through 10.4 except for Macs with Intel
120-MHz PowerPC 603e or higher
32-MB RAM
20-MB free hard-drive space
4X CD-ROM drive
16-bit depth graphics
640x480 display
16-bit sound card
Standard keyboard and mouse
2-MB video card
Cached date: AWS Called=true
Customer Reviews
This is the best product ever. 
2008-02-15
I bought this Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten for my 4 year old daughter. Before I bought this, I showed her the demo of this product from their website and she wanted to get it. Once she got it, she immediately started to play CD-ROM game and she didn't want to stop. Next day she started the yellow workbook with audio CD and start reading books. Because first few books start with simple few words, she could read them easily and it made her confident at reading. She completed whole thing in 2 weeks. She love to read to me at bedtime and it became our routine, she reads 2 books to me and I read 2 books to her before bed. Since she wanted to go next level, I got her 1st grade one and she is working on it.
My 4 year old was reading after 1 week! 2008-01-28
We bought this set for our 4 year old at Christmas along with the leap frog letter factory and word factory (two must haves as well). We worked with her using just the workbook and CD's at first with little success. She loved the leap frog movies but couldn't get to the point of actually reading anything.
Last weekend we tried the CD-rom. She wouldn't leave the computer for 3 hours she was so into it. Now she works on the CD-rom almost everyday and has read 5 books from the set along with getting into the workbook activities which go well with the CD-rom games. She is more confident in her reading everyday!
This set gets 5 stars from me but make sure the set has the CD-rom otherwise it's a 3 or 4 star package.
Also, I bought it for $[...] at k-mart so look around, the prices vary quite a bit.
Great Introduction to Reading 2008-01-27
I have started using "Hooked On Phonics" with my 4 1/2 yr. old son. The combination of the workbook, CDs, and books seem perfect. He loves being able to put a sticker on the chart after finishing a book. I had tried a couple other phonic books, but they didn't come with a workbook or CD and he seemed to be memorizing the story, not truly reading it. The combination of the workbook and CD along with the books allows him to practice the words and hear them before attempting them in the books.
Great Product! 2008-01-18
This is a wonderful product. My 4 yr old gets excited when he does his "school work" and practices with this. The only con I would say is the repetition, thought very necessary, really turns my child off. He is okay with it going through about 3 maybe 4 times, but by the 5th time, he is done!
Great learning tool! 2008-01-15
We love this product! I bought Hooked on Phonics for my daughter a couple of months ago because she was really showing an interest in reading and I had no clue how to get her started. This product made it a snap for both of us. The program is easy to follow and she read her first book during the first lesson. I would recommend this product to any parent who wants to help teach their child to read. All of the tools are provided in a simple, easy to use way and my daughter loves that she gets to put a sticker on her progress poster to track her progress.
Helped My 4 Year Old Learn To Read Before Kindergarten 2008-06-26
I thought HOP was very effective. Before I purchased HOP, teaching my 4 year old how to read was painful and difficult. After a few weeks of doing HOP lessons, he picked up a random children's book at the library one day and started reading it. I realized then that he was doing more than memorizing words- he was actually reading. I hope the remaining HOP series works as well as this one did.
Not the best! 
2008-04-10
This program in my opinion is backward. It starts kids reading the endings of words first then adding the first letter. It did not work with my kids. My son hated reading because of it. We have gone to Sing Spell read and Write with the best Joy and success.
LOVE & HATE IT... 
2008-04-03
We bought this about 4 weeks ago. Unfortunately, we did not realize that this is supposed to be for a MAC running in classic (ATTN HOOKED ON PHONICS SOFTWARE TEAM...NO MACS RUN CLASSIC SINCE 2004!...SUPPORT THE NEW SYSTEMS). Somehow our Mac Mini running 10.5.1 is able to run the program about 1 out of every 15 times that we launch it.
3 year old boy...he absolutely LOVES the program. It captivates him for over an hours every time and he begs us to let him use it.
4 1/2 year old boy...he is absolutely BORED with this. We read to him every night some advanced books for a boy his age so he knows his letters very well.
Overall, we would recommend it to anyone (without a MAC) who has a 3 year old. It is a lot of fun.
My Four Year Old is READING with Hooked on Phonics!! 2008-03-18
I'm planning to home school my 4 1/2 year old son and I thought we'd get a jump start on learning to read this year. I looked into the "100 Easy Lessons" book and "Explode the Code" and a few others, but honestly, many of them seemed like they would be a lot of preparation and work for me that I didn't have time to do. Hooked on Phonics appeared to be a very solid, well-rounded program. So we tried it. I was blown away when after just two lessons, my son was reading simple words. We have a PC that's just a little over a year old. I don't know what Operating System it uses (I would imagine it's XP) and the CD-Rom games work fine. My son likes it a lot, but he also loves the workbook and the numerous little books that come with the program. The flash cards with letters and "helping words" are great too, and I'm even starting to use them with my 2 1/2 year old daughter. This program is great and HIGHLY Recommended! (I would like to offer the tip that I use little rewards every time my son finishes a page of the workbook or reads one of the little books. I use raisins, jelly beans, chocolate chips, cheerios, nuts or anything small and tasty for a reward. He usually gets "rewarded" about 5 times during our reading time, and I've promised him a new Hot Wheels car after he finishes the whole workbook. He's pretty motivated!)
Bored on Phonics? 
2008-03-08
I purchased this for my 6 year old daughter who has been struggling with reading. I am finding that this program just isn't very exciting for a child with a short attention span like mine so far. I can see how repetition may work for some children but the flash cards with the accompanying cd left my daughter saying "Mommy, please don't make me do that part again!" There wasn't anything catchy or entertaining about it. There isn't really anything too catchy about the books either. I think we will stick with the The Reading for All Learners "Little Books" program. The characters are very likable and often funny which inspires my daughter to read because she wants to rather than because she has to!
