MESSYLEARNING from PandaParents – Perfect for Little Learners {Curriculum Review}

Toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners have one thing in common – they are messy! They run from one activity to another, typically leaving a trail right behind them. Their brains are wired in a way to jump from task to task. And while parents may have a hard time keeping up, I have found a great curriculum that teaches the way they learn – MESSYLEARNING for preschoolers and kindergarteners from PandaParents. This interactive curriculum focuses on building their brains the way they learn – messy.

What Is M.E.S.S.Y.Learning?

MESSYLearning isn’t just your 3-6-year-old sitting down to color or scribble. It’s not a mess of papers half completed and abandoned. Rather, MESSYLearning is a formula used to help your young child learning in a way that makes sense to them.

It’s teaching that is both interactive and creative, fun and engaging, and geared towards immersing your child into learning and introducing them to topics, subjects, and activities you wouldn’t normally think of for a pre-k or kindergarten student.

Time To Get MESSY

While we were given access to three months worth of curriculum, my 4-year-old and I started our review of PandaParents with A Jolly Jingling Journey. In this journey, we were introduced to Davy, a 6-year-old boy who falls asleep and has a very adventurous dream. In this dream, he ventures to the North Pole with his two dogs. Along the way, he meets a new friend who helps Davy navigate the North Pole and even meets a special resident.

Along the way, we learned Language Arts and vocabulary skills with the letter ‘J’ and words that begin with ‘J’ such as joyous, jingle, and jubilant. We learned about geography, weather, and climate in the North Pole. Animals such as the jackal, the jaguar, and the jackrabbit were mentioned. Colors and patterns were addressed in the story, and a quick game of “Find Me” helped my daughter learn to really pay attention to details in the story.

Oh, and this was just Book 1!

After reading the story, we quickly started on her favorite part of the program – the workbook. This part allowed her to feel included with her older siblings as she and I sat down to “do schoolwork.”

Even though the program recommends 30-minute sessions 2-3 times per week, we found that daily shorter sessions worked better for us. This allowed her to work daily with the older kids and allowed to better retention of the story.

The Work Books

For the purpose of this review, we had to download and print the workbooks.

It’s a lot of ink.

These are full-color workbooks full of detail, images, activities, and lessons. Everything is designed to help your early learner cover math, science, language arts skills and more in a way that is fun and engaging. And although I personally found a few issues with the workbooks, they are not noticeable to a preschooler.

What is noticeable is the fun. The candy cane ‘J’, the maze games, the counting activities, and the fine motor skills activities. And as a parent, I’m seeing my child working on reading, writing, phonics, math, patterns, sequences, sorting, and many other early learning skills.

More importantly, the habit of learning and working are being formed in a positive way. My daughter was more than happy to grab her crayons, scissors, and glue stick, and sit down together to work on this workbook. She was more than happy to complete page after page, practice new skills, and show me just what a “big girl” she is.

Videos To Continue The Fun

What child doesn’t like video-based learning? I can’t think of any – at least not in my household. And while my daughter did enjoy the videos that go with the program, as a parent I found more than a few issues with them.

There was a great emphasis on phonics. The words came across the bottom of the screen and highlighted the letter being worked on. Problem solving and teamwork were shown. They even introduce not one but two foreign languages.

My 4-year-old found them quite entertaining and laughed a lot. She easily enjoyed them. I, however, tend to agree with my 7-year old who said, “That’s weird.” I really cannot pinpoint the exact feature of the videos that I found odd. But the setup, the graphics, and the characters themselves were just weird to me.

And Mr. Juan, who is a Panda bear seems like a great idea, but when the video and lesson are introducing the letter ‘J’ and the /j/ sound, having to also explain the different sound a ‘J’ makes in “Juan” is slightly confusing to little learners.

Small Issues Don’t Prevent Big Learning

There were a few other small issues with PandaParents I noted, such as a few typos and workbook pages that don’t seem to quite make sense. Overall though, my daughter not only enjoyed the program but learned from it as well. As a homeschooling parent, I can easily overlook these things for a curriculum that is both enjoyable and educational.

And that is what PandaParents is – a curriculum that was both educational and enjoyable for my daughter.

Oh, and as I said, for the purpose of this review we were given access to three months of PandaParents. While we primarily focused on A Jolly Jingling Journey, we also had a chance to look at the other two months as well.

In Scotty Skunk Hears A Scary Sounds you follow the journey of Scotty skunk as he wakes from hibernation and looks for a new home. This story covers sounds, seasons, animals, and much more. Just like in A Jolly Jingling Journey, the accompanying workbook and video help to teach phonics, letters, science, math, and other skills for your preschooler.

And in Mommy’s Baby, little Amanda doesn’t want to go to sleep. Her Mommy shares a story all about mommy and baby animals as well as big and little shapes.

How Can You Try PandaParents In Your Homeschool?

You can check out the PandaParents website to learn a lot more about this fun and engaging program. MESSYLEARNING for preschoolers and kindergarteners is a great way to get your child interested in and excited about starting school. These products will be available in print versions late fall 2018. Feel free to check out PandaParents on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.