Category: Phonics »

“Preschool Connect the Dots...” is a phenomenal value with a whopping 200+ puzzles offered and a plethora of settings that allows you to customize the experience for different ages, interests, and skill/competency levels. At first glance, the screen is full of what looks like a flurry of random dots with numbers or letters, but once you start connecting them, a rough sketch appears. When you finish the puzzle, you’re rewarded with a picture that completes the sketch. My favorite features include the option to choose from five different puzzle themes/topics (e.g. animals, transportation), the high quality sounds effects and narration, and the multitude of learning opportunities offered. From an educational perspective, this app helps preschoolers sharpen skills including object identification and pronunciation, counting, letters (upper and lower case options). We look forward to many, many hours of fun and enjoyment connecting the dots.

Dictionary.com is a reference application that includes a dictionary, thesaurus, and word-of-the-day option, and also keeps a log of the most recent word searches. Reference words are quickly and easily accessed directly from the app, which can potentially save the user time and frustration from dealing with an unreliable internet connection. The best feature of all – and what helps make this app superior to traditional book versions – is the audio pronunciation. Now, not only do I understand what I’m reading and writing, but I can impress my peers with profound, polysyllabic words without fear of butchering the pronunciation. One might argue this application is the best-of-its-kind, but there’s absolutely no doubt that Dictionary.com is a "must-have" for students and curious minds of all ages.

This spelling application is based on the PBS Kids television series “Word World”. You play by dragging the floating letters to its corresponding outline to “build a word”; the words then become animated characters. For example, D-O-G becomes a wiggly, barking dog, and D-U-C-K becomes a quacking (and talking) duck. The animation is stunning and this application adopts a delightful approach to teach spelling. There is a tremendous feeling of satisfaction when words become animated characters – undoubtedly a powerful association that can help foster early literacy. The first few times I played this app I was completely absorbed but it soon became predictable since there are only ten words/characters and they are always played in the same sequence. In its current form this application is a winner, but updated versions could benefit from additional words, characters, and a randomized sequence to keep it fresh.

The educational application Hippo Letters practices letter identification. The user is given four choices of letters and asked – in both written and spoken ways – to touch the identified letter. Get the answer right and you’re given a playful, positive affirmation like “you rock”, “super cool” and “awesome”. Get enough correct answers and there is a fireworks display. The graphics and design are clean and attractive and the app is easy to understand and use. I also appreciate the encouraging nature of instruction. Unlike many toddler apps with several game options offered, Hippo Letters has one repetitive feature (letter identification) and playing it over and over again quickly becomes tiresome. Granted, this app does have fireworks… but not a lot of bang for the buck.

This clever app builds on the foundation of the remarkably successful Peekaboo Barn. For Peekaboo Wild, instead of knocking on the barn door to be greeted by a mélange of farmyard animals, you tap the rustling savannah grass to view the exotic animals on the African plain. Each animal is identified by the sound they make as well as their written and spoken name in either English or Spanish. The educational focus is early literacy, language skills and animal identification. I couldn’t wait to upload this app because my toddler and I love the stunning graphics and sweet narration of Peekaboo Barn. The formula (concept, artwork, and even narration) are very similar but the animals and sounds make this a completely new experience for my little one. It’s a bit pricey considering you only get to peek at eleven animals on this safari tour, but it’s worth it to me; my toddler can’t get enough of the adorable hippo and I enjoy the elegance of this artful app.

Letter Peek is an educational tool that associates alphabetical letters with corresponding words that begin with each respective letter (For example, Aa = Apple). The letter is spoken by a narrator (in a male or female voice) then a virtual page is flipped up to reveal a fleeting look at a photographic image and the corresponding word. The page then retracts and you once again see the letter. What my son finds particularly fascinating about this app is the “peek-a-boo” quality of this game. The back and forth between the letter and image help with word association and vocabulary and the nature of this tool is to facilitate both visual and auditory learning of the ABCs. This app is done very well and it gets two thumbs up but I wish there was more offered. This tool is limited to 26 “peeks” – one flashcard for each letter of the alphabet. It would be nice to have several sets from which to choose.

The Early Reader learning tool is geared to help parents and teachers implement fundamental skills to help a child learn to read. This is done through the use of flashcards which are categorized into four reading basics: phonics, sight words, sounding out, and sentences. The old version didn’t have audio (which didn’t make much sense when the app is to teach phonics and sounding out) but the publishers listened to user feedback and a recent update has improved the app greatly by adding audio. I haven’t started reading lessons with my child yet but when I do I plan to use this product.