Price: free
May contain in-app purchases
Overall Score: 53/100
version reviewed: 1.1
reviewed:
What it is: a set of 3 activities for developing early reading skills.
What you do with it: the 'bears' game: recognize and match uppercase and lowercase letters, the 'penguins' game: form syllables by combining vowels and consonants, the 'seals' game: spell the words by placing letters in the correct order. The progress in each game can be tracked separately for each user of the app (requires registration).
What we liked: the concept (combining simple game-like activities with learning), cute characters, the rewards system, stats/progress tracking, automatic adjustment of the difficulty levels, audio instructions and clues.
What we didn't like: the way the learning material is chosen (pre-programmed or random, you can't choose a particular set of letters or words). The activities are rather simple and can quickly become repetitive. Audio instructions get lost in the background music.
Bottom line: an interesting approach to teach literacy skills with game-like activities.
Appysmarts
iPhone
iPhone
iPhone
iPhone
iPhone
iPad
Price: free (was 0.99$)
Overall Score: 52/100
version reviewed: 1.0.3
reviewed:
What is it/what do you do with it: a virtual typewriter/spelling puzzles.
Type a word using the keyboard, then put the blocks with letters to form the same word.
What we liked: the concept. Ease of use. No distracting elements.
What we didn't like: no spell checking (we recommend this app as a teacher/parent tool). A bit limited features.
Appysmarts
iPad
iPad
iPad
iPad
iPad
Price: free
May contain `more apps` links
Overall Score: 51/100
version reviewed: 1.0.001
reviewed:
What it is: a set of activities for spelling practice.
What you do with it: 7 activities for spelling practice (Unscramble, Spelling TestMe, HangMouse, Spelling TeachMe, Missing Letter, Alphabetize, Audio Word Match). Uses parent or teacher created word lists from www.spellingcity.com
What we liked: good variety of activities. Great range of learning material available.
What we didn't like: the interface is very basic. The activities are not too entertaining. Requires internet connection. Vocabulary Spelling City account required to download the lists.
Appysmarts
iPhone
iPhone
iPhone
iPad
iPad
iPad
