This iPad app provides step-by-step reading lessons designed to help young children learn to read. It features the Reading Raven companion, who guides children along as they encounter fly-eating frogs, caterpillars that turn into butterflies, circus acrobats, ball balancing seals, underwater sea creatures, snow monsters, and more. The phonics-based approach is designed to guide children as they learn to read, and to help them become both independent readers and capable spellers. Each lesson is self-paced so children gradually progress through a variety of reading sub-skills. Activities include: letter matching, tracing and recognition, as well as word matching (age 3+); vocabulary, word beginnings, word building, and word spotting (age 4+); reading aloud using voice recording; word tracing; and word groups (age 5+). Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Carefully constructed and very didactic (controlled) this letter tracing app contains two activities specifically designed to teach children to write uppercase letters as well as recognize the sound of each letter. Letter Tracing has three steps: Stage 1 – Inside an outline of the letter, your child traces each numbered stroke in the order shown, starting with the circle, along the dotted line, and ending at the star; Stage 2 – the circle and star disappear, but the dotted line remains for your child to trace; and Stage 3 – the dotted line is removed, and your child writes the letter on their own within the outline. In the Letter Sounds Game, your child can practice matching the sound of each letter with its written symbol. The app asks aloud, “Touch the letter that makes the sound R” and your child chooses from 3 on-screen letters. If they tap the wrong letter the sound will repeat until the correct letter is chosen. When they select the correct letter, its sound and name are repeated to reinforce learning before the next letter is shown. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
The Bob Books app is based on the print editions of a popular workbook series (learn more at www.bobbooks.com). The app presents a step-by-step word-building experience, where the more letters you match, the more the picture fills in. Reading Magic 1 contains twelve scenes for 32 words, presented in four levels to provide increasing challenges to children as they play. Also available is Reading Magic 2, with 12 new scenes, different animations and 50 words. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
This toy delivers a close to endless supply of letter-related skits, stories and-or songs, delivered on a very low-tech black and white LCD screen. It is possible to personalize the content with your child’s name, including customized emails from family and a music playlist. Note, however, that this requires plugging the device into an Internet-connected Mac or Windows computer. This also syncs the device with the Leapfrog’s online Learning Path. Included content includes one story, one email and three songs, and holds up to five stories, ten songs and three emails at a time. Requires 3 AA batteries which are included. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Turn your iPad into a talking alphabet/language generator. To build a word, you drag it from an alphabet strip onto a 44 letter grid, where it snaps into place, pronouncing any word that might be created, including nonsense words. The main menu offers two choices: Moveable Alphabet, for free exploration of word combinations; and Spelling Quiz, a talking spelling ten word test with 173 built in word lists (e.g., nature words, or 1000 most frequently used words). In the spelling tests, you hear the word, and must spell it using the same alphabet strip used in the Moveable Alphabet. Options include a spell checker that highlights unrecognized words, American and British voices, the ability to change the speed or tone of the voice, uppercase or lowercase letters, and two backgrounds. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
While light on “fun” (the “game” consists of a multiple-choice letter matching activity), the most valuable part of this app is the ability to trace a letter and get real-time feedback. A free Lite version is available that features only the first six letter sounds. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Ideal for children in need of some extra spelling and comprehension practice, My Word! Reader is designed for older readers. At the heart of the app is a story called “Are Bees Smart” by Selma Wassermann, presented via block paragraphs, with select words highlighted. Content includes six activities that have you spelling words by unscrambling them, matching pictures with words, and so on. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This collection of word puzzles includes 300 words, each with an associated picture. Any word, letter or picture can be heard with a simple touch. In the easy level, words are spelled one letter at a time. Levels 2 and 3 automatically create multi-word crosswords in different combinations. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Put a reading teacher in your Nintendo DS, in this single cartridge title that can track up to three children. In the “Learning Track” mode, children work through 10 lessons, each taking about five minutes. The lessons first introduce the concept and later activities provide practice by way of multiple-choice games, a reading comprehension game, or a spelling drill where you drag and drop letters into place to spell words. The lessons are presented in sequence, not unlike the way they would be presented in a typical first grade classroom. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Put a phonics teacher inside your preschooler’s plush toy, with Smarty Ants, a $30 talking dog designed to teach early reading essentials. Borrowing from the Webkinz model, the $30 toy comes with one month of free content (a code is included) that gives your child access to a virtual world, called Smarty Ants Reading World (designed by Two Fish). Once you’ve setup your child’s account, they can steer an avatar representation of their dog inside the world, take a pre-test, and play games. You can then adjust the content inside the plush toy to your child’s level, by plugging it into your computer with the included USB plug and customizing the level. Currently there are two animals — a white dog and a husky. Both have a moving mouth and robotic neck. The sound is clear. Powered by three AA batteries (included). Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This subscription-based curriculum for preschool through kindergarten lets children explore a wide variety of content in a structured way. After you log in, and pay the $8/month subscription, you can create individual accounts for up to three children, who can be at different levels. Each child can then log in, and create their own avatar. From this point, they can explore a classroom, where items lead to stories, structured multiple-choice style drills, nursery rhymes and games. As children play, they collect tickets, which can be used to unlock new clothing or toys for their classroom. Prices are $7.95/month and $79.00/year and each account allows up to three children per household. Call about school pricing. The service was created by Age of Learning, Inc. which is located in Glendale, CA. The creators originally started Neopets.com. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
This new format Leapster cartridge (for Leapster Explorer only) targets girls with seven princess-themed games. As you flip through pages of the book, reading-related challenges come up. For example, you are asked to touch items that help clear the path, to get into a castle. Created by Other Dream for Leapfrog. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
A kindle for the kindergartners? V.Tech (www.vtechkids.com) hopes so, with this week’s release of V.Reader (formerly called FLiP), a $60 ebook player targeting early readers with a clear touch screen and a membrane QWERTY keyboard. To read a book, you snap in a cartridge, or, if you’ve downloaded content from a Mac or Windows computer, you can touch the backpack icon. You can listen as the story is narrated in slide show fashion, or touch any page to discover hidden hot spots. When plugged into a Mac or Windows computer by way of the USB port, it will be possible to download additional stories from www.vtechkids.com, a feature not available until August. Stories in the library will include The Little Engine that Could, Disney/Pixar’s Cars, Shrek, Dora the Explorer, Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3, Disney Fairies, Mr. Men and Little Miss, Scooby-Doo and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
One of a library of Qbooks, Sebastian’s Tail is an eBook on an iPhone with excellent text decoding, but some weak points in the interface. There are also two additional games: concentration and a word search. After you choose your language option (US English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and NZ Maori) you can either hear the book narrated, or explore the words and draw on the illustrations yourself, or (for the iPhone only) record your own narration. To record your own voice, you find the recorder button, which pops up quite frequently, and start talking. The next time you touch the words, you hear your voice. We reviewed the Lite (free) version. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Warning. If you’re expecting to find the charm of the original Reader Rabbit titles, first published by The Learning Company, you’re in for a disappointment. In the game, Reader Rabbit and his sidekick Sam the Lion, are flying their Dreamship when they are captured by a giant bubble wrap. They land in Balloon Town, an island made of balloons where all sharp objects including their airship are locked away in a palace. To free their airship, they must gather the 5 different instruments for the band that have been scattered around Balloon Town and use them to wake up the sleeping bull in front of the palace. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Designed to look like a pot of soup, this battery-operated phonics toy comes with an attached talking spoon that prompts children to find the letters needed to spell specific three-letter words. While he talks, background music plays in repeating loops. There are five activities including letter sounds (tells the sound a letter makes), finding fun (asks for the letter that makes a sound), counting colors (asks for you to press a certain color block), letter order (tells you what what letter comes after) and spelling time (asks you to spell a word). Includes 4 AA batteries for demo purpose only and an automatic shut-off. Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.