| 24×7digital (all apps) |
| ABC’s (Age 2+) | |||||||||||
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| ABC’s Free (Age 2+) | |||||||||||
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I was looking for apps to help with learning the alphabet. Big-T (3yo) actually knows the alphabet already (and Little-J (1yo) is too young still), but I wanted to see what was available. I found this app. This app has a paid and free (ad sponsored) version. This is good as you can try before you buy.
24×7digital have a number of apps in this area (alphabet, numbers, word families, and more). All are potentially useful, but have pretty basic user interfaces. Trying out the free versions is certainly worth the time to see if you find any of them useful for your own purposes.
The Application
The first page displays the letter ‘A’. There are on/off switches to control the saying of letters and playing notes. (The notes are for the “ABC” song.) There are previous and next buttons to move through the letters. After you get to ‘Z’ it goes on to “now I know my A B C’s next time won’t you sing with me”.
The Good
- It shows and pronounces each letter, helping a child learn the alphabet.
- It plays a note with each letter shown, like in the “ABC” song.
- You can try before you buy. If you like it and hate the ads, you can buy it. While the interface is pretty basic, the app is pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.
- It does show a few words as well as letters (to finish off the ABC song).
- You can try to sing along if you time the ‘next letter’ button hits right.
The Bad
- The interface is pretty basic. Not much in the way of graphics or color that may appeal to a child. Big-T will switch to another app whenever given the option – but that is probably also because he knows the alphabet pretty well now.
- The voice sounds like a computer voice – not very engaging or enthusiastic.
- Its only letters – there are no pictures (‘C’ is for ‘Cat’). Pictures might not work well with the song however.
- The free version after a while pops up a dialog asking if it can send your location data off to the ad company (I assume). It comes back up again a few times if you stay in the app for a while. I always say ‘no’ – I like my privacy. To me the worry however is a child may say yes. There is the paid version of course if this annoys you, so its not a serious problem.
Educational Value
It is a resource for teaching your child the alphabet. This has clear educational merit. Its not very visually appealing which may affect the attention span of the child. Big-T if left to himself quits the first chance he gets and goes off to another app. I suspect it would be useful while sitting down with your child.
My Score
3 stars. I applaud 24×7digital for coming out with a set of apps designed to teach important concepts to children, even if they are pretty basic. However in the case of the alphabet my first recommendation would be to buy a physical book with colorful pages to encourage reading books as well as learning the letters. As such I think this app is more useful as a backup to add variety rather than the primary means of learning the alphabet.
Get it in iTunes
More information, screen shots, and user reviews can be found in the iTunes store.
Other Suggestions
- Letters: iWriteWords Tracing Game, ABC Match, Alphabetic
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