In the middle of Sept this year, I have started teaching my 3.5 years old boy unofficially. Unofficially in the sense that we do not follow any curriculum or schedule. I have tried introducing alphabets to my boy but our progress is still at a very slow pace, he can sings right from A to Z but somehow he is still slow in recognising the alphabets. At the moment, the only alphabet he can recognise is the letter C (which he says as 'kah-kah' in phonics). Hence this review is based on my sole opinion as I did not involve my boy's participation in this app. Without further ado, here goes my feedback...
* Title: Alphabet Plus
* Price: Free (at the time of my post published)
* Category: Education
* Updated: Aug 03, 2012
* Version: 1.02
* Size: 11.4 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Emmy Chen
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later.
Description from the product page:
"Alphabet Plus combines four games into one which provides everything your child needs to learn the alphabet, phonics and the sound and first words associated with each letter. This app includes the "Alphabet Song", a coloring book with a page for each letter, activities for learning the letters in sequence, and fun animated games to teach pronunciation and letter recognition. Your child can click on each animated letter and pictures and objects will pop up on the screen with the sound of the first letter and sound out the words. Learning to associate each letter with the phonics sound is an important first step for kids to learn to read. The entertaining and enjoyable format will keep children focused as they learn."
* There are 6 different games in this app: Coloring, ABC song, Matching, Ordering, Words and Tapping.
* I don't quite like some of the games in terms of its layout and design. For example I am not a black or dark color background person as I find it hard to focus and it's contrast is quite glaring.
* The ordering game is one that I enjoy and think my boy will appreciate once he started recognising the letters.
In summary, this app is OK and I think it can be greatly improved in terms of the designing and layout aspects - to make it more interesting with easy to see coloring scheme.
You can purchase the "Alphabet Plus" app from the iTunes App Store.
I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"
