Endless Alphabet App

Endless Alphabet App created by the team at Originator, Inc. Available on iTunes for iPhone and iPad. $6.99

Annotation: Imagine: words like gargantuan and ruckus being easily tossed into everyday conversation by preschoolers. How could this be? Chalk it up to the positive influence of some silly vocabulary monsters in the Endless Alphabet app.

Summary: This is a cleverly designed interactive app which introduces letter sounds, spelling, and definitions of featured words. Over fifty vocabulary words are included with the app, and these are not typical beginner words like cat or dog. Instead, preschoolers are challenged with words such as demolish and bellow. As the scattered letters of the selected word are dragged to their proper place within the word, not only do they move and wiggle, but they produce their phonetic sounds.



Once the word has been completely filled in with its letters, the friendly monsters stampede past, cheering all the while, and then an animated short plays which demonstrates the definition of the vocabulary word.




Critical Evaluation: This app has been designed to move at the pace of each individual child. Navigation is intuitive, and children will move easily from the main menu where vocabulary words are selected to the individual word modules and back again. The animated monsters are eye-catching, and their antics while defining each word are extremely entertaining. The accompanying sound effects and music are not overpowering, and add an additional level of interactivity to the app.

While the app is priced higher than other similar educational games, I believe that the complexity of the learning experience make it worth the cost. Children not only will learn to recognize each letter, but will gain experience with the phonetic sounds of each, how the letters are put together to make words, and what the words mean, and all while having fun.

Originator has also released Endless Numbers, Endless Reader, and most recently, Endless Wordplay. These apps are wonderful tools to boost a child's reading and mathematical skills while developing a love of learning.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 3 to 5

Awards: 2013 App of the Year Runner-up ; App Store's Editor's Choice

Why Included? I purchased this app for my son a couple of years ago, and he really enjoyed making the words from the squiggly talking letters. An interactive app such as Endless Alphabet that can make learning so much fun is a valuable addition to any library's collection of resources.

Spot it! : a Card Game

Spot it! : a card game. Blue Orange Games. $13.99

Annotation: Study the cards as quick as you can to be the first one to spot the one thing they have in common!

Summary: This card game for ages four and up is based on the concept of there being one and only one matching symbol between the eight symbols pictured on any two cards. Each player has a card, and there is a card on the master pile. Whoever spots the match between their card and the pile card gets to take it, and then the hunt for the match on the next card in the pile begins. Some matches are apparent right away, while others seem impossible to determine. There is always the added pressure of the other player finding a match before you do, which increases the excitement of the game.

When the pile of 55 cards has been exhausted, the player with the most cards is the winner. Rules for five versions of the game are included with the cards in a travel-friendly tin. Because reading ability is not a requirement to play the game, pre-readers can join in the fun with older players. This is a quick-paced game, well-suited for just two players or a group up to eight people in size.

Critical Evaluation: Spot it! allows children to increase their ability to focus and to develop visual perception skills while having fun. To determine which one of the symbols on their card matches one of the symbols on the pile card also aids them in their pattern recognition abilities. The symbols are sized and oriented differently on each card, which helps to add an adaptability to visual perception skills that would be helpful in many other educational tasks when they are older.

For children, playing a game against older children and adults where they are not at a disadvantage due to their age or logical skills can be extremely empowering. Spot it! gives every player an equal opportunity to win: the only requirement to do so is to be the quickest to recognize a match between cards. 

Age or Interest Level: Ages 4 and up.

Awards: Parents’ Choice Foundation Gold Award 2010, Dr Toy: 10 Best Games 2010, Fat Brain Toy Awards 2011 WINNER in the Games category, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Toy Award Gold Seal 2010, The National Parenting Center 2010 Seal of Approval, Creative Child 2011 Seal of Excellence Award, Mom’s Choice Awards 2012 Honoree

Why Included? My son received Spot it! for Christmas this past year, and we have enjoyed playing it many times. Unlike other games that languish in the game cabinet, Spot it! is still out on the coffee table, always ready for a quick round of matching.

Plants: a Science App

Plants App created by the team at Tinybop, Inc. Available on iTunes for iPhone and iPad. $2.99

Annotation: Imagine an open-ended digital world where you are in charge of not only the weather, pollination, flora and fauna, but also the passing of time. This cleverly designed app allows the participant to do just that, and learn a great deal about life cycles and the interconnected web of nature at the same time.

Summary: Second in the Explorers Library Series by Tinybop, this open-ended app presents three diorama-style biomes (forest, grassland, and desert) where touch screen capabilities enable the participant to interact with multiple aspects of the landscape, weather, flora and fauna, and time.

There is no instruction booklet, and as children explore the app, swiping here or tapping there, the discovery of a possible action invites further investigation. Pollination, weather events, decomposition, fire, and animal and plant life cycles can be initiated and better understood as each stage of the processes is illustrated.



Accompanying the visual depiction of the dioramas are labels which specify the names of the plants and animals. These labels are also interactive, and are available in over 50 languages. Natural sounds play in the background, but never at a distracting frequency or volume.



As updates are developed, Tinybop plans on releasing additional biomes and animal species to allow more complex natural worlds to emerge. Additionally, Tinybop has provided a free downloadable handbook for parents and educators who wish to encourage conversation about the outcomes in the Plants world.

Critical Evaluation: This science app has been designed to appeal to the natural inquisitiveness of children, and each participant's experience will be highly individualized. Many of the aspects of nature that are explored in Plants support STEM learning outcomes. This would be a valuable app to offer in a school or public library setting, particularly in conjunction with other materials focusing on life cycles and the interconnected structure of the natural world.

French illustrator Marie Caudry's drawings of the plants, landscapes, and animals are playful and attractive while remaining accurate. The many interactive details invite closer study and inspire wonder. Her palette changes with the time of day and with the seasons, but is consistently vibrant and richly hued.

The Plants app is priced very reasonably for the included content. The complexity of the learning experience, as well as the projected expansion of available biomes and animal species make it well worth the cost. Tinybop has released two other titles in the Explorer's Library Series: Human Body and Homes, which are available purchase as a bundle for even greater cost-effectiveness.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 6 to 8

Awards: ---

Why Included? Children's lives are often so structured by daily life in our society that it is not often that they are completely in charge. Plants gives them a chance to do things exactly as they want to, and then observe the results.