Tech and Early Literacy, Part 2

There are so many great early literacy apps, that I decided to write about them in multiple posts.  In Tech & Literacy Part 1, I shared some great book apps for preschoolers.  However, before children can become capable readers, there are some basic literacy skills they must acquire:

•     Vocabulary – knowing the names of things
•          Print motivation – having an interest in and enjoyment of books
•        Print awareness – this includes understanding that print is read from left to right, and being able to point to a word on a page
•         Narrative skills – being able to describe something or tell a story
•         Letter knowledge – knowing the alphabet
•         Phonological awareness – being able to hear and mimic the smaller sounds within a word

Check out these iPad and iPhone apps for developing early literacy skills with your tot. 

Elmo Loves ABCs installs to iPad for $4.99 and has a user rating of 4 out of 5 stars.  Kids can trace the upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet to practice writing and letter identification.  Users also build vocabulary while playing games with Elmo.  It’s worth noting that there is a FREE preview version of this app called Elmo Loves ABCs Lite.  It gives you the opportunity to explore the features of the full version using letters A, B, and C only.  You have to purchase the full version to “unlock” the rest of the alphabet.

Lakeshore Learning Materials has developed two apps that are among my favorites.  Sound Sorting Beginning Sounds has the user choose three pictures from eighteen options that all begin with a single consonant sound.  

Users must then

match additional pictures to one of the original three based on a common beginning sound.  

Users can tap any picture to hear the name of the objects.  This app costs 99 cents and has a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.  It can install to both iPad and iPhone devices, but you have to pay for each one separately.  

Tic Tac Toe Phonics (also by Lakeshore) presents a twist on traditional Tic Tac Toe whereby users have to answer a phonics question correctly in order to place their X or O in a square.  This will certainly require some assistance from parents, especially for preschool users.  Questions range from identifying numbers of syllables to filling in missing letters from a word.  All questions have multiple-choice answers.  Tic Tac Toe Phonics rates 4 out of 5 stars, and it’s FREE!          

First Words Animals features 45 illustrated and animated animals through which kids learn to recognize and match letters and sounds.  Options allow parents to adjust the difficulty for various ability levels.  These include limiting the length of the words (words can be anywhere from three to ten letters long) and providing hints for spelling.  First Words Animals has a rating of 4 out of 5 stars and costs $1.99 to install to both tablet and phone.  

These apps are so much fun, in addition to being incredible learning tools.  I encourage you to consider them if you’re looking for educational apps for your young child.  For web-based reading tools, explore the links below.  

Hubbard's Cupboard

Literacy Websites for Preschoolers