LolasAlphabetTrain
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Two apps to teach spatial relationships and the alphabet to kids
Apps to teach small children letters and words have come a long way since my own kids were playing StickyBear ABC on an Apple ][+. Here are two examples: Lola's Alphabet Train (US$0.99) for the iPhone and iPod touch (it's also available for the iPad as Lola's Alphabet Train HD at $1.99) and KidzBlox ($0.99), which is a universal app. These are both simple (with Lola being harder since you need to know some words) and repetitious, which may bore the stuffing out of parents, but they seem totally appropriate for small children. Lola's Alphabet Train Lola's Alphabet Train (by BeiZ) features Lola the Panda, a bear who wants to buy presents for her friends. She must travel to the shops by train. The game features easy, medium or hard modes. To get the train moving, certain tasks need to be completed; some are harder than others. The simplest is a simple letter recognition task. Three letters are displayed as the name of one is spoken. The player must touch the correct letter, which is shown in a text block. Two successful trials move the train onto the next task. A matching activity presents six letter tiles. Several tiles are displayed quickly (I would have left it on the screen for a longer time) before flipping over. There are three pairs of matching blocks on each screen, and the object is to touch the matching two, which will cause them to vanish. When you touch one, you hear the letter spoken, which is great for reinforcement. Once that task is complete, the train moves on to the spelling task. An object is displayed and the letters need to spell its name are scattered about. The player must arrange them properly. As you touch a letter, its name is spoken, and when all the letters are in the right place, the name of the object is spoken, which moves the train to the store where you can buy one present. At the store the you'll find items like a robot, car, sheep doll, etc., all at different prices. You "pay" for items with coins collected by completing the aforementioned tasks.
