Monday, April 23, 2012

Learning to Write on the iPad

Lots of people have been asking about using the iPad as a way of teaching young students to write. I personally would not advocate this as the primary way of teaching youngsters the intricacies of handwriting and letter recognition but as fun supplementary activity it might provide some motivation. Here are a couple of fun apps that reinforce some of the basic writing skills taught by parents and teachers.


School Writing: $4.99 AU
School Writing allows the teacher to prepare lessons using written instructions, unique images and audio instructions, to which the student can respond using written and audio recordings. Students learn shapes, letters, numbers, words and more. 
iWriteWords: $2.99 AU
iWriteWords teaches your child handwriting while playing a fun and entertaining game. Help Mr. Crab collect the numbered balls by dragging him with your finger - and drawing the letter at the same time. Once all the letters in the word are drawn properly, a cute drawing appears. Slide the letters into the spinning hole and advance to the next level.
Alphabet Board: $1.99 AU
A fun way to learn to write!Using tried and true methods, Alphabet Board gives your children a fun, interactive way to learn to write. Alphabet Board associates different letter types with sound, promotes reading by addressing letter recognition confusion, includes large letter shapes for easy tracing and phonetic sounds for every letter.
rED Writing - Learn to Write: $1.99 AU
Co-designed by an Australian teacher for children aged 3-7 years old, rED Writing contains 8 education approved handwriting fonts used throughout Australian schools. Featuring 6 fun learning modes (including upper and lower case letters, numbers and handwriting shapes) all supported with audio using a clear Australian male voice.
abc PocketPhonics: $2.99 AU
Letter sounds. Handwriting. First words. PocketPhonics teaches all three. Kids, parents and teachers love it. Aimed at kids aged between 3 and 6, and using the best ‘phonics’ teaching techniques, PocketPhonics introduces kids to each of the key letter sounds. As they learn the sounds, the app guides them how to write each letter .
Pre-K Letters and Numbers: FREE
Pre-K teaches children Letters, Words, Numbers and Phonics in a fun and engaging way following government curriculum's adopted in UK, US and Canada from pre-K to grade 5. The application brings together experiences in the classroom to your children's hands with the bonus of allowing parents and teachers to monitor their performance.
Alphabytes: $1.99 AU
A bit of education in every byte with 4 entertaining ways to learn about the alphabet, writing, spelling, and memorization. Kids will love learning the alphabet with fully animated interactions for every letter. They can also learn to write uppercase and lowercase letters through the repetition of tracing. Spelling words has never been so much fun.
Intro to Letters by Montessorium: $5.49 AU
Intro to Letters includes the activities that help students to learn the sounds of the letters, in a series of guided, interactive exercises. With an emphasis on phonetics, instead of letter names, your child will trace and select the letters. Through a number of engaging activities, your child will learn the sounds of the phonograms, and unite these with their symbols.
SUPER WHY! for iPad: $4.49 AU
The SUPER WHY app from PBS KIDS was developed by Bean Creative in partnership with PBS and Out of the Blue Enterprises, the producers of the breakthrough preschool series SUPER WHY. The series is designed to help kids ages 3 to 6 with the critical skills that they need to learn (and love) to read.
Share My ABCs: $4.99 AU
Trace letters and send messages to your loved ones! Have fun learning to write by tracing letters, words and animals in Alphabet World! Once the trace has been completed you can share your handwritten messages. Mums and Dads can change the settings as you watch your kids writing improve and track your progress from practice to guided tracing. 

Posted by Greg Swanson at 23.4.12

3 comments:

  1. Peter MeijerMay 2, 2012 at 5:10 AM

    We (Orange11) just released a new iPad application which learns kids to write at a fun way, but following an education approved method. Kids can write with a stylus or their fingers!

    You can check it our here: itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn-to-write-with-tracy/id520824335?ls=1&mt=8

    ReplyDelete
  2. Greg SwansonMay 2, 2012 at 12:47 PM

    Thanks Peter

    This like a really nice app. I will have a look more closely when I get a chance.

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 27, 2012 at 8:24 PM

    You should have a Good Look Greg. All the fonts are wrong apart from Qld, I couldn't say for sure that they are right. When is there going to be an overseeing body in all the states Departments of Education to outlaw anyone posting content and claiming that it is right! This is SO WRONG and backed by a teacher...which is even MORE Misleading!

    ReplyDelete

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