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When it comes to educational apps and games, sometimes less is quite a bit more. This is especially true for very young children. Tappy Alphabet is a fantastic learning app for iPad that teaches kids over 100 different vocabulary words and 43 beginning word sounds.
One of the first things I look for in an educational app is ease of use, and Tappy Alphabet is very simple and straightforward. All 26 letters of the alphabet are displayed on the screen at once, and children can tap on each letter to reveal a vocabulary word.
Tappy Alphabet also helps children learn words by hearing them. A narrator pronounces the sound of the letter, followed by the word. Pronunciations are very clear and easy to understand, so kids shouldn’t have any trouble following along.
Also, Tappy Alphabet supports lowercase letters. Simply tap the lowercase button on the bottom of the screen, and all letters will change over. Vocabulary words for each letter also change to reflect current capitalization settings.
As children explore Tappy Alphabet, they can easily revisit a letter by tapping on it. A new vocabulary word will appear. If all letters are turned over, there’s a handy refresh button at the bottom of the screen. This resets all letters on the screen.
Personally I really like the fact that Tappy Alphabet encourages children to explore the app with little to no direction. Sometimes kids get frustrated when they don’t understand exactly what an app requires of them, but Tappy Alphabet is very straightforward; tap the letter, hear the word, and see the object representing it.
Tappy Alphabet also allows parents to optionally disable narration, which allows them to practice vocabulary words with their child using their voice. One thing I did notice is that the narration toggle button is located on the same screen as the letters, so there’s a chance that kids could accidentally disable narration.
As it is, Tappy Alphabet is a very well-designed and simple learning app for kids. However, if it wanted to go a step further, I think the app could use a section for parents to see how many times their child has tapped on each letter. Such an open-ended app could possibly overwhelm young learners, and this would give parents a chance to see if their child is skipping certain letters so nothing goes unpracticed. This is merely a suggestion, though.
Lastly, parents can take comfort in knowing that Tappy App doesn’t include ads, in-app purchases, or external links of any kind.
Overall, I think Tappy Alphabet is a fantastic alphabet app for iPad. It’s incredibly simple to use, and even the youngest of children will have fun tapping on letters and interacting with it.
I also like the fact that parents can jump in and practice with their child, as well. I definitely recommend Tappy Alphabet if the iPad is one of your preferred learning tools.
Tappy Alphabet requires iOS 4.3 or later and is compatible with iPad.
A small fee was paid by the developer for publication of this review
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- Learning the Alphabet with Tappy Alphabet App Review (shibleysmiles.com)
