Bottom Line: What's a great way to teach your kids sight/spelling words? Dinosaurs jumping off a bridge, of course!
Memory Game: Spelling Words makes learning sight words more enjoyable than simple flash cards through a matching game and bridge-diving dinosaurs. Children simply match two alike words to eliminate those two tabs, partly revealing an image behind.
Once fully revealed, the image is of a bridge with a small dinosaur at the bottom. When each round ends, a mini-game starts as other dinosaurs walk across and the child must tap those that match the one at the bottom (his “cousins.”)
As I wrote in my review of Memory Game: Multiplication (which has the same mini-game), E and Lily continued playing to get back to the mini-game because of the funny sounds the dinosaurs made (with kids' voices), especially when they picked the wrong ones. If the wrong dinosaur is touched it sometimes says “Noooo...” as it falls off the bridge. A lot of giggles.
There are A LOT of matching apps in the app store and I really like the idea of using math and language arts in the game, as opposed to just matching pictures, for example. The app contains over 600 words, including Dolch's sight word list and others.
Memory Game: Spelling Words features options for short-vowel words, long-vowel words, sight words and creating a custom list of 10 words from the master list. Parents can also set the number of tiles and whether to display the words using upper or lowercase letters. There are one and two player options and the app records the high scores for each each of the first three word sets.
The atmosphere created by developer @Reks is excellent. There is nice background music, great sound, the children's voices in the mini-game, and really cute animated dinosaurs. I think the app would also work very well with special needs children who, in my experience with my oldest son, definitely prefer this type of atmosphere.
The only thing I think the app is really missing is some sort of tangible progression. Since the mini-game is the same after each round (although it can be turned off), I would recommend adding something like dinosaurs to be unlocked after so many screens have been completed, even if they are the same type as those already in the app but a different color. That would give children a feeling of accomplishment as they proceed through the app..."you've unlocked the special RED dinosaur!" or something celebratory like that. Lily loves to show me something on the iPad and say "Look! I did it!"
That said, it's a really well-done app at a great price. Recommended!
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If you would like to purchase Memory Game: Spelling Words please use the links provided. The cost is the same, but Smart Apps receives a small percentage. Thanks for your support!
iPhone/iPad ($2.99): U.S. Canada U.K. Australia
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