Common Sense Media Review
By Jonathan H. Liu
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Teaches ABCs and online literacy at the same time.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 3+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
ABC Go
What's It About?
Kids choose letters and then see several things that start with that letter. Kids choose a square for one of the vehicles -- like bicycle, blimp, buggy, bulldozer, or bumper car for B -- and then see the word spelled out. Kids can scroll through several pictures of the vehicle and watch videos of it in action or interact with a picture of it. Kids can also choose a different letter in the word to go to a screen showing vehicles that start with that letter.
Is It Any Good?
ABC GO is a great idea for young children exploring the alphabet. The app starts with a grid with the letters of the alphabet scattered across it, as well as at least one word for each letter. Tapping on a letter brings up one of the words starting with that letter, or you can tap a specific word to go to that word. Each word is accompanied by a photo, with the letters beneath held by little people, and a voice reads the initial letter and then the word itself. After a brief pause, another little cartoon person pops down holding a screen, which the child can tap to watch a video about the subject.
Tapping any of the letters held by the people jumps to a word beginning with that letter, and the process repeats. Also, tapping the "abc" button jumps back to the alphabet grid, and the grayed-out squares are replaced by thumbnails of the images already viewed. It's a fantastic app that allows kids to learn the alphabet while watching entertaining videos and exploring links. The app is self-contained and doesn't present any options or settings screens, making it very kid-friendly.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the various modes of transportation. Which vehicle is your kid's favorite? Why?
Find opportunities in real life to continue ABC Go's alphabet-learning activities -- have kids spell out vehicle names while you're on the way to school.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects : Language & Reading : letter or word recognition , vocabulary
- Skills : Tech Skills : using and applying technology
- Pricing structure :
- Release date : January 29, 2011
- Genre : Education
- Publisher : Peapod Labs LLC
- Version : 2.3
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 3.0 or later
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
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