ABC Play
By Jonathan H. Liu,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Fun tool for learning ABCs with sports videos, images.
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ABC Play
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What’s It About?
Kids playing ABC Play can learn the alphabet by tapping on letters and hearing them pronounced, and seeing words that begin with those letters. Also, they will learn about various sports by seeing photographs and watching videos of them being played. Each letter has several photos of sports beginning with that letter, and there are curated YouTube videos chosen of each sport, showing athletes playing or competing.
Is It Any Good?
ABC PLAY is an excellent app for young children to explore the ABCs. The app starts with a grid with the letters of the alphabet scattered across it, as well as at least one sport for each letter. Tapping on a letter brings up one of the words starting with that letter, or you can tap a specific 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, 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.
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. The videos are a great way to see the sports in action, and the photos (selected from Creative Commons licensed images) are nicely chosen.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Show kids how they can jump to another letter by tapping on any letter in a sport's name.
Provide your kids the opportunity to experience some of the sports in the app in real life. Even something as simple as bouncing or kicking a ball can help build gross motor skills.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects: Language & Reading : letter or word recognition, reading, vocabulary, Hobbies : sports, Arts : playing
- Release date: March 30, 2011
- Category: Educational Games
- Topics: Sports and Martial Arts
- Publisher: Peapod Labs LLC
- Version: 1.0
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 3.1.3 or later
- Last updated: August 22, 2016
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