Gappy Learns Reading - Teach Kids Spelling and Reading With Letters & Sounds - Educational Sight Word Games for Kindergarten
By Mieke VanderBorght,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Simple, cute spelling app is fun but can get tedious.
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Gappy Learns Reading - Teach Kids Spelling and Reading With Letters & Sounds - Educational Sight Word Games for Kindergarten
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What’s It About?
Kids are asked to spell three-letter words to help the character, a cute bunny named Gappy, construct bridges during a long walk home. There are four levels of play, and activities range from finding one missing letter in a word to spelling a whole word upon hearing it spoken aloud. When kids reach 10 correctly spelled words, they earn part of a house they can use to customize Gappy's house. In the app's alphabet area, kids can review letter names and their sounds. Kids or parents can choose to include spelling words from three preloaded lists (with a total of more than 200 words), and kids can play using lower-case or capital letters.
Is It Any Good?
GAPPY LEARNS READING boasts clean and simple graphics, a user-friendly interface, and a likable character named Gappy. As an app that helps kids learn how to spell and construct words, it's a relative success. However, the options for customization and the range of potential learning are somewhat limited. Some kids may get bored with the preloaded word lists, and play can be somewhat repetitive and tedious. Because words are preloaded, and all have only three letters, it isn't as extensive as it could be. What’s more, some of the words may be odd choices for beginning readers. Progress is hidden as kids play, and there's no option to save and exit mid-round. This can be a lot to ask for the app's young audience.
Gappy Learns Reading works best as a tool that pre-readers and emerging readers can use for extra practice. Its gentle, clean approach and repetitive play also could make it a helpful tool for kids with language delays.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Monitor kids as they play to make sure they're on an appropriate level.
Talk to your kids about letters and their sounds, especially letters in words they're already familiar with.
Expand your kids' active vocabulary by talking to them about the meanings of the words they encounter in the app.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPad
- Subjects: Language & Reading: letter or word recognition, phonics, reading, spelling
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: memorization, part-whole relationships, Communication: listening, multiple forms of expression
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Release date: September 5, 2013
- Category: Education
- Topics: Numbers and Letters
- Publisher: Spinlight Studio
- Version: 1.5
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 4.3 or later
- Last updated: July 2, 2019
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