Common Sense Media Review
By Jenny Bristol
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Practice reading and spelling through gentle gameplay.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Playwords
What's It About?
Kids choose from three levels of word exploration. In Picture Blast, kids see a colored line-drawn picture and the word. They can hear the word read aloud by tapping the word "answer" or the picture. In Word Match, kids see the same pictures from Picture Blast with four word choices. Kids must choose the word that matches the picture. In Lost Letter, kids see the same pictures and the word with one letter missing and must choose the letter block that completes the word. The sounds and background music are peaceful and score is not tracked.
Is It Any Good?
PLAYWORDS is a visually attractive app that helps kids learn to read and spell a variety of words. Its instruction is gentle, with no scoring or goal to reach. Each of the three games offers a different level of challenge, testing a different component of literacy. This app may appeal to a wider range of abilities than most literacy apps. Once kids have mastered the 300+ words, however, there will be little to bring them back to the app.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Play the app with your child, emphasizing the letter sounds in the words.
Draw your child's attention to printed words in their world -- point out an exit sign and pronounce the word together; look at a stop sign and form the sounds in the word.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects : Language & Reading : letter or word recognition , spelling , vocabulary
- Skills : Communication : listening , Thinking & Reasoning : memorization
- Pricing structure :
- Release date : February 12, 2011
- Genre : Kids' Games
- Publisher : Pocketglow Inc.
- Version : 1.0
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 3.0 or later
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
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