Common Sense Media Review
By Mieke VanderBorght
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Quality, customizable content covers tricky words.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Sight Words - An early reading & spelling adventure!
What's It About?
There are 320 featured sight words that appear in the games in SIGHT WORDS - AN EARLY READING & SPELLING ADVENTURE! Activities include reading games, such as popping the balloon that holds the target word, writing games such as guiding a bear through a maze to collect letters in the correct order, and a hide-and-seek game with the host kangaroo. Kids start at Level 1 (which roughly corresponds to pre-K level words) and progress through up to Level 5 (roughly corresponding to third grade), though they can move to a different level at any time. Parents can create multiple kid profiles, keep track of progress, add words, and download the full curriculum.
Is It Any Good?
Sight words can be a tough bunch, but this varied content provides lots of repetition through a variety of games to help boost kids' familiarity with a sizable collection of words. In Sight Words - An early reading & spelling adventure!, kids get exposure to these tricky words both as a whole (in the reading games) and broken down letter by letter (in the spelling games). The games themselves may not be the most exciting things around and the narrator's delivery can be bland; however, most of the play experience is presented in a kid-friendly, appealing package, and there's enough variety to keep kids going. With words divided by levels, and games with varying levels of difficulty, kids of different ages should find something at the right challenge level. Being able to add your own words or emphasize certain words is a great touch for customization and real involvement in the learning process. The main thing missing here is context, such as using the words in a sentence, or seeing them in stories. Overall, however, there's a lot of bang for your buck in this thoughtfully constructed app.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about learning to read using Sight Words - An early reading & spelling adventure! and other materials. Help kids identify the words they don't know to get them started. Then point out whenever you see these words as you read books, signs, or wherever else you find print.
Help make learning sight words a fun experience on and off the screen. Include your own special custom words in the game. Read the in app curriculum guide, which has some nice suggestions for off-screen sight word activities.
Provide context for the target words to make them come alive. Help kids define the words, use them in sentences, or write and read stories using them.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Kindle Fire
- Subjects : Language & Reading : letter or word recognition , reading , spelling
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : memorization
- Pricing structure : Paid
- Release date : May 2, 2016
- Genre : Education
- Topics : Numbers and Letters
- Publisher : Edoki
- Version : 1.6
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 6.0 or later; Android 2.3.3 and up
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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