Learning Letters: Toddler's First Spelling App

FirstWords: Animals App

Your toddler always grabbing for you phone? Why not keep their fingers occupied while engaging him/her with a great app teaching them letters and forming words?

I love the FirstWords: Animals app for iPhone, iPod, and iPad. My two year old daughter absolutely loves it. She loves the animals, and I love that she is learning letters and how letters make up words.

The app basically works like this; there is an image of an animal, and the animal word is spoken. A jumble of the letters that make up the word are below it. Your child touches one of the letters in the jumble and drags it  up to the boxes to match it up to the same letter. The app also has a "magnetic" feature about it, so when your child drags the letter close to it's place, it automatically snatches the letter in correct position in the word. Your child can also touch the letter in the box, which triggers a hint by "shaking" the letter in the jumble below as another method of playing the game. This feature can also be turned off for older kids needing more of a challenge, and you can also change the settings to how long you want the words to be, and adjust difficulty levels. Once the word is completely spelled, the speaker audibly spells out the word for further reinforcement, followed by a little animation of the animal.

Only after a few demonstrations on my part, did my daughter pick up on the concept of dragging the letter to it's match. It's really an easy app to introduce to your toddler to get their mind thinking about spelling. Right now we are working on selecting the letters from left to right in order. 

There are several different kinds of FirstWords apps, like a Spanish version, the Deluxe, etc., so go with the one that you think your child will enjoy the best. There is also a free sampler of this app, if you want to try it out before purchasing it. The app is $1.99, and it comes with 39 animals/words.

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Great app for Parents of Newborns- Grow With Me

For iPhone and iPod Touch

I wish I knew about the Grow With Me app when I gave birth to my daughter!

This app is a great tool in helping you record all the information your brain is too fried to remember after giving birth and living in the hospital for a few days. It keeps track of the times of feedings (left and right breast feedings too), how many wet and dirty diapers, hours sleeping, immunizations received, medications given, growth, and an appointment feature with alerts.

You go to the doctor often when you have a newborn baby, and I know it was always challenging for me to remember how many diapers she went through a day, figuring out how many ounces she gets on average, etc. This is great to pull out on doctor visits and look back to see if your baby is developing healthy patterns. Heck, you can even be specific with recording what kind of bowl movement your baby had. You also are able to compare your child's growth stats to the national average on this app.

If you are reading this and thinking, that sounds great but my kids aren't newborns anymore, well this app can be helpful to you too. The Grow With Me app "grows" with your child in keeping track of medical records and immunizations, growth, illness, etc.

Check it out for yourself. Get the app here. Oh, did I mention, IT'S FREE.

HeyTell App - Send an Instant Voice Message

HeyTell App for iPhone, iPad, and Android

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Ever get frustrated when you have a lot to say in a text message, and then you get it all down, and then you have to read it over and make corrections, and then....well I think everyone has been in that instance, and we usually resort to just picking up the phone and trying to call a person, or settle for leaving a voicemail. 


With the HeyTell app, you just select the app, push the record button, and speak your message into the phone to a contact you've selected (who also has the app installed on their phone). Your message goes instantly to the person, who receives a notification that they have a message (much like a text message was received). They can then listen to your message instantly, and respond with a message of their own, much quicker than accessing their voicemail. You can use this app like a walkie-talkie even, or as an intercom. 


I know this doesn't replace text messaging because you typically use it when one person can't talk, but if one parent or babysitter is watching a little one who can't type a text message, it's the perfect app for that child to talk to Dad at work for example. My 2 year old daughter loves it, and learned very quickly how to send messages of her own. 


What's also great about this app is that it is FREE! It also uses very little data, about the same as sending an email, and you can use it on 3G, EDGE, or WiFi connections. Conversations can also be saved and replayed offline; a great tool if a parent has to be away for a few days, and the little one can listen to a comforting message of the missed parent's voice....for as many times as they need to...


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