• We love all things educational around here. Maybe it is because I am a huge nerd, but I love to incorporate educational apps into my kids school day as often as I can. When it comes to choosing an app, there are a few things that I look for. First and foremost is of course content. Is the content relevant to what I want my kids learning, does it present it in a way that is fun and engaging? Second, I look for the ‘buy it or bail’ incentive for the free or ‘trial period’ version of the app. I am seriously reluctant to buy an app without trying it first. Especially one for my kids. Just about anyone can create an app these days, who knows what they deem appropriate. Or even worse, what if their grammar is seriously lacking.

    My son is currently in pre K and we are working mostly on letter sounds and writing. My son is a very visual four year old, but he is struggling to draw his letters.

    Actually, he can write them, he just tends to start the letters in strange places. For example with the letter A he might start at the lower right of the letter, draw half way back up and across then down. Then he will add the triangle top part last. It’s something we are working on.

    I decided to turn to the world of our iPad to help us out with this one. Basically I’m assuming that playing a game on the iPad is far more interesting than writing the letters over and over again on paper. Turns out I’m right. I finally decided on the Letter School app. There were lots of different options out there, but this one fit our needs the best. It had a free version to try out. Check. The full version was only $2. Awesome. Now on to content. Your child is given the option to pick a letter from the alphabet. There is a short animation that teaches the letter sounds. Sweet. Next your child is asked to tap parts of the letter. When they tap the appropriate spot the app shows how to draw that part of the letter. Once that’s done your child is asked to trace the letter. Again, it has to be traced in the right order. Finally your child is requested to draw the letter for themself. Fantastic! Here again they have to draw the letter correctly.

    Since using this app my son’s handwriting has dramatically improved. A huge bonus, his letter sounds have also been reinforced. As far as I am concerned this app is well worth the money for the full version.