Literacy Apps
Print awareness
As children listen to stories and learn to read, they learn subtle information about how print works. Print knowledge includes an understanding of letters and sounds, the left-to-right nature of reading, and recognizing that print differs from pictures. Helping young children develop print knowledge can help them learn other critical literacy skills.
Many of the reviews we link to are from Common Sense Education, a trusted resource for learning about apps and other edtech tools.
ABC Spy
ABC Spy challenges children to create their own ABC experience by taking photos for each letter of the alphabet — take a photo, choose a frame, give it a name. Then make a movie of all your photos to share with friends and family!
Alphabetic
Alphabetic makes identifying letters a game for your child as they have to search for letters A through Z as they spin around on the screen and before time runs out.
Alphabetical Order
Alphabetical Order challenges children to put the letters in order as well as to match upper and lower case letters, and to match the letters to their sounds.
Dr. Seuss's ABC
Dr. Seuss's ABC has three levels, "Read to Me," "Read it Myself," and "Auto Play," which allows children to grow with this app. Words highlighted are read out loud when tapped, and when narrated, children can follow along with the highlighted text.
Endless Alphabet
Letters transform into living toys that voice their names. Children quickly learn that one letter works with others to build words and sentences. Another app in the series, Endless Spanish, is ideal spelling practice for both native English and Spanish speakers. (Note: Requires an Internet connection and a lot of storage space for full functionality.)
Intro to Letters
Intro to Letters helps children read and write letters A-Z in both capital and lowercase letters through flashcards, while soundcards let your child record and listen to themselves as they practice saying each letter.
Kindy Language
Alphabet activities and games that build visual and sound discrimination, capital and lower case letter recognition and alphabetical order knowledge Sound discrimination and recognition activities Sentence building and word order activities.
Pictello
Pictello is an interactive storytelling app that lets students and kids make virtual storybooks with their own titles, photos, videos, and captions. It can be especially useful for kids who have difficulty understanding social cues, reading facial expressions, and interpreting body language. Different options for how text and pictures are read or uploaded support different types of learners. A library of sample stories can help fuel the creative process. Note that stories within the library show kids who have learning difficulties and special needs, as well as ones who don't.
Shape-O ABCs
Shape-O ABCs has children put words with the pictures in one of the program's 100 plus puzzles. Voiceovers of the letters help children learn the correct annunciation and the app lets parents adjust the difficultly level to customize it to fit their child's needs.
Starfall ABCs
Starfall ABCs lets children interact with letters, showing them each letter as both upper and lowercase, and then shows how the letters are used in sentences. Children can also play letter games, such as word mazes.
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