Kate R.

This is an wonderful app! As a former Kindergarten teacher, reading specialist and current first grade teacher, I would definitely recommend it to parents and teachers. The graphics are cute, the directions/activities are simple and clear and I am impressed with the range of letter activities provided.

Here are a few questions, suggestions and comments that I hope will be helpful considerations as your designers work to improve and enhance this product:

TRACE THE ____ (capital letters)
At first it seemed that the little tracer icons began with the same sound as the letter but after letter S this was no longer true. Although it is a subtle feature, matching the tracer icons with the sound of that particular letter is a good reinforcer for youngsters.

Trace the capital Z did not work - no tracing icons appeared.

I love that the letters can only be formed in the proper way and if another way is tried you get a slight sound effect to indicate no. It is important to learn the right way from the get-go.

Will Trace the lower case letters be added? It should. Lower case are even trickier than upper case.

MATCH THE PICTURE TO THE LETTER IT BEGINS WITH
Children may have trouble identifying some of the pictures. For example, j-jewel but the picture is of a RING with a jewel; d-dart; y-yacht - they will call this a boat; the baby eagle for e is also a tough one.

LETTER IN BETWEEN 2 PICTURES
The directions say match the sound in the middle to the pictures that start with it but a "sound" cannot be pictured so a letter is there. Reword the directions to say something like "Think of the sound for the letter in the middle. Match it to the pictures that start with that sound." Also, being able to touch the letter to hear the sound would be helpful for many youngsters.

The G exercise in this game is a confusing one. An animal that looks like a gorilla and a giraffe are the choices. Giraffe is the correct answer however, giraffe does not begin with gs most common sound - as in "go". The animal that looks like a gorilla is probably an ape. For new learners this doesnt make sense.

There are a few other pictures students would probably have trouble identifying in the way the designers expected:
i for infant (they will call it a baby); p for puppy (they will call it a dog); t for truck (to children the beginning sounds like /chr/ rather than /t/; zephyr will also be a tricky one. If children do know what it is at all, they are likely to call it a blimp not a zephyr.

And finally:
Consider adding two setting features: the ability to navigate through the alphabet rather than having to go through the whole thing each time; provide an option to turn of the repeating of the directions for every screen within the same game.

Keep up the great work. Your products are top notc

sabrinacharliepatric about ABC Genius - Preschool Games for Learning Letters