Goodnight ABC

$1.99, iPad

Teaches: reading, letters, language

CTR Rating: 86%

CTR Review

Colorful, responsive and fun, this interactive alphabet lets children freely explore 26 screens (one screen per letter), each containing a dozen or so interactive hot spots. Each screen has a day and night mode, plus two additional modes: a coloring activity where you fill in the illustrations with your fingertip, and a labeling mode. Each screen has a letter-related theme. For B, you can play basketball with Bear; for X you become a doctor with X-Ray Fish. Just about everything you'd want to touch reacts in interesting, multi-level ways. You can touch, tap, and drag every inch of the screen to uncover more items, set things in motion, assemble and disassemble devices, see and hear vocabulary words, find games and so on. Weaknesses include a rather complex first menu. The day and night mode is clever, although once a screen is asleep, it stays locked until you reset the page. More child control with this feature would be good. All in all, this is a fun, well designed alphabet-themed app.