ABC ZooBorns

$2.99, iPad

Teaches: letter recognition, language, art

CTR Rating: 94%

CTR Review

Here's yet another well designed alphabet-themed app from Peapod Labs (see also Music, Wildlife, Play, Food and Go).ABC ZooBorns turns your iPad or iPhone screen into an alphabet-themed visual encyclopedia, based on beautiful photos from royalty free sources such as Flickr and YouTube. The result is an authentic presentation of letter-themed animal photos. You start by touching one of the approximately 150 thumbnail images (156 as of July 2012), organized alphabetically. Each leads to a letter-themed animal item. For A, for example, you'll get a close-up view of an Aardvark. For E, you see an amazing baby elephant. Adults can manage app features and create an online account for a child by "reverse pinching" on a parent icon. This involves registering, and makes it possible to sync program menus across different devices; which is a very smart feature. As with the other Peapod ABC apps, each word appears, letter-by-letter, on the bottom of the screen. Touching any of the letters within the word sends you to another set of words; an excellent secondary navigation technique. Many of the photos include YouTube videos or rub-away images, both great ways to extend the meaning. Note that you'll need an active Internet connection, both to keep the app updated and to view the YouTube content. The app will still function if not online although we would like a mechanism to buffer some of the YouTube content for dependable use during a lesson. Design flaws include a direct link to the App store has been included next to the letter "A" in the main menu (not good) and an inability to jump back to an animal that you've just viewed. Other than that, this is an another outstanding early literacy app that can leverage a child's interest in animals to playfully introduces early language concepts, especially letter sounds, in the context of words. For $2.99, you can't go wrong. See our video review at http://youtu.be/LRfDE5XxlgY.