ABC House
© 2012 Peapod labs
Seventh in the series of the ABC apps from Peapod Labs (see also Music, Food, Baby Zoo Animals, Wildlife, Play and Go), ABC House turns your iPad or iPhone screen into an alphabet-themed visual encyclopedia. Instead of using stock art, however, these apps pull photos from royalty free sources, such as Flickr and YouTube. The result is an authentic presentation of letter-themed items of things found around the home. You start by pressing one of the 231 thumbnail images, organized alphabetically. Each leads to a letter-themed home item. For C, for example you get a closeup view of a computer or a camera; E is for envelope or eraser. Like the other titles in the series, each featured item is spelled on the bottom of the screen. Touching any of the letters within the word lets you quickly jump to a new set of words, offering a nice secondary navigation technique. But wait, there's more. About a third of the photos include either YouTube videos or rub-away images, where rubbing the picture of the fireplace reveals the flames. Note that you'll need an active Internet connection to keep the app updated.
$2.99, iPhone, iPad
Teaches: language, reading, letter recognition
CTR Rating: 92%