Handwriting Heroes
© 2016 AppyTherapy
Learning your letters? This innovative iPad app mixes ten seconds of simple storytelling with the letter tracing process, creating a clever way to help children remember the path required to make each letter. Note that this app takes nearly a GB of storage (929 MB). There are five types of heroes (skydivers, cannon pops, bouncers, skiers and surfers) on the main menu, each with a set of letters and a particular skill. The surfer appears in five of the curvy letters for example (s, u, f, e and z). When making the letter "S" the child hears a narrator say "S taps two clouds, then surfs away to escape the shark" as a skit is played out. There are three steps to each lesson. The first is the introduction, with one sentence of narration. Children practice tracing the letter, first in the context of the letter and then with a few repetitions. There's some good slapstick silliness to the narrated stories, which always reinforce the letters by including letters sounds. There are some limitations to note. There's only one font -- which looks like a modified version of Zaner-Bloser -- and the app doesn't remember which letters you've already learned. It's also not possible (or at least not obvious) how to select a particular letter. These are features that teachers will want. Designed by Cheryl Bregman, an occupational therapist who worked with children with special needs. The app includes instructions for downloading supplemental worksheets.
$2.99, iPad
Teaches: letters, language, handwriting, phonics, zaner bloser, upper/lower case
CTR Rating: 88%