Reviewed by Amanda & Alison
Amanda: Alphabet Jumble is a brand new app by Little Learning Tots and mixes up learning the alphabet from the usual way by offering five fun games that vary in difficulty as you progess. ‘Know Your ABC’ helps children recognise the letters of the alphabet by reading them out aloud and emphasizing them one by one in order. If you select a letter, it will then say that letter alone and the narrator will cease to read the rest of the alphabet. With the ‘ABC Flash Cards’, it scrolls through an assortment of images using each letter of the alphabet in order announcing what is pictured on the card. Tapping the card will repeat this. To move to the next flash card, you simply tap the right arrow and you are able to go back using a left arrow. ‘Easy Jumble’ offers the challenge of unjumbling the five letters displayed by dragging them to their correct spot as shown by a dotted outline. To repeat the game using different letters, simply tap the circular arrow at the bottom right. The last two games introduce an activity a little more difficult than the rest. In ‘Jumble A-Z’ you must place the letters of the alphabet in their correct order in the shortest time possible and the final game, ‘Jumble Challenge’ has the user trying to place a selection of letters in the correct order before the minute timer runs out, all while trying to avoid the fish that bites the letters and also bite a chunk out of your time!
This charming app features a cute soundtrack and beautiful array of engaging colours and patterns and is designed especially for young children with no settings, no in-app purchases and no social buttons or links included. At the present, it only works on the iPad 2 and new iPad, not on the original. I tested the app on the new iPad with all three of my boys – the five year old wasn’t incredibly interested as he thought is was more of a babies game but my three and one year old love it. While scrolling through the flash cards, my youngest was heard repeating the words back as the narrator said them aloud including words I had never heard him say before! The narration was well done and each voice over was clear and articulate.
The part I liked most about this app was that no matter which of the games you were playing, tapping a letter always read it out aloud. I would have liked to see the option to choose uppercase letters as currently the app only uses lowercase and also a leaderboard-style addition to the ‘Jumble A-Z’ so family members can keep track of their times.
Alison: I really liked the fact that the app was for the most part geared at toddlers and helped them to become familiar with letters. Our family also enjoyed playing the word jumble and agree that having uppercase letters would make it easier for younger children to play as they may not yet recognize lowercase letters. I would suggest a “help” feature which can help children if they are stuck on moving a specific letter into the correct order as my son was frustrated several times when he tried and wasn’t able to figure out the correct order. I’d also love to see the app say the alphabet through after completing the word jumble correctly. My son initially had a hard time lining up the letters correctly, but with a little coaching he was able to successfully complete the app and now flies through it! The ‘Jumble A-Z’ seems to be meant for older children as this could be very hard for a younger one.
This app has been the recipient of the Appysmarts Editor’s Favorite badge and also was featured #1 in Educational Games in the UK and #2 in the UK at its peak. If you’re looking for an alphabet learning tool for your child that is a little different to the norm, we highly recommend Alphabet Jumbled.
|
Alphabet Jumbled
by Pixel Interactive
Category: Games, Kids, Educational, Education Requirements: Compatible with iPadThirdGen, iPodTouchFifthGen, iPhone 3GS, iPadMini, iPod Touch (4. Gen.), iPhone4S, iPhone5, iPhone 4, iPad 2 WiFI, iPod Touch (3. Gen.), iPadMini4G, iPadFourthGen, iPadThirdGen4G, iPadFourthGen4G, iPad WiFi, iPad 3G, iPad 2 3G Size: 19.89 MB |
 |
There is also a free ‘lite’ version that includes one of the 5 games:
|
|
Alphabet Jumbled
by Pixel Interactive
Category: Games, Kids, Educational, Education Requirements: Compatible with iPadThirdGen, iPodTouchFifthGen, iPhone 3GS, iPadMini, iPod Touch (4. Gen.), iPhone4S, iPhone5, iPhone 4, iPad 2 WiFI, iPod Touch (3. Gen.), iPadMini4G, iPadFourthGen, iPadThirdGen4G, iPadFourthGen4G, iPad WiFi, iPad 3G, iPad 2 3G Size: 19.89 MB |
|
Please use our App Store button above if you decide to buy this app. It doesn’t cost any extra and a small portion of the cost goes to support the work we do here at The iMums! Pricing was correct at the time of publishing the review but is subject to change so please confirm before downloading.
A fee was received to expedite this review to the top of our waiting list but this payment has not influenced the objectivity of the review and all opinions have been offered honestly.
Amanda
Latest posts by Amanda (see all)
Alison, Amanda, Grace and Mary are four mothers from different parts of the world dedicated to educating parents about the best digital stories, educational apps, fun games and technology products available for their children. We also offer the latest news in apps for kids, interesting articles, developer interviews, free apps and regular giveaways!
Wow! Sounds like a great app!
I am just starting to teach the alphabet to my son. So far we have used foam letters in the bathtub, I Spy, and flashcards. I’m excited to everyone’s ideas!!
My son learned his alphabet using the “Meet the Letters” DVD. His daycare provided had a copy and he LOVED It. We got a copy for home as well and he was allowed to watch it while I cooked dinner.
my babygirl has shown much interest in learning by herself and we just try to reinforce her curiousity in any way we can, such as things like this app!
We read to my kids every day my son already knows the sounds of the letters in the english alphabet but we are trying to make the leap to reading words with him and he is having a hard time.. he loves alphabet games though!
Songs, books, and repetition!
Sounds like an AWESOME app! Would love to have this one!
Looks like a cool app.
I use flashcards and with crayons on paper.
Apps, Flashcards and reading lots of books!
I enjoy using the Leap Frog alphabet letters that go on the fridge. We also use traditional books, puzzles as well as some YouTube videos. Thanks for the offering!
I teach my students the alphabet by singing songs and reading books.
Lots of songs and reading books.
We use Jolly Phonics at our school.
Teaching the names of the letters and teaching the sounds of the letters and putting the two together are 3 separate skills my daughter is going to take a long time to learn. She has Down Syndrome and requires more repetition and practice for things to sink in. We play with letters a LOT! At the moment, she is learning the names of letters, or at least that letters have names, but she’s still learning what names go with what letters. Her school have a great lot of “language games” involving play with letters and sounds, and her aide sits with her regularly through the week and gives her extra practice with learning letters and sounds. At home we use flash cards, magnetic letters on the fridge, loads and loads of alphabet/phonics apps, pencil and paper, and also environmental text (pointing out letters/sounds in writing we see around us). We’ve just got to keep on hammering it home, but she’ll get there in the end :~)
This would help my students learn all basic skills for the alphabet…
I teach my child the alphabet by showing him the letters and pointing to things that start with that letter. He has Autism, so he is very visual. We paste images areound the house with the word written underneath so that he becomes familiar with them. We also sing the alphabet to visuals.
My daughter likes to sing the song. We also work on identifying each letter in books, on signs, and around our community. It is awesome to see the different ways children learn new things!
I teach kindergarten and teach my students the alphabet in many different ways. We use songs, posters, letter magnets, matching games, center activities, and more. With 2 iPads, my newest way is with alphabet apps like this one! I’d love to add it to my collection. :)