Language certainly is the most important tool for children when they know the environment around them and begin to establish the first emotional relationships. The communicative nature of the human being – it is the tool we use to establish contact with others – makes learning one of the most important topics during early childhood education . Consequently, it is essential to introduce boys and girls forms of instruction to the written language from an early age. One path that is opening up for us is literacy applications .
In recent years, a large number of educational applications have emerged in which, through presenting content in the form of a game , our children can practice writing and reading in a simple, fun and interactive way. They are applications for computers, tablets or mobiles that have the essential requirements to fulfill the objective for which they were created: to help children learn to read and write, to develop cognitive and communication skills, to acquire vocabulary, to improve memory and concentration, awaken the imagination, etc.
In this article we have selected some of the most popular applications for our children to learn literacy . The important thing is not that they do it quickly or before the others, but that they do it in an intelligent, didactic and entertaining way; in short, as advocated by educators and pedagogues; let them learn while enjoying .
Dec-Dec
It is a very complete educational application, designed for the little ones to learn to spell, relate sounds with spellings and start writing . Aimed at children between 3 and 12 years old and prepared with the advice of pedagogues and teachers, Dic-Dic stands out from the rest of the applications for its design and functionality. It is ideal for practicing the mother tongue, as well as for acquiring vocabulary and knowledge of other languages, since we can choose which language to practice: Spanish, Catalan, British English, North American English, Russian and French. It also allows us to choose the level of difficulty in which you want to play and the use or not of tracks that facilitate the answers.
Once our preferences have been chosen, the game will begin with spelling and individual dictation, with stick letter writing . At the end of the exercises (with locutions from native speakers of each language), the program presents an album of achievements and rewards that serve as an incentive to continue practicing.
Finally, to say that it is a 100% secure application , without advertising of any kind or integrated sales, so that boys and girls can play with complete freedom and security. Dec-Dec is not for Android; only for iOS , and it is a free application .
Auca Digital
“Tales to dream, play and learn.” This is the slogan of Auca Digital , a digital publisher that was born with the intention of bringing the world of reading closer to children. As they say on their website , “making reading a playful experience so that reading is a pleasure.” From this premise they have created an application with the same name that offers educational interactive books with quality stories, to promote the intellectual and emotional development of the little ones and, at the same time, awaken their interest in reading.
From the beginning, it is noted that those who have created this website are specialists in the field. Auca Digital proposes unpublished stories that always have a useful teaching behind them. Children can interact with a large number of elements while reading the different stories, which have a high degree of personalization: 3 reading levels (to find the one that best suits each child), 3 typefaces ( school, print) or stick ), reading comprehension activities and even sound effects.
One of its main strengths is the graphic design of the stories, with well-worked illustrations that invite children to repeat. Auca Digital has a collection consisting, for now, of 8 titles , which are available in multiple languages: Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician, English, French, German, Italian and Portuguese. The application is available only for iOS and is free . Of course, once inside, there is a free test book, but the others are paid.
ABC Kit
ABC Kit is an application for boys and girls to learn the letters of the alphabet through phonemes. It presents 3 different modalities: the ” Know ” mode , in which each letter is associated with an animal or object; the ” Listen ” mode , where they will be able to listen carefully to the phonetics of each spelling, and the ” Write ” mode , where they will be able to write the different letters in both stick and school letters, following a marked line.
ABC Kit, which is available in Spanish, Catalan and English, was chosen in 2011 by the App Store (Apple) of Spain as the third best application for iPad, as it is a simple and entertaining application, but very effective. It is in Spanish and its price on iTunes is € 1.79 .
LudiletrasPro
Ludiletras is a literacy tool developed by the pedagogues of the Colegio Montserrat de Barcelona and the publisher Tekman Books . Its objective, learning to read and write for boys and girls from 3 to 6 years old . It is a very didactic application, proof of this is that many educational centers in the country have been using it for a while. It is free , in Spanish and for iOS .
The application follows the success formula of many others, that of incorporating the game into learning. Ludiletras presents the alphabet as a game : students associate each letter with a gesture and a word, which makes it easier for them to identify the number of letters a word has because they relate them to a gesture, going from a natural form of the syllabic phase to the alphabetical. They should also write the letters first, and then whole words, using the school (or linked) typeface . The program also has a series of cartoon characters: Cloe, Faruk, Hugo, Lucas and Valentina, who will accompany the children throughout the process.
The correct learning of literacy is of great importance in our society, since the future development of our sons and daughters will fundamentally depend on it. In this article we have just presented some of the many tools that can currently be found; Most of them, as we have seen, are based on the formula of success that consists of mixing teaching with play , an aspect that has become fundamental for teachers, pedagogues and, in parallel, for mothers and fathers.
