Categories, Opposites and more--Part Two

You may have read my previous blog that reviewed the Families 1 and 2 apps created by myfirstapps.com. Below, I review 3 additional apps by this company.

The goal of  the Opposites app is to drag 2 pictures with opposite meanings into the two boxes in the middle of the screen. There are 10 pictures, 5 on each side of the screen, from which to choose. The opposites targeted in the first 3 games are: asleep/awake, happy/sad, up/down, right/left, light/dark, night/day, hot/cold, upright/upside down, wrong/right, hot/cold, on/off, long/short, stop/go, lock/unlocked, near far, on/under. Once the correct 2 pictures are placed in the squares, they disappear from the screen leaving 4 pictures on each side of the screen. As with the Families apps, each correct pairing reduces the number of choices available. Also, when the sound icon is green, a correct selection results in a click sound, a bloop sound for an incorrect selection. An incorrect selection does not allow the picture into the empty box; instead it bounces it back to its original position on the screen. A happy face appears in a center box when all the opposites have been identified. A new game automatically starts up using the same pictures, but the order of placement in the 2 central boxes is different from the first game.

Myfirstapp.com offers 3 Match It Up apps---Match it up 1, Match it up 2 and Match it up 3. Each of these apps has 7 pictures surrounding a central box. In the box is a picture. The child needs to drag the same picture into the box. Correct and incorrect selections are identified in the same way described above. I would use these apps to target vocabulary.

The Slide and Spin and Build It Up apps applicability to speech therapy is limited. The former app has the child move a circle in a geometric object either up/down, side to side, 180 degrees in a circle or press the circle. When the motor action is done correctly a picture briefly appears in the box above the task. The Build It Up app requires that the child correctly place object parts together to make the whole object. The app offers 6 free objects and three additionally for $.99. The objects are stacking blocks, stacking circles, a snowman, a 3 tiered birthday cake, clown, a 3 decker boat, 3 different size birthday presents, a tower of children and a castle. The birthday cake, presents and stacking objects can be used to compare and teach superlatives. All can be used for vocabulary.

Would I buy these apps if they weren't free? Yes to Match It Up, but no to Slide and Spin and Build It Up. Their vocab are too limited, which for me means that I would rarely, if ever use them. But they are free and if you have a lot of space on you iPad, why not download them?

Suggested uses: object parts,  receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, superlatives (Build it Up).

Ages: 2.5-4 years

Cost:  free ($.99 to download additional games to each app)

Rating: +++++ Opposites App, +++ Matching It Up, ++ Slide and Spin, Build It Up
Website: myfirstapp.com