App Showcase - FirstWords: Deluxe

*Disclaimer:  All applications showcased on this blog have been personally used by either myself or my family.  I have received no financial compensation and have fully paid for all apps reviewed.

The first app that I purchased for my brand-spanking new iPad was FirstWords: Deluxe by Learning Touch.  What drew me to this app was the bright and colorful graphics as well as the simplicity of the app itself.  CJ already knows the entire alphabet and I wanted to encourage her to start putting letters together to create words. 

FirstWords: Deluxe is a bundle of smaller FirstWords apps.  

It includes the Free Sampler, Animals, At Home, Vehicles, 

and the new Shapes and Colors word collections.

Available for iPhone and iPad.

Retail Value: $4.99

PROS:

• Educational:   Not only does this app help teach kids the names of different items but it helps reinforce their knowledge of the alphabet.  When selecting a letter tile, a voice says the name of the letter.  If you press the picture, the word is named.  After completely forming the word, the letters and name of the object are repeated. (Think of a visual spelling bee: "D-E-S-K, desk")
• Easy to use!  It's truly a matter of dragging and dropping letter tiles into place.  CJ learned how to use this app in a matter of seconds!  The only problem she had at first was how much pressure to apply to the iPad when sliding the tiles but that wasn't the fault of the app itself.
• Inexpensive!  If I bought all 3 previously released apps separately, I would have spent $5.97 ($1.99 per app).  Colors and Shapes were added to to the bundle so the actual cost of all the apps sold separately would be $9.95.  You save a total of $4.96!!  You can't beat that price!
• Fun!  CJ plays this app almost every day and never seems to get bored of it.  For a game to hold a toddler's attention it must be great!!

CONS:

I can honestly say that I have ZERO negative things to say about this app (besides the fact that I have to wrestle the iPad away from CJ when she's having fun). Before I purchased FirstWords: Deluxe, I read the reviews for the Deluxe version and the individual apps.  The only negatives that a few reviewers had is that the app doesn't say the phonetic sound of the letter (just the letter name itself).  While I agree that learning phonetics is important, it would be difficult to implement in this situation.  For example: if the word HOUSE was being spelled, should they pronounce the "e" sound at the end even though it's silent?  I think it would confuse children more than help them.

IN CONCLUSION:

FirstWords: Deluxe is an absolute must-have for toddlers!!  It's cheap, fun and educational all in one.  CJ give it 2 big thumbs up!