House of Learning is an interactive “play house” with 12 different scenes/rooms where children can drag, drop, and move characters and objects to build meaningful situations—perfect for language practice through play.
Created by a certified Speech-Language Pathologist, House of Learning is designed for guided interaction. Children learn best when an adult partners with them, models language, and gently prompts them to explain what they’re doing.
What kids can do
• Explore 12 house scenes and move between rooms
• Select from a variety of characters and objects
• Create actions and set-ups by placing items in, on, under, next to, above, behind, etc.
• Rebuild and re-try setups to practice the same skill in new ways
• Use finished scenes to support conversation, vocabulary, and storytelling
Great for practicing
Prepositions & spatial concepts
Many children need repeated, visual practice with words like:
in, on, under, above, next to, between, in front of, behind, left, right, on top of
Adult-friendly ideas
• Guided Builder: Give clear directions as the child moves items.
“Put the cup on the table.” “Put the shoes under the bed.”
• Silly Builder: Set up a “silly” scene on purpose.
“The bed is on top of the pillow!”
Ask: “What’s wrong?” Then have the child tell you how to fix it using full sentences.
Following directions (1–5 steps)
Start simple and build up:
• “Get the ball.”
• “Get the ball and put it on the bed.”
• “Get the ball, put it on the bed, and move the girl next to it.”
Storytelling & sequencing
Use scene-building to practice:
• First/next/last
• Who / what / where questions
• Describing with full sentences (actions, places, and details)
Story Maker using screenshots
Create a simple storybook by saving scenes as you go:
1. Set up a scene (place objects + characters)
2. Tap Done to show the camera option
3. Take a snapshot and save it
4. Repeat for the next scene
5. Use the saved images to retell, print, or have the child create their own story
House of Learning is a great tool for SLP's working with the preschool population. You can easily target vocabulary, following directions, spatial and temporal concepts. Expressive language is easy target as well! Just have your students talk through what they are adding to the rooms! My students think adding the people and making them bigger and smaller is so fun! I think the opportunity to work on those size concepts is fun! Great app for the preschool crowd!
Does not work with iOS 11
Basic skills slp
I’ve had this app for one week and apple updated the iOS and now it won’t open. If there is no update from the developer, it’s money wasted. I have students who were using it for description and prepositions and are very disappointed.
House of learning
Child pub
This colorful app was developed for speech-language pathologists and teachers for teaching vocabulary and prepositions. However, it's ease of use makes it appropriate for parents of young children as well.There are so many early learning skills that can be addressed as well. First, the vocabulary is very comprehensive. Rather than learning rote with flash cards the children can choose the items they would like to decorate their room. In teaching prepositions the therapist, teacher or parent can elicit "where" responses.House of learning can be used to teach function. "you put a bed in your bedroom. You sleep in a ______. the child fills in the blank.Use this app to teach memory by having the child repeat what they put in the room, by looking at the picture and then without looking at it.Other skills to teach are categories and articulation. The articulation may require work by the therapist as he or she will have to spend some time initially listing all the words by sounds.The email option is an outstanding feature for parental involvement and carryover. Email the child's completed picture with the words being learned.Smarty-ears has provided a support page with additional suggestions and early learning skills.
Almost there
SLP3-5
I see lots of potential with this app, but it's not quite there yet. The objects don't lock into place so often they move when you don't want them to, sometimes it's hard to double click an object and get it back up to the choice bar, the furniture doesn't rotate so that it can fit anywhere in the room, the people are difficult for little fingers to shrink (I can do it, but my son can't) and some items are difficult to drag to the picture ( not sure why some work easily and others do not).I have no doubts that smarty ears will soon have an update to fix these bugs so that it is easier to use and for young children to manipulate. Thanks smarty ears.
• Maintenance update for the latest iOS
• Performance improvements and minor bug fixes
Version 5.0
The developer, Smarty Ears, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
Smarty Ears, LLC
Size
54.7 MB
Category
Education
Compatibility
Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
