Trace Letters & Sight Words 4+

My son is struggling with his handwriting. I downloaded about 6 apps to try them out. There were just 2 that made the short list and this was one of them. When ended up selecting this one for two reasons: the graphics are so neat when you fill in the letters and really mesmerize my son. He uses a stylus to trace and it works well. The second reason, and this is important, is that the way the instructions go with it, it asks you to trace in a gliding motion. The other apps we had would require you to actually pick up the stylus/break contact with the surface in order to change directions within a letter. However that isn't the proper way to learn to write. One continuous fluid motion is recommended by my son's occupational therapist. Therefore we felt this program was the more realistic and helpful for him.

The app is very user friendly. My now 5 year old started using Trace Letters & Sight Words when he was 4. He loves to show his two-year-old brothers different features (games, songs, etc). The games are fun to him. He enjoys the section that has new features related to the month and/or holidays. He also loves earning the stars to build his hamster cage. It is strangely motivating. He recently got his own iPad and was anxious for me to download the app on the iPad for him to play. I was not sure if he would be interested in it with all the FreeTime games and activities, but he still went back to Trace Letters & Sight Words. I have yet to let me 2 year-olds play with it much, but they do love all the music/songs that the program has to offer that their big brother shares with them.

I really love Trace Letters & Sight Words. I started homeschooling my daughter when she turned 2 so when she was 4 we decided to incorporate Trace Letters & Sight Words to get her ready for school. Be careful when you set the level, the app must have gone by my daughter's age which I'm assuming is normally pretty accurate. However since I began homeschooling so early she is pretty advanced, I couldn't figure out why she was so bored with it until I moved her up 2 more levels and now she's right back on track. There's so much to do and I recommend setting time limits for minimum or maximum usage. There are games, coloring pages, activities and more. Worth the money for sure.