Are you traveling for the holidays? If you are traveling with children you’ll no doubt be thinking of ways to keep them entertained the entire trip. If there is one thing that could make your travels more stressful, it’s bored children (“Are we there YET?”).
As a parent, I can relate to traveling with young children. I still remember our plane trip to Florida (we live in N.Y.). It was only about a 2+ hour flight (each way) but we made sure that our kids were entertained every step of the way.
Back then we didn’t have the luxury of smartphones or tablets. We had to rely on books, coloring books. snacks, toys and in a perfectly world – naps! I think traveling with little ones these days is easier with today’s technology.
I’m all for letting kids play games on smartphones or tablets – within reason. It’s OK to have fun, but all a child’s fun shouldn’t come from being online. They need to learn how to play in the “real world” too.
If something is both fun and educational, then I think it’s OK to let a child play with it a bit longer than usual. Especially if a child is learning without realizing it.
Take for example the children’s app Wonster Words. Wonster Words is not only a fun game with cute, silly little monsters, but it’s also a learning app that teaches spelling, phonics and reading.
Help your kid learn phonics and grow his vocabulary! By playing with silly letter ghosts and hilarious wonsters, Wonster Words will help your kid learn how to spell and sound out new words by learning: phonics, consonant blends, word families, diphthongs, digrahs, and more. Kids will have a blast putting together words through interactive spelling puzzles, letter hide-and-seek, and other engaging mini-games.
Below is a brief video that gives you a sneak peak at Wonster Words.
I download the app to try it out for myself. Here are my thoughts about the app, Wonster Words.
The graphics and animations are top quality. Some apps have really “cheesy” graphics that look like the app was just thrown together. Wonster Words features quality animation. The characters are adorable and it’s easy for a child to like each and every one of them.
This is a well made game from a technological standpoint. I have played the game many times and everything has run very smoothly. I have not encountered any “glitches” or issues whatsoever. The games are also very easy to navigate and play.
I appreciate how Wonster Words tells a child what sounds each letter makes in the words they are trying to spell. They even go so far as to make the sounds for letter combinations too, so a child knows that “sh” together makes a “shhh” sound (hopefully you know what I mean). Even the letters are cute when you are playing the spelling games. They each have eyes and cute personalities.
Throughout the app children learn how to spell words. In order to move on to the next fun feature or game a child must correctly spell a word. Every time a child presses on a letter the game says the letter and makes it’s sound.
There are different games throughout the app. With each section there is a different “theme” and the words children learn to spell and pronounce are different depending on what theme you are in. For example, in the holiday section your child will learn how to spell and read words like caroling, decorations and gingerbread. In another section (racing) a child will learn how to spell, read and understand words that relate to racing.
Not only does the game teach the sounds, spelling and how to read the word, but it also helps a child to comprehend what the word means. They game developers really thought of everything when they created this game.
I really like the mini “scenes.” They are brief animations between the characters that help to reinforce the word that has just been learned.
The games are really fun too. There are a lot of racing game where your child needs to control the vehicle (move it up or down) to avoid road blocks and other dangers along the way.
Wonster Words makes winning the mini-games easy, even for the youngest player. You don’t have to worry about a child loosing a game. Even when I intentionally messed up I still managed to win the game.
I appreciate that Wonster Words has a holiday section which is perfect for this time of the year.
Wonster Words is available for both iOS and Android. The game is free to download and there are some in-app purchases you can buy to add on to the games and learning fun.
If you would like more information about Wonster Words you can visit the developer’s website (77 Sparx).
If you would like to download Wonster Words you can find it at the Google Play store as well as iTunes.
What do you think about this app? Does it look like something you’d like to download for your child/grandchild?
Kimberly
*I received a gift code in order to download this game to review. Although compensated the opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.