Letter Buddies

We've been asked on many occasions by friends who have pre-school aged kids for suggestions to help their little ones learn the alphabet. Almost all budding readers will learn their letters as a precursor to learning to read. So, if you feel like your child is ready, we have one proven method that can help them to acquire letter knowledge — have them start "playing" with magnetic letters. There are some fun activities they can do that are 100% educational. Whether you use plastic or foam letters (we prefer foam for the full magnetic backing), it does not matter, magnetic letters are terrific tools for supporting a child's development of letter-shape, letter-name and letter-sound knowledge. 

One important caveat that literacy experts will make about learning the alphabet is that while learning the names of each letter is important, your child's ability to distinguish the different characteristics and features of each letter's shape is perhaps more critical to ultimately becoming a fluent reader. So, make sure to point out each letter's unique shape as well as their name. Over time, a child's ability to rapidly tell one letter from another will grow until it becomes automatic. As "teachers", it should be our goal to help them begin this process in a fun, accessible way, allowing children to gain confidence and skill through repetition and practice.

Now you're convinced you need to buy some magnetic letters. What's next? Having your child engage in sorting activities with magnetic letters is a good way to enhance their learning. Here are some sorting activities that you can try with your child using magnetic letters.

(To purchase some Letter Buddies Magnetic Letters or Magnetic Board, visit our distributor by clicking here.)

Cavallo Media Group, maker of the Letter Buddies AlphaBooks app, has just launched its second app, Zoozoo Readables for iPad, iPhone, + iPod Touch.

The Zoozoo Readables app features 8 humorous animal stories that have been lovingly illustrated and animated. Learn more about Zoozoo Readables by watching the video above or visit Cavallo Media's homepage for more information!

Today is the last day to enter for one of 7 FREE Letter Buddies AlphaBooks apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. We have sponsored a giveaway contest that is happening right now at www.LilliesPad.com — a fantastic site that features products and articles for children with special needs. Visit Lillies Pad to learn more and to win a free Letter Buddies AlphaBooks app!

Click here to watch the Letter Buddies AlphaBooks video or read the reviews of the app here!

Kate from Modern Home Modern Baby kindly reviewed the Letter Buddies AlphaBooks for iPad with her 3-year old daughter, in preparation for the family road trip this summer.

Luckily, both Kate and her daughter give our app two thumbs up, and Kate says her 3-year old, "now pesters me to see the letters every time we get in the car."

Thanks for the review. Good luck with your road trip Kate and have fun!

Apps For Children with Special Needs (A4cwsn), is a fantastic organization that helps the families and carers of children with special needs and the wider community of educators and therapists who support them, by producing videos that demonstrate how products designed to educate children and build their life skills really work from a user perspective.

This Saturday June 11, 2011 @9am EST, they will be hosting an Apps Party on Facebook where they will be giving away 2500+ apps and 8 iPads! Letter Buddies will be joining in the fun and giving away 10 of our Letter Buddies AlphaBooks apps!

Please spread the word and see you at the party!

Cavallo Media, developer of the Letter Buddies AlphaBooks app, is busy working on its next release — Zoozoo Readables, 8 fun and humorous early childhood readers for iPod, iPhone, and iPod Touch. A preview video of this appealing app can be seen below:

A FREE version of the Letter Buddies AlphaBooks for iPad has just been released on the Apple iTunes store.

The Letter Buddies AlphaBooks HD Lite version offers 3 of the 24 AlphaBooks to sample. We hope you like them! And when you're ready to read books of all the other Letter Buddies, please purchase the full Letter Buddies HD app by clicking here!

Smart Apps for Kids is run by a father of three who reviews apps for kids from preschool age to +12 years old. Letter Buddies AlphaBooks received four stars from this reviewer who was pleased with the amount of high-quality content that you receive in a single app, "I don't know of any other preschool app offering anything close to 338 pages."

Letter Buddies AlphaBooks offers 24 alphabet books (one for each letter of the alphabet, XYZ combined) in one single app! Great value for the money. Smart Kids for Apps thinks so!

Please click here to read the full review...

(Read more reviews of Letter Buddies AlphaBooks here...)

The Budget Mommy is a blog run by Amy Murphy, a mother of two who is devoted to finding good deals of all sorts, from groceries and coupons to toys and clothes. The blog also includes product reviews because, as Amy says, "knowing what to buy is invaluable."

The Budget Mommy kindly reviewed our Letter Buddies AlphaBooks app and, after seeing her two-year old really enjoy the characters and stories, deemed the AlphaBooks app a hit!

Click here to read the full Letter Buddies AlphaBooks review by the Budget Mommy.

And read all the rest of our reviews here...

The Letter Buddies AlphaBooks app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch is ON SALE in celebration of the upcoming Memorial Day weekend! Buy it now at the Apple Apps Store for $1.00 off!

(Click here to learn more about the Letter Buddies AlphaBooks or read the reviews of this app here.)