Square Panda Phonics

Education is such and important part of our children’s lives, and an important foundation  to our kid’s education’s is learning to read. In our house I have wanted reading to be important to my kid’s, so I like to use a variety of reading tools to make reading fun and not boring. I was recently sent and iPad accessory called Square Panda to try out with my kids.

Square Panda is an iPad accessory that turns your iPad into a phonics reading aid. Using Bluetooth when you place letters in the letter box it will send the letters up to your iPad screen and transform your words into a visual picture.

There are currently 2 apps that are free to download to play, Square Panda Lagoon teaches your kids spelling, alphabet, letter sounds, word construction and much more. By placing letters in the letter box you can build words up on the screen when your done building your word you can tap on the lizard that will eat and spit your word back out. The lizard will sound out your word and read it, if it’s a known word it will bring a picture up onto the screen to see the word along with a visual picture. There are over 3,000 pictures of children’s first words, and then you also have the option to upload your own pictures into the game, so your child can learn to spell their own names, and see a picture of themselves pop up.

Square Panda Bowling is a easier app I find for my younger kids. This app you get to bowl and knock down bowling pins which in turn with make a letter pop up on the screen and move into the word space, you then have to find the matching letter and place it into the letter box. I find this is great for my 3 year old to help him recognize his letters. Once the whole word is spelt it too is  sounded out and then a picture will appear on the  screen.

As a parent watching  my kids play with Square Panda I love seeing all the progress. With a parent account you can log in and see how each individual child is learning. Is it in this parent mode where you can add extra words and pictures to your account.

When your not playing the game you can store all your letters inside the Square Panda stand. This I love as the kids can clean it up when they are done and keep all the pieces together.

Square Panda is pretty new yet and only has the 2 apps so far, but they have more apps in the works and coming out soon. I am looking forward to see what new games they are going to come out with. I am very impressed with how much this game has helped my kids learn and grasp the concept of reading. Head over to www.squarepanda.com and  pick up a set for your kids.