What it is: an interactive storybook about 16 pages long (featuring the TV series character Wubbzy) plus extra activities: 2 educational minigames (alphabet and counting), 3 videos and a coloring activity. 'Read to me', 'read & play', 'just a book' (simple version with no interactions) reading modes.

What you do with it: read the story yourself or listen to the narration. Touch objects on pages for simple animations and sounds.

What we liked: the story. Many interactive elements complementing the storyline. Illustrations and animations. Funny characters. Sounds and sound backgrounds. The 'counting' and 'alphabet' activities. Ease of use. Good reading options (words are highlighted, touch a word to have it read out). Extra tips for parents. The 'Just a Book' mode. Overall quality of the app.

What we didn't like: inclusion of the 'Sparky the Fire Dog's Fire Safety Tips' page is an excellent idea - though we wish it was better suited for the target age group.

Appysmarts

What it is: an interactive storybook about 16 pages long featuring the TV series character Wubbzy. Extra activities: 4 educational minigames (counting, shapes, colors), 2 videos and a coloring activity. 'Read to me', 'read & play', 'just a book' (simple version with no interactions) reading modes.

What you do with it: read the story yourself or listen to the narration. Touch objects on pages for simple animations and sounds.

What we liked: many interactive elements complementing the storyline. Illustrations and animations. Funny characters. Sounds and sound backgrounds. The educational activities. Ease of use. Good reading options (words are highlighted, touch a word to have it read out). Extra tips for parents. The 'Just a Book' mode. Overall quality of the app.

What we didn't like: the 'Wonder Color' game may be too difficult for the target age group. The story was not our personal favorite (compared to other stories in the Wubbzy series).

Appysmarts

What it is: an interactive storybook about 16 pages long featuring the TV series character Wubbzy. Extra activities: 4 educational minigames (counting, shapes, colors), 2 videos and a coloring activity. 'Read to me', 'read & play', 'just a book' (simple version with no interactions) reading modes.

What you do with it: read the story yourself or listen to the narration. Touch objects on pages for simple animations and sounds.

What we liked: many interactive elements complementing the storyline. Illustrations and animations. Funny characters. Sounds and sound backgrounds. The educational activities. Ease of use. Good reading options (words are highlighted, touch a word to have it read out). Extra tips for parents. The 'Just a Book' mode. Overall quality of the app.

What we didn't like: the 'Wonder Color' game may be too difficult for the target age group. The story was not our personal favorite (compared to other stories in the Wubbzy series).

Appysmarts

What it is: an interactive storybook about 17 pages long featuring the TV series character Wubbzy. Extra activities: 4 educational mini-games (a dress up game, shapes game, alphabet game), 2 videos and a coloring activity. 'Read to me', 'read & play', 'just a book' (simple version with no interactions) reading modes.

What you do with it: read the story yourself or listen to the narration. Touch objects on pages for simple animations and sounds.

What we liked: many interactive elements complementing the storyline. Illustrations and animations. Funny characters. Sounds and sound backgrounds. Extra educational activities. Ease of use. Good reading options (words are highlighted, you can touch a word to have it read out). Extra tips for parents. The 'Just a Book' mode. Overall quality of the app.

What we didn't like: some of the interactions are very basic (simple animations and sounds).

Appysmarts

What it is and what you do with it: a set of 4 activities (letter recognition/letter sounds, word families/early reading skills, numbers/counting, critical thinking/problem solving, reasoning and process skills) featuring Dora the Explorer.

Complete the activities and earn stars which can be exchanged for animated stickers.

What we liked: the concept. Good range of activities based on a school readiness curriculum. Original Dora artwork. Humor and fun factor. Narration, sounds and sound backgrounds. Ease of use. Spoken instructions. Multiple student accounts. Overall quality of the app.

What we didn't like: we wish there was more variety in the activities (they can quickly get repetitive).

Note about in-app purchases: 4 activities are included with the initial purchase. Additional activity (Tico's Nutty Forest) is available as an in-app purchase.

Appysmarts

What it is and what you do with it: a set of 4 activities (letter recognition/letter sounds, word families/early reading skills, numbers/counting, critical thinking/problem solving, reasoning and process skills) featuring Dora the Explorer.

Complete the activities and earn stars which can be exchanged for animated stickers.

What we liked: the concept. Good range of activities based on a school readiness curriculum. Original Dora artwork. Humor and fun factor. Narration, sounds and sound backgrounds. Ease of use. Spoken instructions. Multiple student accounts. Overall quality of the app.

What we didn't like: we wish there was more variety in the activities (they can quickly get repetitive).

Note about in-app purchases: 4 activities are included with the initial purchase. Additional activity (Tico's Nutty Forest) is available as an in-app purchase.
There may be some differences between the iPhone and the iPad versions of the app.

Appysmarts

What it is: an interactive storybook about 17 pages long featuring the TV series character Wubbzy. Extra activities: 4 educational mini-games (a dress up game, shapes game, alphabet game), 2 videos and a coloring activity. 'Read to me', 'read & play', 'just a book' (simple version with no interactions) reading modes.

What you do with it: read the story yourself or listen to the narration. Touch objects on pages for simple animations and sounds.

What we liked: many interactive elements complementing the storyline. Illustrations and animations. Funny characters. Sounds and sound backgrounds. Extra educational activities. Ease of use. Good reading options (words are highlighted, you can touch a word to have it read out). Extra tips for parents. The 'Just a Book' mode. Overall quality of the app.

What we didn't like: some of the interactions are very basic (simple animations and sounds).

Appysmarts

What it is: an interactive storybook with extra activities. 6 scenes. 'Read to me' and 'read to myself' options.

What you do with it: read the story yourself or listen to the narration. Follow Dora's instructions to complete simple tasks to help Swiper collect ornaments for the Christmas Tree (match colors, solve riddles, match shapes etc). Touch objects on pages for simple animations and sounds.

What we liked: illustrations and animations, interactions and activities, extra content (simple words and phrases) in Spanish, professional narration, sounds and sounds backgrounds, audio instructions, reading options, ease of use, overall quality of the app.

What we didn't like: the way the text paragraphs are presented (layout, fonts). For some children the interactions and activities may not be engaging enough.

Appysmarts

What it is and what you do with it: a racing game with extra educational activities.



Create and customize your car and race it around a city track. Collect coins to buy extra parts and accessories for the car.



Educational activities (during obligatory race pit-stops) include: number identification, counting and enumeration, number comparisons, simple addition and subtraction, number sequencing.



What we liked: the concept. Variety of car customization options. Reward/motivation system with coins, extra parts and trophies. Narration and spoken instructions. Sounds and sound backgrounds. Original Team Umizoomi artwork. Multiple player accounts. Overall quality of the app.


What we didn't like: the math activities are very basic and offer little variety. The 'driving experience' could be better (you just jump from lane to lane to steer the car). Only one track to race on.

The second in the Nickelodeon Literacy Suite, Dora ABCs Vol 2: Rhyming Words focuses on your child’s emerging literacy skills. By matching rhyming words and more with Dora and Boots in this educational application, your child will become aware of individual sounds (phonemes) in words and how they are sequenced and changed to make new words. The ability to hear, discriminate and manipulate phonemes is highly associated with reading readiness in early childhood and considered a critical skill for the development of reading skills.

In this game, Dora and Boots want to go over the Troll Bridge, but the Grumpy Old Troll challenges them with a riddle: “To get past the bridge of the Grumpy Old Troll, find the tokens to pay my toll.” The player must listen and match rhyming pairs to collect tokens, and then, use a slingshot to get those tokens in the Troll’s moving basket. Only then will they be able to go over the Troll Bridge.

And the adventure continues! After finding the rhyming pairs, your child will progress to hearing initial word sounds, ending word sounds, and inside sounds. As your child selects a matching token, the word pairs are reinforced. Supportive directions and sound effects help guide your child in learning all about word sounds.

The educational activity of hearing matching word sounds and the challenge of getting tokens in a moving basket come together to keep kids entertained while building important early reading skills.


Ready to solve the Grumpy Old Troll’s challenge? ¡Vámonos! Let’s go!

Dora ABCs Vol 2: Rhyming Words includes:
•Easy to use tutorials lead by Dora
•4 Levels of game play with a rich set of matching words and pictures
•Word matching in different ways: rhyme, same initial sound, same ending sound, same inside sound.
•A slingshot game to put tokens in a moving basket
•Voiceovers that reinforce the matching word sounds
•Tested by kids
•Curriculum developed and reviewed by preschool education expert
•Player profiles now allow more than one child to play and save their progress
•Parent Reporting which shows you how your child is progressing in the app.


Dora ABCs Vol 2: Rhyming Words HD collects non-personal aggregated user data along with the user's unique device identifier (UDID). User data may be used, for example, to respond to user requests; enable users to take advantage of certain features and services; personalize content and advertising; and manage and improve Nickelodeon's services. User data collection is in accordance with applicable law, such as COPPA. For more information regarding Nickelodeon’s use of personal user data, please visit the Nickelodeon Group Privacy Policy: http://www.nick.com/info/privacy-policy.html. Our Privacy Policy is in addition to any terms, conditions or policies agreed to between you and Apple, Inc., and Nickelodeon and its affiliated entities are not responsible for Apple's collection or use of your user data and information. Use of this app is subject to the Nickelodeon End User License Agreement: http://www.nick.com/info/eula.html.