Letter practice
This app is designed to teach pre-schoolers and children in Reception (aged around 4 and 5) the basic skill of recognising and writing letters. It uses lower case cursive letters that are read out using phonics and simple gesture recognition to give instant feedback on the quality of the letters written. The interface is very simple and designed to appeal to children. The complexity of the gesture recognition is hidden from the user.
This app reached the top 10 in the itunes education category in 14 countries in March 2011.
Last review
This is just what we were looking for and was really easy to use. All round though best we have seen for learning letter formation - looking forward to more apps from Backflip which are much better suited to UK Market than many other apps out there. Thanks again!
- Device | iPad
- UK Key Stage | 1
- Downloads | 11,459
- Average rating | 4
- Price | £0.59 until 20,000 downloads
43 Words
Aimed at primary school children in Reception coming home with lists of simple words to learn, we've taken 43 of the most common of these words from the National Curriculum and created an app that makes spelling fun. It uses lower case letters that are read out using phonics. Correct answers are rewarded with stars.
We've had a lot of requests for a 'replay the word' function. This is in fact already built into the app. If you click on the uncompleted word it will be read out to you. In future updates we will try and make this more obvious.
This app was featured in the UK iTunes 'New and Noteworthy' section in March 2011.
Last review
Excellent. This was just what I was looking for. My little girl is doing well with reading, but struggling having to write words. This way she can practise spelling without the frustration of the pen. It was so well by being so simple, and the stars are really encouraging. Glad to find a UK reception word list as well. I am hoping the next years learning words follow soon :)
- Device | iPad
- UK Key Stage | 1
- Downloads | 3,844
- Average rating | 4.5
- Price | Free until 10,000 downloads
Letter Star
This app is designed to teach pre-schoolers and children in Reception at primary school (aged around 4 and 5) the basic skill of recognising and writing letters. It is very similar in concept to our Letter Practise iPad app but has been completely redesigned for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It uses lower case cursive letters that are read out using phonics and simple gesture recognition to give instant feedback on the quality of the letters written. The interface is very simple and uncomplicated.
Last review
My 4-yr old liked this. He's just learning to write his letters, so I thought he might get frustrated because it seems like you have to be nearly perfect, otherwise it tells you, "I don't think that's a letter". But he didn't seem to mind, and was excited when he did get one right. The voice is appealing to kids.
- Device | iPhone & iPod Touch
- UK Key Stage | 1
- Downloads | 1,503
- Average rating | 4
- Price | Free until 10,000 downloads
About Backflip
Our Education Apps
We aim to create educational apps to follow our children through the UK education system. Our kids are 4, 3 and 7 weeks at the time of writing (March 31 2011) and our apps reflect this. Having said that, we might occasionally launch an app that is not aimed at this age group if we have a bright idea (we are working on a GCSE Maths app at the moment). We aim to launch a new app every month. As the number of apps grow we will organise them on this site by key stage and subject. All our apps can be described as 'simple tools for formal learning' and are designed to focus on one part of the curriculum.
Devices
Our apps are currently only available on Apple devices but we will be launching Android versions in June 2011.
App pricing
All our apps for Apple devices will be free until they reach 10,000 downloads and then they will move onto Tier 1 (the cheapest) until they reach 20,000 downloads when they will move onto and stay at Tier 2. We aim to keep all our apps Ad free with no In App purchases. We hope that this simple business model will bring in enough revenue to keep making more apps.
Company Info
Backflip is a small, family-run, media company based in Chepstow, South Wales. We've been making websites professionally since 2000 and our clients include the BBC, Hewlett-Packard, Aardman and many more. For more information and examples of our other work please visit our portfolio site.
Staying in touch
If you would like to know when we launch a new app please register on our mailing list or follow us on Twitter.
If you have any questions or media enquiries please contact Andy Littledale.