Big Bird's Words... A Sesame Street App app review: get your child excited about learning to recognize and read written words

Introduction

Big Bird's Words... A Sesame Street App is an iPhone app, designed for ages five and under, to help them establish as well as expand upon their knowledge of vocabulary.

This app was developed by the education team over at Sesame Street and features Big Bird, an adorable and friendly host, who will be right by your side through the learning experience. The game works by employing the camera to detect words and has won numerous awards including the 2014 Interactive Media Award for the Best in Class app in the Education category.

Despite its success, it is available for download from the App Store for a meager 99 cents. Let's get right to the gameplay and features.

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Word-Recognition Technology

Big Bird's Words... A Sesame Street App takes up close to a hundred megabytes on your iPhone, unlike most children's games which are often heftier and therefore slow-functioning. The theme of this game is that Big Bird has created a Word-O-Scope, which is essentially an in-app camera, that can recognize any text in the real world, encouraging your child to spot text no matter where he or she goes.

The app can be used in any situation to recognize words, be it in your kitchen's pantry or fridge, or recipes in cookbooks. It also works on labels in grocery stores, and I'm sure parents are already thinking about ways in which this app can be used to make their lives easier as they shop with their little one in tow.

Words which contain letters using the same color, in a straight line, and on a flat surface produce the best results, according to the developers, but I had no issues with a wider variety of colors on moving objects such as the big posters on buses.

 

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Word Lists & Practical Application

The Eye-Spy game is where your child will build up a word list which he or she will then go out to “hunt” in the real world, giving them full control of their learning. Most of the words are related to food, as it's a universal theme that is usually rather easy to find around the house or in otherwise day-to-day situations.

As soon as the word is recognized, your child will hear Big Bird read it out. On the other hand, when your child spots a word which is not the one they've chosen to find, Big Bird will gently encourage him or her to keep searching and give reminders of the right word.

 

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Pros & Cons

Pros

• The Word-o-Scope uses your phone’s own camera to read words
• Big Bird reads hundreds of food words as kids find them
• Helps to build your child's vocabulary
• Encourages excitement about reading
• Fosters association of pictures and real-world objects with written text
• Rewards task persistence

 

Cons

• There is nothing negative to say about this app

 

Final Words

There are a whole lot of silly sound effects that make Big Bird's Words... A Sesame Street App really fun and enjoyable to use. Not only will this app help your child learn to read or recognize certain words, but through your iPhone's handy camera integration, it will also enable your child to apply his or her learning to real-life situations, allowing your child to recognize words in physical forms rather than a screen. This is a fantastic interactive app that is a must-have!