Little Writer is a tracing app for younger pupils from developers Alligator Apps. It is used to support younger learners who are at the initial stages of writing. This app helps such pupils to correctly write upper and lower case letters, numbers, words and shapes. It will assist the young pupil with correct letter and number formation as it will only allow them to complete the letter or number by tracing it in the correct order. It is visually appealing to pupils as it uses nice images for them to trace – for example they might have to trace the whale eating smaller fish along the shape of the letter or trace the fire engine swallowing the flames along the shape of the number.
What teachers/parents will also probably like about this app is that lots of the content is customisable. This means that you can add in your own words with images that you are getting the pupils to learn. For example, you could add in the pupil’s name with his/her photograph to help them to learn the spelling of their name. There are also five different fonts to choose from and the sound can be turned on or off. The app can also be set to an easy, medium or hard version, depending on the ability of the pupil.
There is one small drawback that I found – pupils are asked to trace phonic sounds and when they complete tracing it the app congratulates them on tracing the letter rather than the sound. So, for example, a pupil may be asked to trace the sound “wuh” and when they trace the letter “w”, the app tells them “well done, you traced the letter ‘wuh'”. I’d be interested to hear infant teachers opinions on this, as to whether it’s a big drawback or not.
The app is available for both iPhone/iPod and iPad. There is a free version and a Pro version of the app which costs €1.79. I couldn’t see an Android version of this app.
