Teaching a toddler Spanish is a good idea in a world where knowing a language aside from English is increasingly helpful. Teaching toddlers Spanish is much like teaching them English and is a gradual process.

Melinda Gaines ehow.com

The Bottom Line:

Learn to spell and pronounce 30 animal names in Spanish.

The Good:

Fun and educational for children of all ages – If your children are more familiar with colors than they are with letters, you can modify Color & Letter Hints so that letter tiles have different colors that can just be matched to their proper, same-colored places. You can also set letter placement to strict if you want your child to complete words by dragging letters in the proper order, or free if you want your child to complete words by dragging letters in any order.
Highly customizable – You can view the animal names in their uppercase or lowercase forms, set the name length to anywhere from three to eight letters, and modify the hints setting to suit each child.
Voice recordings by a native speaker – The voice recordings help your child learn the correct pronunciation of the animal names.
No Risk – Free trial available.

The Bad:

Room for improvement: Embracing the Metro design – This application is designed for the Windows Phone and the iPhone, but it feels like an iOS app that’s briefly adapted for the Windows Phone: The launching screen works as a pivot page, but there’s no indication of it being a pivot page. The next-page title at the top of the current page is not grayed out; arrows at the bottom of the screen indicate this interaction, but they blend in with the design (it took me a long time to discover that you can swipe left and right to move to the next page). In the iPhone version of this application, tapping the information icon will bring out an explanation of differences between Distinción and Seseo Spanish, but the Windows Phone version lacks this feature.

The Ugly:

We could not find anything ugly about this delightful app. If you discover something new or something that can be improved with this app, please leave a comment and we will consider adding it to this post.

The Beautiful:

Different Spanish dialects – The setting Distinción or Seseo allows users to discern the differences in the pronunciation of Spanish speakers in different parts of the world. Distinción is typical of most dialects in Spain; on the other hand, seseo is typical of dialects in Latin America, parts of Central Andalusia, and the Canary Islands. This unique feature is very useful to parents who prefer teaching their children a particular Spanish dialect.

† Free trial

Screenshot:

About This App:

WPMom

No Marketplace review was helpful enough to be featured on this section.

3 – 8 years old

English
Español

Anlock LLC

WPParent Developer

“We are a team of two developers and a graphics designer, who love what we do, creating fun and educational apps for children.”

Visit our Parent Apps page.

Publisher's Description

★★★ “First Spanish Words: Learning Animals” is the first educational application for Windows Phone 7 exclusively in Spanish, that helps children learn the letters, their names, how they form words and spelling. ★★★

★ Unique Features ★

Distinción or Seseo mode (“theta” or “s”).
Unique list of thumbnails to explore all the animals.
Three different hint alternatives for increased difficulty.

❖ Briefly “First Spanish Words: Learning Animals” is not just another game but a sophisticated and powerful multi-sensory educational tool that also provides hours of fun and laughter through exceptional animations and sound effects. The three different hint alternatives (color hints, letter hints and color and letter hints) combined with four more settings, will challenge your child and adjust the level of difficult. The unique interface, featuring a list of thumbnails, allows your child to explore all the animals.

❖ Distinción or Seseo mode (“theta” or “s”) “First Spanish Words with Phonics: Learning Animals“ is the first educational application to teach children reading that provides the choice between distinción or seseo (differentiated pronunciation of ‹s› and ‹z› or ‹c›) by a simple change in the corresponding button in the settings of the game.

❖ Features

Learn the names of letters, words and how to spell.
Learn to recognize letters (upper and lowercase) and match them to words.
Choose between Distinción or Seseo (“theta” or “s”).
Tap the image of the animal to discover its sound and learn its name.
User interface specifically developed for children fingers.
30 different animals and their habitats (full version only).
Five different settings to increase difficulty as children learn.
Spanish interface available (your device’s international setting must be set to Spanish).

❖ Support and News