Cost
Cost can be a prohibitive factor in acquiring learning resources for your child. Such resources range from top-dollar Pre-K curricula on desktop websites to freeware skill practice mobile apps. In the middle, there are premium web and mobile applications, like Starfall, that are fairly easy on the pocket book. Not only is Starfall economically priced at $35 per year for use at home, but this package includes quite a bit of high quality activities for the price. If you cannot afford the annual home membership, Starfall has some of its activities available for free. However, to take advantage of all that Starfall has to offer, I recommend springing for the full home membership. Starfall also has premium classroom and school-wide packages available too for teachers who also want to benefit from Starfall's success.
Ease of Use
For a toddler, the Starfall tablet app is the easiest to use. The touchscreen allows my three-year-old son to easily play the learning activities, since the buttons are large enough to handle his somewhat clumsy and frantic touchscreen tapping. Tablets also allow the material to fill the screen in a readable and aesthetically pleasing manner. Starfall has taken the smartphone size into account when designing their activities too. My toddler can use this smartphone app while we are out and about and still gain just as much from it as the tablet version. But, given the option, he will always prefer the tablet, because it is much larger and easier to see. Both the mobile applications are preferable to my toddler over the website version. This is only because my son does not have much experience yet with using my laptop computer and its built-in touch mouse. Older children and those with more experience using computer mice will have a better experience with the website version.
Learning Activities
The learning activities that attracted my attention originally were the learning-to-read skill development activities. Some of these are available on the free versions of the website and mobile applications, which is how I was able to test them out with my son before I made my final decision to purchase the full home version. Starfall includes various recognition activities with letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. There are numerous books that highlight words as they are being read aloud by Starfall. There are many videos and songs for young children to observe, dance, and sing along to as they learn. Vowels and phonics are introduced. The math includes songs, numbers, geometry, measurement, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Starfall also divides their activities into first grade and second grade for a more focused curriculum. As an added perk, learners can even create their own avatar, which is inserted into many of the included learning videos. My son likes to adopt a pet cat that eats pizza and plays with his avatar!
Does it work?
The activities are intuitive for a toddler to follow. Starfall has a simple and colorful design with gentle positive reinforcement, which is important in keeping very young children motivated to learn. My son can drag and drop letters to spell a word. The directions are simple and the app rewards success. If a mistake is made, the application gently reminds the young learner of the rules or the prompt. Most of the activities don't have a limit for how many wrong answers one can have, which eliminates the anxiety in getting the correct answer every time. Starfall's instructional design allows its learners to feel as though they are playing, rather than learning; even though they are doing both. My son has only been using this application for three months, but I can see a drastic improvement in his reading comprehension and mathematical awareness. He is certainly well on his way to being ready for school in the coming years in part because of Starfall's application.
What is missing?
Science is one subject that schools could focus more on, instead of mainly reading, writing, and arithmetic. Science comprehension is an important part of our understanding of our world and our youth could benefit from interactive scientific exhibits and hypothesis testing games that mobile application developers could create. Starfall noticeably lacks a science category and some of the activities, like the one on Earth Day, only have a passing mention of scientific facts and ideas. Writing practice is another skill that is not fully realized in the Starfall app. While there are videos and activities that show how to write a letter, there is not a way for learners to actually practice writing letters and numbers; unless parents and teachers print out the writing practice worksheets available on the website. But Starfall could just as easily develop and incorporate a more fully-featured writing skill development section into their application. There are other simple applications out there, like LetterSchool, that have this concept down. To enhance their product further, Starfall should consider adding dedicated science and writing sections. I think these two sections will add even more value to their fantastic product.
Final Thoughts
I am impressed with the amount of activities that are available for the price. It's easy for a toddler to use if they have a mobile device. It's fun and most importantly, it does help toddlers learn. So, when looking for ways to help prepare your young child for school, Starfall more than adequately fills their learning needs for an economical price. Plus your child will demand to play Starfall, which will put your mind at ease since they are playing a learning application that helps them learn. If you own a smartphone or tablet, I highly recommend considering the annual home membership. There is always room for improvement, so I look forward to seeing what Starfall has in store for the future.
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