One of the first things we try to teach our children, in preparing them for one day going to school, is the alphabet, right? Most of the time, our kids memorize the song of the alphapet, and “L,M,N,O, and P” turn into “ella-meno-pee”. So, are they really learning the letters of the alphabet? Here’s a great app that helps children focus on the letters, the phonics of the letters, and their use in words and building vocabulary - Cartoon ABC.

Cartoon ABC is an interactivity-driven app, that gets your child involved in learning the alphabet, while sharpening motor skills, triggering memory practices, reinforcing pronunciation, and spelling, in fun, exploratory games. Cartoon ABC, by Kids Academy Company, is available for $1.99 for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod, and is recommended for children age 2 to 4.

Here’s how the app works:

Open Cartoon ABC, and listen to the charming and child-friendly music (you’ll love how the melody changes often; not the same song playing over and over again). Select the parents light switch on the right-hand side, and create a profile for each of your children. Here, you can also see the Progress of your child’s play in the app. It basically displays what letters your child chooses most often (probably the ones he or she knows the best), so you can see what letters seem to get neglected, and help them focus on those letters. My daughter was very fond of the letter “U” for example. In this section, you can also access the Settings button. Here you can choose to have both male and female voice-overs, or turn the music and sound effects on or off. Next, go back to the alphabet icon, and get playing!

Now your child has a wonderful choice to make; which letter or illustration to tap on from all the alphabet flashcards shown on the screen. Simply choose any card you wish, and watch the illustration animate, and the letter appear in upper and lowercase style, while pronounced. Tap on the letter to hear it read aloud again, and tap on the illustration to watch as it comes to life and displays the word of the object. Your child can choose to stay on each page and interact for as long as he or she would like. Be sure to tap on the white highlighted items in the background too, for more interactive objects with the shared letter in its name. When done, tap on either arrow on the opposite edges of the screen, to procede to the letter before or after it in the alphabet. Select the home button to go to the main screen and choose a new card.  There are over 100 interactive characters, so your child won’t see the same animations over and over again, helping the app stay new and exciting to them.

Please see my video below to watch Cartoon ABC in action.

What I especially admire about Cartoon ABC, is how kid friendly it is; all interactivity is initiated with just simple taps on the objects on the screen. Also, there are no annoying in-app purchases, or accidental taps on social networking sites that take your child away from the game either. As a parent trying to get housework done while my little one is occupied with an app, and to hear a disgruntled moan and asking me to come over and “fix” the game because she accidentally went to the iTunes page to purchase another app, can be frustrating and counter-intuitive. That hasn’t happened in this app.

Cartoon ABC is an interactive alphabet that entertains and challenges preschoolers in important phonics and vocabulary skills, with lively characters that bring the alphabet to life; no more are letters just being recited in the old, memorable ABC tune.

Disclosure: I do not receive compensation for writing this app review. I received a promotional code for this app in faith of writing an app review. The photos used were taken as screen shots from my iPhone or iPad. Views expressed in this review are purely and only mine. Pricing was accurate at the time of this review.