Antique ABCs – 19th Century Charm, 21st Century Magic

Now here is a gorgeous alphabet app! Antique ABCs takes the work of a 19th century German lithographer named Joseph Martin Kronheim and turns it into an interactive alphabet experience. The illustrations are beautiful and the app keeps the 19th century look and feel while adding in subtle animations and sounds. There are three main features within this app.

• Song - Song presents the alphabet in order. Each letter has a small square, with a thumbnail picture. Tap on the square to hear the letter, the letter sound and a word. The illustration animates slightly while the letter is being highlighted. You can go through the alphabet square by square or you can listen to the Alphabet Song and watch the illustrations become animated, one after another.
• Spin - Here you may spin a wheel to see what letter you will land on. When the wheel stops you can hear the letter name, sound and the word. You can also see the illustration. The spinner has a second mode that is more of a quiz. When you spin you are given a question – “B is for….?” You will then tap on the letter to “lift a flap” and see the picture of the word.
• Shuffle - In Shuffle the alphabet is completely out of order and you must put the letters back where they belong. You can play with the letters on a fixed grid or let them fall into a pile and sort them from that point. As you place them in their correct spot the illustrations animate.

I was charmed by the Antique ABCs, it was a lovely change of pace. The developers have done a marvelous job staying true to the original illustrations while adding in interactivity and animation.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99 for the iPhone/iPod Touch and $3.99 for the HD iPad

See the iPhone and the iPad version

Seller: FusionLab, Inc

Dislcosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.