Word Wagon – by Duck Duck Moose

Duck Duck Moose released a brand new app last week and my expectations were high. My expectations are always high when it comes to their apps but I’ve never been disappointed. I’m happy to say that they’ve done it again, in fact Word Wagon might be my favorite Duck Duck Moose app yet. Word Wagon is all about letters, phonics and spelling. Children will practice these things with Mozarella the mouse and his friend Coco the bird. Mozarella lives at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower and he and Coco are going to show your child more than 100 words.

Word Wagon has four different levels for beginning spellers and readers. The first level is Letters and it focuses on teaching children the names of the alphabet letters. Mozarella will stroll through his home and objects will appear in his path. If your child taps on an object they’ll hear it’s name and see the word on the screen. Now they must take letters and drag them onto the letters in the word. As they do this Coco will say the name of the letters when your child puts them in place. After the word is complete Coco will spell out the word and say it once more. Mozarella’s word wagon appears and takes away the object and word. If your child chooses not to tap on an object in Mozarella’s path he’ll hop over it and keep walking. As he walks the background wallpaper color and design changes and there will be trademark Duck Duck Moose things to tap on the screen. One of my favorite discoveries was Mozarella’s shoes. When you tap on his feet he puts on his magic shoes and this helps him walk faster through the words.

The second Word Wagon level is Phonics and it will work on the sound of letters. After your child has moved letters into place on the screen Coco will sound them out and read the word. This is a fantastic level! As she reads the letters they are highlighted so your child can see what is making the sounds. Level three is Spelling 1 and your child will be spelling words that have up to four letters. The difference in this level is that the word on the screen disappears. Users are on their own and must drag letters into the correct order by themselves. When they’ve finished Coco will again sound out the word and read it. The final fourth level is Spelling 2 and uses words with up to six letters.

Each time your child finishes a word they earn a special animated sticker . The stickers are collected in a book and can be played with at any time. Stars are also earned along the way. When your child taps on one of the stars they’ll be able to connect them to create a constellation that turns into an animal. One last feature worth noting: The 100 words in Word Wagon are broken down into seven categories. The categories include numbers and colors, around the house, animals, food, vehicles, Mozarella & Coco’s favorites and all. You can select whether you’d like your child to work on individual categories or all the words at once. Once you’ve done this these will be the things that appear in Mozarella’s path.

Word Wagon’s graphics are just as sharp as what I’ve come to expect from Duck Duck Moose. It looked absolutely wonderful on my iPhone and an HD version of the app will be coming to the iPad soon. The charm and subtle humor of the interactions are all here and the educational content is fantastic. The four different levels are recommended for children in Preschool through first grade. The spelling is great but it’s the phonics that makes the app something phenomenal for me. Sounding out words with Mozarella and Coco couldn’t be more fun, thank you Duck Duck Moose!

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

See the app in iTunes

Seller: Duck Duck Moose

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