Apps to support literacy development
STARFALL
Join Zac the Rat and his friends on an exciting learning journey, starting with the ABCs and 123s and advancing up to grade 5 level grammar and mathematics. Starfall’s playful open format intuitively guides children through sequential learning objectives for reading, maths, art, music, and social subjects like kindness and caring.
The app includes free and subscriber content and also features an Enhanced Accessible Index for children with visual, hearing, or mobility impairments.
VOOKS
Vooks is a digital library and streaming app of read-aloud animated children’s books that turns screen time into storytime. Kid-safe, carefully curated, and ad-free, the platform is a fantastic resource for kids with disability, thanks to its fun and accessible approach to storytelling. With narrated text, colourful animations, and subtitles, it creates a multisensory experience that’s great for kids who might struggle with reading, speech, or focus. It’s easy to use too, which makes it perfect for kids with fine motor challenges, and the ability to pause or replay means they can go at their own pace. Plus, the stories are inclusive and packed with social- emotional lessons, helping kids feel seen and supported while they enjoy learning.
WRITING WIZARD
Writing Wizard is designed to help every child learn how to trace letters, numbers, and words through a fun system carefully designed to maintain motivation. The app is highly customisable so can be modified by parents to suit an individual child’s needs. There are multiple settings to adjust letter size, show or hide the letter model, create your own words, a left-handed mode, game- time limits, and lots more.
HOMER: FUN LEARNING FOR KIDS
This is a subscription- based app that will craft a personalised learning pathway for your child, tapping into their interests & passions to motivate learning while teaching critical reading skills. As part of your subscription you’ll get lessons covering phonics, letter recognition, sight words, ABCs and more.
PHONICS HERO
This is a step-by-step program that takes a child through every sound in the English language.
But they don’t stop there. Children then use these sounds to read and spell words, they learn tricky words and finally combine these learned skills to conquer sentences. It’s heaps of fun for kids too. They join hero, Zak, on a mission to rescue his superhero friends and ultimately defeat Dr. Lazy Bones. To free the heroes, children will defeat dragons, hunt for diamonds, hitch a ride with a kangaroo and so much more – all as they learn to read and spell!
PHONICS BINGO
Looking for something quick and simple? Play the game of phonics bingo!
Listen to the phonics sounds and find the letter that corresponds. If you are correct it will reveal a cute little monster with an amusing sound that will make your kids laugh out loud. Get 5 monsters revealed in a row to win the game!
This is a very simple and fun addictive game with no complicated settings or menus to confuse your little ones. You can swap between lower and uppercase letters to suit the needs of your learner.
RED WRITING – LEARN TO WRITE
An Aussie classroom on the go!
rED Writing s a fantastic app for teaching kids how to write letters and numbers in a fun, interactive way. It uses tracing exercises with clear instructions and engaging animations to guide children step-by-step. The app is especially helpful for building fine motor skills, with customisable features to suit individual learning needs. Perfect for beginners or kids needing extra handwriting practice, rED Writing makes learning to write both enjoyable and accessible.
