Writing Wizard - Kids Learn to Write Letters & Words Education App Review (iOS, $2.99)

Description

•"Fantastic, customizable tracing practice with fun rewards." 5 Stars - Common Sense Media
• "Writing Wizard is the most complete and intelligent letter tracing app we’ve seen"" AppoLearning.com
• "This brand-new app should be the go-to for every parent, teacher and therapist to work on handwriting" - TOP PICKS - 5 stars - SmartAppsForKids.com
• "Writing Wizard by L’Escapadou is everything a parent wants in a handwriting app, and more." 5/5 - kids-app-reviews.com
• "L’Escapadou has made handwriting fun." AppyMall.com 5/5
• Listed in "20 best educational iPhone and iPad apps for kids of 2013" - appsplayground.com
• Editor's Choice Award for Excellence in Design - Children's Technology Review
_______

OVERVIEW

From the creator of award-winning educational apps, Writing Wizard is designed to help every child learn how to trace through a fun system carefully designed to maintain motivation.

The app is fully customizable to suit every child's needs, and lets you check their progress through a system of reports and profiles. You can even add your own word lists !

Check the YouTube demo : http://bit.ly/writingwizardvideo
_______

FOR KIDS

Kids want to have fun, and Writing Wizard offers a lot of fun to keep them motivated in the learning process !

• They can trace using 26 animated stickers and sound effects
• Once tracing is complete, they can interact with them on 4 games that animate letters
• They can trace any word - like their name - as the app is customizable
• They can collect stars in 5-Stars play mode
_______

FOR PARENTS & TEACHERS

• Detailed reports provide information on what kids have done, including the ability to replay and export the tracings to view kids' progress
• Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word)
• Multiple parameters to customize the app according to the child’s current education level (e.g. letter size, difficulty, show/hide model, allow to stop between key points, etc.)
• 3 most popular fonts (ZB, DN, HWT)
• Upper and lower case letters, numbers (and word lists)
• Letter sounds (which can be customized)
• A customizable 5-Stars play mode
• Unlimited Users
_______

MORE REVIEWS

• AppoLearning.com ""Writing Wizard is the best letter tracing app on iPad"

• SmartAppsForKids.com TOP PICKS 5 stars "Writing Wizard has every feature needed in a handwriting app, along with some amazing options for customization."

• AppyMall.com : 5/5 "Wow!!! This is one fantastic app for learning to print for both families and clinicians."

• TeachersWithApps.com : "Teachers With Apps had the pleasure of beta-test Writing Wizard, which is simply brilliant! This app will be a daily go-to for any primary teacher, student, or parent."

_______


Privacy Policy

KNOW WHAT'S INSIDE
As a Moms with Apps member, we follow the "Know what's inside" best practices for kids’ apps

L’Escapadou takes children’s privacy seriously. We believe you should not have to worry about your kids being tracked by apps or websites. This app:
• Does not collect any user information (we do not use data collection tools)
• Does not contain in-app purchases
• External Links : Protected parent sections are available where you can send us a mail and check out our others apps. Before accessing a parent section, an addition must be solved so that young kids cannot access it.

Customer Reviews

• We Love this !!!!!

  by Nikkinun

  This is an amazing application for learning, my daughter loves it!! Thank you!

• Fun while they learn

  by Djdjdjdjsjsjsjsjjs

  My 4.5 yr old twins love this. The bright colors and after-tracing graphics fun keeps them going back for more. They are learning to spell and are so proud of themselves. They like to hear their voice speak in their personalized word lists. This is excellent and a great investment!

• Classroom favorite

  by Barefoot Teacher

  Love the customization! Kids love it too.

• Teacher LOVES it...Kids will too!

  by Born2Teach03

  My students are going to love this! I appreciate that I can create individualized lists for each student and send a recording and/or a picture via email of the student's work! It's SO easy to use this as part of an incentive system. I can see exactly what they've done, print it and put in their file to share at conferences, and more importantly, see what progress they are making. I was a little concerned about the other comments about the lack of graphics, but it seems to be working well on my iPad with ios7. And, it's very reasonably priced! Thanks so much!

• Shapes no longer working

  by NachoNickName

  I just updated the app on my daughters ipad mini with ios7 and the shapes are not working. However, the app is still great.

• great app...but..

  by pshogg

  I truly love this app especially for kids who hate practicing handwriting. The recent update with the prewriting shapes does not work on my iPad with the OS 7 system, but it does work on my iPod without the OS 7 system. Hopefully a fix is coming soon?

• Great features

  by Star S.R

  Great features, including multiple setting options and data collection.

• Great app!

  by Momofreluctantwriter

  Great app! My child uses it to study spelling words and work on handwriting at the same time. The kids love the graphics and actually ASK to practice spelling words. The teacher is willing to allow this to be used and counted for homework since reports in the child's handwriting can be emailed directly to her. For children who have difficulty writing, this makes it fun instead of stressful.

• Love!

  by AKC7712

  The tracing colors/designs are so fun! Engaging sound effects! Can't wait to use it with the Kindergarteners at school. Love the option of entering your own words. Great app.

• Awesome writing app!

  by No nickname2345

  Use it with my students with intellectual disabilities. Love customizing ability and reports!

• One of my favorite writing apps.

  by Listen while running

  This app is worth every penny with a cherry on top. Having tried apps including Handwriting Without Tears (for $6.99 mind you and that will come in a later review), I have been very leery with writing apps for their customizability, visuals, and overall usability. But Writing Wizard has met these criteria, hands down. First, this app is quite customizable. Not only do you have the option in handwriting formats including D'Nealian, Zaner-Bloser and Handwriting without Tears, but you have access to capitals, letters, numbers and words. You also have the option to create reports of tracing history to examine accuracy of motor planning over time. Under section "For Parents", after you answer a quick math question to unlock parental control~ a cute feature~ it describes how to add words to the "My Words" list. This can be incredibly helpful for spelling practice, reading practice, or name writing. It also provides instructions how to use their "5 Star" Mode during which the practice becomes more challenging; and when the child meet the criteria they get a start. Visuals and Audio. This app is really appealing. First the child is given a demonstration as well as the name of the letter and its letter sound. As the child traces within the given parameter, cool pictures like tiger heads, flowers, and cupcakes act as the line. After the letter is completed, a cool and kinda trippy thing will happen, reinforcing the letter building. This app does not have over powering backgrounds or background sounds, which I find incredibly useful in the therapeutic and educational setting. Lastly, overall usability. I have used this app with children pre-K to 5th grade with a variety of special needs including Downs Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Developmental Delay, and ADHD. This is a kid and adult friendly app. My students with and without disabilities, and my own children, enjoy exploring the letters. They find it highly motivating and engaging. And when paired with paper/pencil tasks, I have noticed improvement with behavior, completion, attention and visual motor skills. I have to say, it was also very refreshing for the app developers to state to use a stylus. This is a pet peeve of mine. Using a stylus is incredibly important to build the dexterity for writing and coloring with tools. We don't write with our finger tips on paper, so please get a stylus to promote good habits. When compared to other writing apps out there, this is by far one of my favorites. I would recommend it to teachers, therapists and parents as another way in addition to paper/pencil task, to engage their early learners in another writing skill development. Kudos, L'Escapadou!

• Excellent app for phonics and writing

  by karma_koan

  This app does it all: it teaches my daughter the proper way to write lower case and upper case letters, numbers, and it teaches letter sounds. She can also practice writing words. I would also recommend the other apps offered by this developer. In addition to Writing Wizard, I use Word Wizzard and Montessori Cross-words. All are excellent apps for children to use to learn to read.

• A very ok app

  by Chidexsky

  I really think this app is ok! My 31month old boy loves the animation. It could be less patronizing though.... I'd prefer for it to go back to 'start' point on a character when my son's grip loosens while trying to trace a number or an alphabet. That way he'll get to learn to maintain enough pressure from start to finish.

• Please correct your letter forms

  by MikeyInMKE

  As an early childhood regular/special education teacher, I am always frustrated when educational programs don't do their research. In zaner/blose handwriting, the lower case "t" starts halfway between the midline and the center line. If we are going to use this app to teach our children to write their letters, it would be best to teach them proper form.

• Best!!

  by Kenkaiden

  This is the coolest app! Love it!!

• Love it

  by KB3POA

  This is a great app for helping kids learn to write. I LOVE that it tells the child when they left the line. I would like to see some things added to make it 5 stars. First, I would like to be able assign kids that log into the app. Second, I would like a parent report card option. Third, I would like to be able to write words as well as letters. This is a great start to the app though.

• Great for Pre- K!!!!

  by Shamrocks0414

  Awesome! You can add your child's name so they can practice writing anywhere !

• My one year old loves it!

  by SubKnit

  Wow! Who knew my toddler could write letters?! She loves it. We started with the simple figures (e.g. 1, A, 6) and she can't get enough. She even saw the A-frame swing set structure at the playground and called it "A"! I love being able to watch her progress with the tracking feature.

• Love!

  by Cgregoryrun

  L'Escapadou apps are always a hit here and this is no exception. It's fun, pleasant to listen to and the custom options are wonderful. I especially love being able to create my own word lists.

• A true gem!

  by Planescrapper

  This app is amazing not only for proper writing of letters but for beginning reading and spelling. The record your own words as well as making your own list is truly what sets this app apart.

• Great App

  by Gayle451

  Another winner from this developer! Great for teachers. Can be easily adapted to fit individual student needs. Will also teach names/sounds of letters and names of numbers while the kids are learning how to make the letters. Educational and fun!

• Awesome

  by Sombra81

  I love this this app because I can add my own words and customization. My child love because of the visual and sound effects.

• Great learning tool

  by LACoonie

  Can't wait to introduce my granddaughter to this!

• Great app

  by Tombo's

  This app is great for toddlers learning to write. My grandson loves writing with it, it is teaching him letters, sounds, writing and spelling. It is just amazing.

• Excellent, flexible handwriting app

  by CabotMama

  Both my pre-K and 1st grader enjoy using this app. I've even caught my 3rd grader watching over their shoulder! As a parent of four children, I love the flexibility. I can control the level of difficulty and the different parameters, customizing to each child's level of learning. My 1st grader can already write her letters well, but the word writing practice is perfect for both handwriting (spacing between letters when in a word) and spelling/reading of simple words. Unexpected bonus! Also, the ability to track each kid's progress is a welcome feature. Thanks for such a great app! UPDATE: I emailed the developer a question and received a reply in less than an hour. Awesome response time! The flexibility of this app is phenomenal compared to most kids' educational apps. I have used it for my 3 year old (learning her letters), my first grader (fine tuning handwriting), and even my third grader (practice writing spelling words)! Best of all, they LOVE using it!

• Awesome App!

  by Spencer Stooksberry

  So glad I didn't waste my time or money with HWT app. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Handwriting Without Tears, but as a pediatric Occupational Therapist working in the schools, it became rather boring for them. This app is entertaining and you can choose from HWT, Zaner Bloser or D'Nealian (which I ABSOLUTELY HATE! lol). Plus, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the reports!! Brilliant! Thanks so much & keep it coming! :)

• Best writing app EVER!

  by Robinkg

  Job well done! This app is well designed. It uses correct formation in teaching the letters. You can choose from the top 3writing styles. There is visual and auditory feedback. The customization for multiple users is awesome! I have the ability to make custom word lists, set individual parameters on accuracy, etc...the list goes on! And giving me the data collection and work samples that I can email, print, and file is remarkable!!! This app is a must have!!!

• Love it!

  by Betsy Jones

  This app is great, easy to use. You can add child's name or other vocabulary words. There are also settings that you can set for individual child.

• Amazing!

  by America'sMom

  This is an absolutely wonderful app... I strong recommend this app to anyone with children learning to write!!!!!!!!!!!

• Love it

  by JML317

  This is the best handwriting app. I'm glad this apps uses Dn handwriting. I'm loading my student's spelling words right now. Can't wait for my students to use it.

• Vera nice, but needs options for leftys

  by Jrenom

  Nice app, but needs to include left-handed or right-handed option in the user profile, since some tracings differ.

• Very impressive

  by Nananananaaaaaa

  I am a special educator working with K-2 students with a variety of learning styles. My students beg to practice handwriting on this app. I have saved spelling lists for my students to practice too. Thanks for the resource. I love that we can view history/ progress and email students' reports to myself and parents.

• Love it!

  by Artistic Element

  Awesome!

• Not for left handers

  by Gazruto

  Being a lefty myself it was very frustrating seeing the start arrow on the side for right handers vs. left handers and there was no option to change to for left handers. There was also no alternative way to make the letters. The way it showed how to make the E was very different then the way I was taught.

• So excited about this app!

  by Gamermom27

  My boys are learning their alphabet and they love playing learning games on my iPad. I think this will be the perfect way to get them writing!

• So cute

  by One Grandma

  This is so cute. I know my grand kids will love it and learn too.

• Great App

  by Sweetswire

  My child loves it. The pronunciation before the writing is great help with word recognition and letter & sound recognition.

• Great so far

  by Black Suburban

  Just loaded and there seems to be a lot of good details and flexibility.

• Awesome!

  by Busy.teacher.mom

  I am a special education teacher and a parent, and this is the BEST app. I've found! I love the fact that I can record my voice with each letter. Another favorite feature is that I can type my own word list for practice! I have not seen this feature with any other app of this kind. I could go on and on, but another super plus for the students i teach is that the finger trace sequence is not erased if their finger comes off the stroke. What has been traced stays on and thy can continue. I can't wait to go back to school on Monday and share this with my coworkers and my students!

• Great App!

  by CadeRiggs

  This app allows us to communicate the needs of handwriting education in a way that appeals to my child.

• Grate

  by marlon paniagua

  This is the best app I have ever used, my child enjoys it very much.

• Perfect for all ages!

  by Sasdsand

  What a great app, my kids love it.

• Incredible!!!

  by Teach SPED

  I absolutely love this app!!! You can customize word lists for students! They can record the words using their own voices!! Very, very motivating app for those kids who need lots of repetition to learn sight words!! My kids keep rewriting their words as they want to see what the new tracing colors will be used each time! Always a different pattern and lots of interaction!!! Can't say enough great things about what the folks at L'Escapadou have done!! All of their apps have been top notch, but this is my favorite by far!!!

• Solid handwriting app

  by amyjane315

  Writing wizard is a solid handwriting app. Each time you trace a letter it gives you different materials or designs that come up instead of just a plain line. It gives you the option to chose what handwriting style you want for example, handwriting without tears or zaner bloser. The absolute best part of this program is that it keeps data for each user. This is very critical in a school based or therapeutic program. Great for ots for keeping data. There are other apps that are more entertaining, but for data collecting this is the best I have seen

• High Marks! Well Done!

  by LSAppleby

  Writing Wizard - Kids Learn to Write Letters is wonderful! It offers various customizations which will make parents and teachers beyond thrilled! And I truly believe kiddos will have fun whilst practicing an important and necessary skill. I think it offers a great variety of writing tools and will utilize fine motor skills, letter identification, dolce word identification, number identification, and hand eye coordination. I love the ability to customize word lists and track students. I also love the animations and fun way in which tracings occur. I think the app is nicely done and is certainly worth having on hand for students who are newly learning or need additional practice with this skill. I would love to see the addition of a cursive writing font and perhaps a way for students to earn additional writing implements like: ketchup, chalk, rainbow markers, shaving cream, pudding, etc. I think this would offer incentive for those students who may struggle with handwriting and will be using this app longer term.

• Colorful and cheerful app

  by Alexia3311

  This application is so colorful and fun to play with I can barely stop using it myself. Very helpful for a child to stay focused on practicing his writing. It gives opportunity to learn not only how to write letters but also many words. This way your child is getting better at spelling as well. Wonderful application, I recommend this to everyone.

• Knocks my socks off!

  by AAC Girl

  Merci beau coup! One of the best apps ever done! Most enjoyable way to write in the whole world! Keep them coming!

• A very engaging letter writing app!

  by Jenny+Mary

  Did not expected to be surprised by a letter writing app. We use some good ones but Writing Wizard stands out! Step-by-step skills development, engaging entertaining features (I love these magnetic elements so much!) to keep kids interested during the learning process and plenty of useful settings for parents! And what's the most important things is that kids love this app and play with it again and again.

• Excellent App for Preschool Special Education

  by Emy Casella

  This handwriting app is unique in that the child does not need to make the whole stroke, even if they get halfway down the first line it will not erase what they wrote, it will prompt them to continue. You may put a child's name in and the app will generate evaluations showing how they wrote each letter. You can add their name to practice. This will be great to show progress to parents. What a great app for those trying to teach children to write. Spelling words can be put into the app. So much more than I thought it would be. Great job!!!!

• Customizable, fun, and very user-friendly app!

  by teach.me

  Visually stimulating app to practice writing capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and even words in several different fonts. My preschooler would rather grab her stylus and this app than trace letters with a marker. Very well-designed, child-friendly, as well as teacher/parent friendly with access the child's tracing history as well as even export each child's work (including a different color per stroke.) Way to make handwriting fun! =)

• Wow! Writing is Fun! Fun! Fun!

  by Wagnerslp

  This is a fun yet QUALITY app for learning how to write letters and words! Did I mention that it is fun? An excellent learning app for home and school! Choose your letter style, choose your difficulty level, track progress and even create your own word lists using your own voice! Highly engaging...your kids will not want to stop "playing" ! We are going to be using this in my speech therapy room at school! You can always count on this developer for the best in learning apps!

• Fabulous,

  by bajebooth

  This is an amazingly incredible app for beginning writers and early elementary kids! Upper and lower case letters, numbers and word lists are introduced - using either fun animated stickers or colored pens. The visuals are engaging, but not over stimulating, keeping kids on task. What I like about this app is that the letter is the focus, and the animations highlight learning on so many levels - both to insure retention and mastery of the sub skills needed to gain competence. The ability to customize and use this app with many users, and the ability to view each individual users actually strokes and progress is state of the art. The customizations alone help to support success in graded measures, and it is very impressive how much thought and heart went into this app. I would highly recommend this app to both families whose child is struggling with handwriting, and clinicians/teachers. There are no in app purchases, and links to other apps by this developer are under a secured button.

• Absolutely LOVE it!!!

  by mom2alexthegr8

  This app is great, not only for working on handwriting, but also for letter recognition- upper and lower case, letter sounds, number recognition, and learning to write short words. It is also a ton of fun! Your child or student will not want to put it down! There are many options for customization that make it work for children who are at the beginning of handwriting, or those who need to practice. Teachers will like the ability to add unlimited users and the detailed data tracking. The app has built in visual rewards for tracing, which are very sensory that may appeal to those with Autism. This has been the case for my son in other apps by this developer. All external links are locked, and there are no ads. I highly recommend this app!

• View More

Screenshots

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Download

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Download