Krakeln App Review
App Info
Price: $0.99
Overview
Krakeln is a fun app that encourages users to spell words from thematic lists by tapping the letters needed to make the word from a scrambled list. There are sixteen child-pleasing themes from which to choose, including zoo animals, camping, farm, playground, and more. Because the words are theme-related, they are of varying degrees of difficulty within each theme. Another fun feature that extends the usefulness of the app is that users can play in any of four languages.
Features include:
- Four languages
- Sixteen themes
- Surprises after spelling
- Thirteen words per theme
- Surprises at the end of levels
Quality
Krakeln is a high quality app that will help younger children practice spelling and could help older children with vocabulary and spelling in other languages. The interface is intuitive and simple, so even young children should be able to manage with little help. The app might benefit from a preview list of words in each theme to help parents and teachers know what is going to be covered, but other than that, it’s easy to use and will accomplish its educational goals.
Education
Krakeln is quite educational, and the availability of other languages extends its usefulness beyond the early learning that it is designed for. In addition to English, the app can be played in French, Spanish, or German (easily chosen by tapping the flag icon in the upper left of the home screen).
There are 16 groups of 13 words each that are centered around child-friendly themes. For example, in the Farm section, kids will be spelling cat, dog, duck, cow, and more. In the Ocean section, words like fish, diver, and shark appear. One aspect to be aware of, however, is that there is no leveling involved. The Farm section also has chicken and donkey on its list, and the Ocean section includes words like submarine and seahorse, which are a bit above the usual expectations for the early learners that the app is designed for.
Entertainment
This app is fun and low-key, which is perfect for a lot of young children. There is pleasant background music, and the illustrations are clear and well-drawn. When a letter is misplaced, the correction is quiet (the spot turns red) but effective, and kids won’t feel bad for making a mistake. When each word is spelled correctly, the main character, Krakel the Octopus puffs out a great cloud of ink to cover the screen and swims by, which is fun. At the end of a section, all of the words float by in poppable balloons, which encourage kids to take a break and have a different kind of interaction. It’s not flashy, and it might seem a bit tame to older kids, though, who may benefit from using it to practice vocabulary from a different language. They might appreciate some kind of scoring system with awards for accurate work. Maybe this could be turned on and off as appropriate in an adult settings section?
Value
Krakeln costs ninety-nine cents in the App Store and on Google Play. This is a great value, considering all of the spelling and vocabulary practice that it offers. The app provides quiet fun, and would be useful to both early learners and children who want to explore other languages.
Child Friendliness
This app is very child-friendly. There are no outside links, advertisements, in-app purchases, or any other way for children to make unauthorized use of the game.
- NO external links
- NO social media
- NO 3rd party ads
- NO in-app purchase
