Montessori Crosswords - L'Escapadou

This review of Montessori Crosswords was completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 31 May 2018.

About the app

This section contains details about the app provided by an ACCM Reviewer.

ACCM review

This review of Montessori Crosswords contains the following information:

• The level to which the game was reviewed
• App description
• Reviewers comments
• In App purchasing
• Online information
• Gambling
• Advertising and product placement
• Gender stereotypes and sexual references
• Coarse language
• Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents
• Other

The level to which the game was reviewed

All levels played

App description

Montessori Crosswords is an educational app designed to teach young children to spell using phonetic sounds and matching letters. There are 4 levels to the game: level 1/pink; level 2/blue; level 3/purple and level 4/green. Level 1 uses simple 3 letter words next to a picture of the word eg; cat. The user listens to the sounds of the letters from the word and then drags each letter from the moveable alphabet and drops it into the space available on the crossword grid. A voice over confirms if the correct letter is chosen or not. When the word is finished a display of fireworks appears to show that it is correct.

Level 2 uses words with consonant blends, level 3 has words with digraphs and level 4 uses words of any complexity. Each of these 3 levels can be played as one word or two or more in a crossword.

Other applications within the game focus on one sound or letter cluster or just playing with the moveable alphabet.

Caution: Internet connectivity is available through a parental lock.

Reviewers comments

Montessori Crosswords draws on the well-known Montessori approach to reading and writing using the phonetic aspects of language. The aim is to learn how to break down a word according to its phonetic components and therefore be able to reassemble it. Once children gain this skill they can go on to make up their own words and start writing sentences. This app will be useful to young children to learn these early reading and writing skills in a playful environment.

There is access to the developer’s website through a simple parental lock (16+3=?) which has links to the app store for more apps by the same developer. There is also access to a parent’s guide, which has links to further Montessori resources.

The only problem with this app for Australian children is that the voiceover is American and Australian children might have a problem understanding the pronunciation of the words. For this reason and the access issue, parental co-playing is recommended for 4-5 year olds.

In App purchasing

None.

Online information

None of concern.

Gambling

At the time of review, the reviewer found no simulated gambling content.  If you discover simulated gambling content in this app, please contact us with the details so we can update our review.

Advertising and product placement

None.

Gender stereotypes and sexual references

None.

Coarse language

None.

Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents

N/A.

Other

N/A.

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