Practice turning letters into words with Whack-a-Word (Reading Horizons, 2013). The setting: a garden with a row of carrots in front and a spate of moles popping up, whack-a-mole style, behind them, each holding a placard with a letter. Your mission: to tap the moles holding the letters you need to spell words, and thus keep your carrots from disappearing.

A chipper young voice gives you instructions, and a measured adult voice and says the first word you’ll need to spell. Question marks appear in front of the screen, one for each letter you’ll need. Watch the moles and tap the one holding the first letter, and then the second…You can tap either on the mole or on the letter itself. If you don’t tap each before it goes back to its hidey-hole, you lose one carrot; if you tap a mole holding a wrong letter, you lose two. Helpfully, you can tap the speaker icon in the corner to hear a word repeated.



There are "Easy," "Medium," and "Hard" modes, and you can change your level at any time. Within each, though, there are ten sublevels, which you have to unlock one at a time. Increasing difficulty means longer words, and also more moles popping up at a time, which means you have to think faster to choose the right ones.

The interactivity makes spelling a little more fun, and anticipating the next letter can make the word’s spelling more memorable. Once you figure out which letter you need next, it’s easy to start muttering, “Come on, H!” The quiet beat in the background is motivating, though I could have done without the clanging sound for every single correct letter and the briiiing for every correct word. The laughter, presumably a mole’s laughter, that follows a wrong answer is actually a more pleasant sound. (Muting isn’t much of an option in this game, since you need to hear the words to know what you’re looking for.)

Sounds aside, this is an entertaining way to practice spelling and letter recognition. No moles were harmed in the writing of this review.

Available for iPad (requires iOS 4.3 or later); free. Recommended for primary users.