Match2Say
Match2Say gallery
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Match2Say is an easy-to-learn matching game that targets beginning, middle, and end sound practice and letter representation. It aligns with kindergarten and first-grade English Common Core State Standards. Kids can practice matching sounds found in words or phrases at several difficulty levels while playing on their own or with someone else. Kids struggling with identifying r-controlled words who need practice forming vowels surrounding an /r/ may find this tool especially helpful. Because a kid could feasibly match visuals instead of sounds and the app doesn't track a kid's progress, using Match2Say in combination with other tools might yield better results.What kids can learn
Bright, eye-catching graphics combined with competitive game play make Match2Say fun and engaging for kids.
Differentiated challenges (beginning, middle, end sounds, number of cards, types of targeted sounds) make it easy for kids to practice a broad range of letter-sound representation. Match2Say does not collect data about how kids perform within the game, and it's possible that kids could match pictures instead of sounds, diminishing the possible learning impact.
The support balloon offers a helpful video tutorial or an option to contact the developer.
What's it about?
Players can choose to play alone or with friends using the same device with MATCH2SAY. Users then select a balloon with a specific sound to practice and decide in which part of the word this phoneme will appear (initial, medial, or final). Next, players decide whether they want the sound to be presented as a single word or a multi-word phrase. On the next screen, kids choose which level they would like: Easy gives eight cards to choose from, medium has twelve, hard has eighteen, and super hard has twenty four. After all of these pieces are selected, kids play a memory game and match cards together. You can also take the word off the card so that kids can hear the word without seeing it represented (focusing on phoneme sounds).
Is it any good?
The bright graphics and game vibe help make Match2Say a fun game for kids practicing sound-letter association. It's great at providing beginning, middle, and end sound-specific words with phrases to match. The record feature is good for kids willing to practice repeating the words that are spoken by the device, but may not be useful for many. In the challenge levels, the only difference is the number of cards kids have to choose from, which may test memory and processing more than whether kids understand the sound produced by the word or phrase. Additionally, kids with strong visual memories may quickly identify matching pictures without connecting those words to the sounds being targeted.
Families can talk about...
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Families can talk about how different letters can make the same sound (like the c in cereal and the s in sea). As kids explore their world, ask them to decide what sounds and letters new words begin and end with. Talk about tricky words that have similar sounds but different letters to represent those sounds.
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Create your own word cards to practice sound and letter association. Draw a picture of words on some cards, and write the beginning, middle, or end letter of each word on other cards. Then, play your own matching game and ask kids to match the image to the correct beginning, middle, or end sound letter or combination of letters.
App details
| Devices: | iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad |
| Price: | $19.99 |
| Pricing structure: | Paid |
| Release date: | February 27, 2012 |
| Category: | Educational Games |
| Size: | 79.20 MB |
| Publisher: | Smarty Ears |
| Version: | 2.1 |
| Minimum software requirements: | 4.0 or later |
