Description
The House of Learning is an app developed by a certified Speech-Language Pathologist, and it serves both as a tool for learning and playing. We know that children will learn best when interacting with an adult partner to guide their learning, and we encourage parents and teachers to use the “House of Learning” as an activity that can promote immense learning opportunities when using the correct techniques.
Here are some ideas on how to use the house of learning to help your child practice language skills:
Tips for teaching language skills
Tips for teaching prepositions
Many children have difficulty with using correct prepositions such as “on, in, above, on top of, under, next to, to the right, to the left”. The House of Learning is the ideal iPad app for helping children understand and practice these skills while playing.
Guided house builder: Instead of letting the child play the app independently, try playing next to them and telling them exactly where to put each object. Use complete phrases such as “ place the sheets on the bed”, “place the cup on the table”, “ place the shoes under/above the bed”.
Silly house builder: How about setting up the house before your session and putting the objects in “silly” places such as “the bed on top of the pillow”. When it is time for your session, you ask your student what’s wrong with the image and get them to guide you verbally to place the objects where they belong. You should expect them to say complete phrases using prepositions “the bed goes above the pillow”.
Following one or more step directions
Following one or multiple step directions can be very challenging for some children with language delays.
Guided house set up: Guide your child along the game with one, two, three or more step commands. Such as “Get the ball”, “Get the ball and place it on top of the bed”, “Get the ball, place it on the bed and move the girl close to it.”
Story Telling
It is possible to take a screenshot when you are done with the scenes. Why not use these screenshots to let your students build a story? Here is how we can do this:
Set up the scenes and place the people where you want them to go.
click on “done” to display the camera button.
Click on the camera button to take a photo of the scene.
Choose to save this scene to the library;
Go back to the scene and prepare the scene for the next screenshot;
Repeat the steps.
After you have completed the “story” you can print and share with your students or ask them to create their own.
If you would like to make suggestions for the upcoming versions of the “House of Learning” you can contact us at contact@smartyearsapps.com , join our Facebook page or click on the button bellow to contact us directly from you iPad.
What's New in Version 1.1
- Added ability to choose characters!
iPad Screenshots
Customer Reviews
House of learning
This colorful app was developed for speech-language pathologists and teachers for teaching vocabulary and prepositions. However, it's ease of use makes it appropriate for parents of young children as well.
There are so many early learning skills that can be addressed as well.
First, the vocabulary is very comprehensive. Rather than learning rote with flash cards the children can choose the items they would like to decorate their room.
In teaching prepositions the therapist, teacher or parent can elicit "where" responses.
House of learning can be used to teach function. "you put a bed in your bedroom. You sleep in a ______. the child fills in the blank.
Use this app to teach memory by having the child repeat what they put in the room, by looking at the picture and then without looking at it.
Other skills to teach are categories and articulation. The articulation may require work by the therapist as he or she will have to spend some time initially listing all the words by sounds.
The email option is an outstanding feature for parental involvement and carryover. Email the child's completed picture with the words being learned.
Smarty-ears has provided a support page with additional suggestions and early learning skills.
Misses the boat
This app is a great idea but the pictures are too small and difficult to figure out. Also, in some of the rooms, like the kitchen, furniture is missing-- like counter tops. After some updates, this could be great!
Fun and learning for all!
I love house of learning and so do my students. I get to use it to cover so many areas of speech: articulation, expressive and receptive vocab, following directions, articulation, endless possibilities! Some of my students even ask to play it 'just for fun'.
- $6.99
- Category: Education
- Updated: Sep 12, 2011
- Version: 1.1
- Size: 39.9 MB
- Language: English
- Seller: Smarty Ears, LLC
- © All rights reserved to Smarty Ears, LLC
Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
