Zoo Train

I spend two days a week in a special needs preschool, where the primary diagnosis is ASD. I have been struggling as of late to find appropriate apps for some of the kids, especially those younger (3 y/o) with visual attention difficulties.

I stumbled across Zoo Train today, an app that includes five different games that are appropriate for kids ages 3-5.

Included are simple, inset like puzzles of 3-6 pieces, a game where you can create your own train, complete with cars filled with different types and amounts of animals. As an OT who works alongside SLPs frequently, I immediately saw the possibility for speech therapists to use this app also ("Where do penguins live? How is this different from where the zebras live?").

For the older pre-school clients, there's a game that involves placing different sections of a train track, including horizontal, vertical, and curved tracks, to create a large train track. It is a great perceptual challenge and the kids Telly seem to like the challenge of this task, and especially love the end where the train goes along the track they have created.

I normally wouldn't recommend an app after only one day of use, but this app was great! It was great to use with pre-schoolers of different levels and abilities.

Price: $1.99
Age level: Pre-school level
Skills addresses: Visual perceptual, ocular motor, visual attention, fine motor