Handwriting App Review - Writing Wizard

Social media from Pediastaff informed me that Writing Wizard was free for the iPad.  Of course, I quickly downloaded it so I could test it out.  It is now $2.99 but well worth the price.  After testing it out, this app has a lot of promise.  

Starting off you can choose what font you would like to practice - Zaner Bloser, D'Nealian or Handwriting Without Tears.  You can change various settings - set game time limit, sound, etc.  

You can choose to do capital or lowercase letters in any order you would like.  There is also an option for numbers and words.  Once you choose the letter, it models the correct formation.  You can change the settings for the modeling including the speed and what is even said while it demonstrates.  You can record your voice to the exact verbal cues you would like the student to follow.  

As the student traces the letter, there are fun patterns.  Once the letter is completed you can play with the fun patterns or objects.

For example, after the letter M was traced, you can hold the iPad and tilt it in different directions to make the dots move all over the screen based on how you tilt the iPad.  This is an entertaining way to sneak in some bilateral coordination.  

A nice bonus is the data collection.  It will keep track of the user and email reports regarding details such as the letter, size, difficulty and other features.  It logs each letter and practice session for the user.  The feature I really appreciated was the tracing report.  It shows through picture exactly how the student traced the letter.  This would make a great visual to show to teachers, students and parents to indicated progress over time.  See picture below.

All in all I give this app a big thumbs up!!!  Always do find it ironic though, that many say handwriting does not need to be taught due to the electronic age, but yet developers continue to create and update apps to teach handwriting.  Kind of an oxymoron, but hey for some kids the iPad adds that motivation to practice.