Comparison

Read Spell Picture Sight Words vs OgStar Reading Explore

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Read Spell Picture Sight Words

This app helps children aged 4-8 learn essential sight words through a multi-sensory approach. It uses engaging picture cues to aid in reading, spelling, and comprehension, making early literacy development fun and effective.

Highlights
  • Picture cues for word recognition
  • Multi-sensory learning approach
  • Helps with reading and spelling
  • Improves word comprehension
  • Uses Dolch Sight Words lists
  • Suitable for children with learning differences
Features
Read full description

I See, I Spell, I Learn® products support early literacy in children. They have been tried and tested on emerging readers (4-8 years). Our research shows that children are more successful using these learning products as they are visually engaging and fun to use. WHAT ARE SIGHT WORDS? Children start to read by “sounding out” words. However many words cannot be sounded out. Words like “are”, “your”, “come”, etc. appear so frequently in early reading material, that children must be able to recognize these words by “sight”, hence the name “sight words”. So sight words must be memorized or recognized instantly, rather than being sounded out or decoded. WHY PICTURE SIGHT WORDS™? We have worked extensively with children who struggle with reading and spelling. The traditional method of exposure to and repetition of sight words can be difficult, boring and worse, ineffective! Picture Sight Words™ can help a child read, spell and understand sight words much faster. The words have been taken from Dolch Sight Words lists (Pre-K to 3rd grade). Each set has 25 words that go from a beginner level in Set 1 to an advanced level in Set 3. • READING: Picture Sight Words™ are a research-based, multi-sensory teaching tool that help children recognize and, thus, read sight words much faster. Picture cues allow a child to recall a picture instead of a letter - the picture provides a context that helps your child understand and recognize what the word says. Simply put, the picture tells a story which makes recalling the sight word easier. • SPELLING: Picture Sight Words™ are the first cards that help a child spell sight words. The picture cue embedded in the word is in the shape of the tricky letter. Now when the child tries to recall that letter, he can recall the picture, which will tell him what letter it is because it has the same shape. The cards are not cluttered with confusing visuals. There is usually just one picture in the word, making recall easier. For the first time, your child can "draw" a word, and spelling sight words can become fun! • COMPREHENSION: The sentence at the back of each card uses the sight word, and helps your child understand the meaning of the word in context. WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM THE PICTURE SIGHT WORDS™ PROGRAM? The program works best for emerging readers (4-8 years old), since the pictures keep younger children engaged. The cards can be used alone or as part of any reading or spelling program. These cards have proved to be a great learning tool for children with learning differences like dyslexia, since they use right-brained strengths of recalling a picture, instead of relying on the weaker left-brain to recall a sequence of letters which have no meaning to them. HOW TO USE THE PICTURE SIGHT WORDS™ PROGRAM? • Instructions for reading: Show your child the card, and listen to the audio. Have your child repeat this 3 times. Flip the card and listen to the sentence. Have your child make up a sentence with the sight word. Flip back to the word and discuss the picture. Make comments like “Oh that’s a nice color!” or “Why do you think they used that picture?” or “What is the picture telling us about?”. The more you engage children, the more likely they are to remember the picture. Move to the next card. You can wait till your child can read all 25 cards before working on spelling, or you can start once reading 5 cards has been mastered. Learning to spell sight words takes longer than learning to read them, so patience is key! • Instructions for spelling: Show your child the card and repeat the sentence as needed. Discuss the shape of the letter and show its connection to the picture cue and to the sentence. Help them remember the picture, rather than memorizing a letter over and over. The PSW app also lets you browse and access other educational material like Phonics and Sight Word Readers, Reading Comprehension Workbooks, Inspirational books for children and reference materials for teachers, tutors and parents.

About

OgStar Reading Explore

This app introduces parents and educators to a multisensory approach for teaching children to read, write, and spell. It offers the initial lessons of a structured literacy program, allowing users to experience the methodology before purchasing the full version.

Highlights
  • Multisensory learning approach
  • Phonological awareness practice
  • Systematic/synthetic phonics
  • Handwriting recognition feedback
  • Speech recognition feedback
  • Progress tracking portal
Read full description

With the FREE OgStar Reading® Explore app, parents and teachers explore how our apps teach kids to read, write, and spell the multisensory way. Try the first 4 lessons in the OgStar sequence, then, go to the App Store to purchase the right OgStar app for your child, so they can continue to build literacy skills. Structured Literacy works! OgStar Reading® Explore provides preschool and elementary-aged students with a window to our other OgStar Reading literacy games, based on the well-respected Orton-Gillingham approach. Students practice: • phonological awareness • systematic/synthetic phonics • multisensory sound/symbol associations • oral reading of phonetically-controlled words • finger tracing and writing of pseudo-words and real words in isolation OgStar Reading® Explore takes students on a captivating reading adventure and includes built-in mini-games and rewards to keep students motivated and engaged. OgStar Reading® is a patent-pending, technologically-sophisticated app with handwriting recognition feedback, speech recognition feedback, audio-visual synchronization, voice-over correction feedback, and text-to-speech features. Data collection is available in the Parent/Teacher Portal describing student performance and progress over time. This delightful, multisensory, Structured Literacy game helps students to independently develop evidence-based literacy skills, in accordance with the scientific standards recommended by the National Reading Panel, which established the best ways to teach students how to read.

Screenshots

Read Spell Picture Sight Words4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Read Spell Picture Sight Words at 100% against OgStar Reading Explore's 40%. Read Spell Picture Sight Words also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.1) and device support (3 vs 1). OgStar Reading Explore's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 27 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Read Spell Picture Sight Words sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. OgStar Reading Explore asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Read Spell Picture Sight Words holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 14 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Read Spell Picture Sight Words's written reviews are positive against 40% of OgStar Reading Explore's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Read Spell Picture Sight Words ships an update every 27 months, OgStar Reading Explore every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and July 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Read Spell Picture Sight Words versus OgStar Reading Explore: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRead Spell Picture Sight WordsOgStar Reading Explore
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (7 ratings) — better3.1 (14 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings714 — better
Update frequencyEvery 27 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better10.0
Further details — not scored
Size101 MB327 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRoma Anurag SoodOGSTAR READING, LLC

Customer experience

Read Spell Picture Sight Words

All ratings7 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

OgStar Reading Explore

All ratings14 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral7.1%
Negative42.9%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Read Spell Picture Sight Words

One-time3
  • Picture Sight Words™ - Set 1$3.99
  • Picture Sight Words™ - Set 2$3.99
  • Picture Sight Words™ - Set 3$4.99
None

OgStar Reading Explore

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Read Spell Picture Sight Words free?
Read Spell Picture Sight Words is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is OgStar Reading Explore free?
OgStar Reading Explore is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Read Spell Picture Sight Words or OgStar Reading Explore?
Read Spell Picture Sight Words is rated higher. Read Spell Picture Sight Words averages 4.6 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while OgStar Reading Explore averages 3.1 from 14 ratings.
Do Read Spell Picture Sight Words or OgStar Reading Explore have ads?
Neither Read Spell Picture Sight Words nor OgStar Reading Explore shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Read Spell Picture Sight Words or OgStar Reading Explore?
Read Spell Picture Sight Words ships an update every 27 months, and OgStar Reading Explore every 4 weeks. Most recently, Read Spell Picture Sight Words was updated on June 1, 2026 and OgStar Reading Explore on July 7, 2026.

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