Comparison

SPELLING MAGIC 2 vs Playground Physics

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

Head to head
About

SPELLING MAGIC 2

This app teaches children to read by focusing on consonant blend words. It uses interactive activities to help build words and understand letter sounds, aligning with Science of Reading principles. Two versions are available, offering different word counts and customization options.

Highlights
  • Teaches CVCC and CCVC words
  • Focuses on letter sounds and word construction
  • Word Building section
  • Moveable Alphabet section
  • Two levels of challenge
  • Developed with educators and Montessori principles
Read full description

Introducing SPELLING MAGIC 2, a key to your child's future reading success. SPELLING MAGIC 2 incorporates the main principles of the Science of Reading. SPELLING MAGIC 2 is tailored to focus on CVCC (consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant) words like "hand," "sent," and "gift," as well as CCVC (consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant) words such as "spin," "flap," and "stop." These types of words are also known as "consonant blend words" and are categorized into themes for enhanced learning. This app is designed to teach children the sounds of letters and how to construct words. It emphasizes the skill of building CCVC/CVCC words with four phonemes using short vowel words, indirectly imparting the essential reading skill of segmenting. With two levels of challenge, it offers a comprehensive learning experience. In the "Word Building" section of the app, only the components (letters) of the word are used for building, while the "Moveable Alphabet" section utilizes the entire alphabet for word construction. Please note that the purpose of this app is to provide ample opportunities for practicing building CCVC & CVCC words, presenting a chance to expand vocabulary. When tapped, the pictures always pronounce the sound of the word that the app prompts the child to build. The free version of SPELLING MAGIC 2 includes 72 words, while the DELUXE version offers 235 words and provides several choices in the options menu, including two types of voices, three font styles, two letter color options, a special feature to connect letters, and over 160 additional words from the free version. Developed by a team of educators using accelerated learning techniques and Montessori principles, this app has been tested and approved by preschoolers, who found it enjoyable and beneficial for learning letter sounds. We eagerly await your feedback and suggestions as we strive to provide a rewarding educational experience for young learners.

About

Playground Physics

Record videos of motion, trace paths, and analyze physics concepts like forces and energy. This tool helps educators bring Newton's Laws to life with interactive graphs and slow-motion playback. Ideal for middle and high school science.

Highlights
  • Record and analyze motion in videos
  • Trace paths and examine movement
  • Interactive scrubbable graphs
  • Slow-motion playback
  • Calculate forces and energy
  • Save and share performance videos
Read full description

Discover and explore the physics in your own movements. Record a video of you or your friends, tap points along the way to trace a path of motion, and discover the motion, forces, and energy involved. Educators can make Newton’s Laws of motion come alive with an app that was named one of Fast Company’s Top 10 mobile apps! Join a community of educators making inspiring learning experiences with Noticing Tools. “Playground Physics is one of the most fun units that I’ve done in a long time. I’ve been teaching about 12 years, and everybody had a great time.” - Stacey, 8th grade science teacher In Playground Physics, you can: * Record a video of a performance or choose a stock video. * Tap points along the video to trace a path of motion. * Examine your performance closely with scrubbing video controls. * Enter known measurements (height of an object, mass of the object being tracked) in English or metric units to reveal accurate data of your performance. * Explore interactive, scrubbable graphs synchronized to the video playback. Graphs display the distance traveled and speed along the path in horizontal and vertical vectors. * Add stickers to mark important moments in the performance (and for a laugh!). * Play your video back in slow motion to closely examine your movements. * Explore how distance, speed, and direction changes when things move. * Understand how a person's or object's potential and kinetic energy change as they move. * Save your performance as videos with data overlays or editable scenes. * Share your performance videos or transfer editable scenes to other cloud services and apps through use of the Files app. Ideal for middle and high school school science classrooms, Playground Physics and accompanying curriculum activities are aligned to and embody the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) by integrating core ideas, scientific practices, cross-cutting concepts, and delight! The new 2023 edition of the curriculum is freely available at: https://noticing.nysci.org/apps/playground-physics/ Playground Physics is one of the Noticing Tools (TM) from the New York Hall of Science. The full suite includes Choreo Graph, Fraction Mash, Size Wise, Volumize, and Picture Dots. Noticing Tools were developed in collaboration with Local Projects, an award-winning media design firm based in New York. http://localprojects.com/

Screenshots

SPELLING MAGIC 24 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Playground Physics at none against SPELLING MAGIC 2's 1. Playground Physics also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.3). SPELLING MAGIC 2's advantage is review sentiment (63% vs 40%) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence and ads 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. SPELLING MAGIC 2 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Playground Physics asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Playground Physics holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 5 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 63% of SPELLING MAGIC 2's written reviews are positive against 40% of Playground Physics's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SPELLING MAGIC 2 ships an update every 4 months, Playground Physics every 5 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
SPELLING MAGIC 2 versus Playground Physics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSPELLING MAGIC 2Playground Physics
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (16 ratings)4.6 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews62.5% of reviews — better40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings16 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS12.4 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size185 MB45 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPRESCHOOL UNIVERSITYNew York Hall of Science

Customer experience

SPELLING MAGIC 2

All ratings16 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive62.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative25.0%

Playground Physics

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral6.7%
Negative53.3%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

SPELLING MAGIC 2

One-time1
  • Deluxe Upgrade$1.99
None

Playground Physics

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SPELLING MAGIC 2 free?
SPELLING MAGIC 2 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Playground Physics free?
Playground Physics is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SPELLING MAGIC 2 or Playground Physics?
Playground Physics is rated higher. SPELLING MAGIC 2 averages 4.3 out of 5 from 16 ratings, while Playground Physics averages 4.6 from 5 ratings.
Do SPELLING MAGIC 2 or Playground Physics have ads?
Neither SPELLING MAGIC 2 nor Playground Physics shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SPELLING MAGIC 2 or Playground Physics?
SPELLING MAGIC 2 ships an update every 4 months, and Playground Physics every 5 months. Most recently, SPELLING MAGIC 2 was updated on November 1, 2026 and Playground Physics on November 1, 2026.

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