SPELLING MAGIC 2 vs Playground Physics
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
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.
- 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
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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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. SPELLING MAGIC 2 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Playground Physics asks for nothing beyond the download.
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.
SPELLING MAGIC 2 ships an update every 4 months, Playground Physics every 5 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | SPELLING MAGIC 2 | Playground Physics |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (16 ratings) | 4.6 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.5% of reviews — better | 40.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 16 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.4 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 185 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY | New York Hall of Science |
Customer experience
SPELLING MAGIC 2
Playground Physics
In-app purchases
SPELLING MAGIC 2
- Deluxe Upgrade$1.99
Playground Physics
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is SPELLING MAGIC 2 free?
Is Playground Physics free?
Which has better reviews, SPELLING MAGIC 2 or Playground Physics?
Do SPELLING MAGIC 2 or Playground Physics have ads?
Which is updated more often, SPELLING MAGIC 2 or Playground Physics?
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