Comparison

Grandpa's Workshop vs Monster Phonics

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

Head to head
About

Grandpa's Workshop

Engage young children with a fun building and tool identification game. This app features a friendly grandpa and eight interactive mini-games designed to teach essential skills like measuring, fractions, and tool recognition through play.

Highlights
  • Tool identification mini-games
  • Measuring and fractions practice
  • Spot the difference challenges
  • Painting and puzzle activities
  • Real tool videos
  • Number group recognition
Features
Read full description

Build, measure, count, paint, and play alongside Grandpa in eight hands-on learning activities designed for children ages 6–8. Children explore: • tools and woodworking vocabulary • counting and number groups • measuring and fractions • visual puzzles and matching • painting projects • clubhouse customization and rewards Gameplay and narration are available in English only. Grandpa's Workshop has no advertising, in-app purchases, subscriptions, or account creation. Fairlady Media does not collect data from the app. External support and App Store links are protected by a parent gate.

About

Monster Phonics

This app uses a multi-sensory approach with character phoneme cues and color coding to teach reading and spelling of high-frequency words. It aims to accelerate learning progress for young children by simplifying "tricky" words.

Highlights
  • Multi-sensory phonics learning
  • Character phoneme cues
  • Color coding for sounds
  • Teaches first 100 high-frequency words
  • Supports reading and spelling
  • Handwriting and letter formation
Features
Read full description

Monster Phonics products are already listed as highly effective multi-sensory phonics resources by the Department for Education, UK (2014). Monster Phonics has also been selected by BETT futures as one of the top 20 most inspiring new ed-tech ideas in the UK. This app supports the reading and spelling of the first 100 high frequency words and is part of a wider phonics scheme that supports the New Curriculum for Spelling (KS1) and phonics in Reception. Monster Phonics is a synthetic phonics scheme. It is unique in that it uses character (monster) phoneme cues and colour coding to represent the sounds A, E, I, O, U, oo, ow, silent letters and tricky letters. Each monster and its corresponding colour is linked to a specific set of graphemes that makes the particular phoneme. Monster Phonics Apps have been developed specifically to make phonics more accessible for all learners. The revolutionary use of colour coding and characterisation has been proven to dramatically accelerate progress in reading. Monster Phonics also teaches handwriting and the correct letter formation for the first 100 words. This Monster Phonics APP show how the first 100 words are more accessible to children because of the use of colour. The number of “tricky” words is reduced considerably with the colour coding system. There will be 2 Monster Phonics APPs covering the first 300 words. Once learned these words stay with children forever. The first 300 words make up 65% of all reading texts. Learning these words quickly is incredibly important for all children. Selected to be in the BETT Futures Cohort - January 2015!

Screenshots

Grandpa's Workshop4 screens
Monster Phonics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Monster Phonics at 5.0 against Grandpa's Workshop's 4.2. Monster Phonics also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). Grandpa's Workshop's advantage is ratings volume (86 vs 1) and update cadence (every 4 months vs every 9 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Grandpa's Workshop costs $2.99 and Monster Phonics $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Monster Phonics holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Grandpa's Workshop has 86 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of Grandpa's Workshop's written reviews are positive against 73% of Monster Phonics's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Grandpa's Workshop ships an update every 4 months, Monster Phonics every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Grandpa's Workshop versus Monster Phonics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGrandpa's WorkshopMonster Phonics
Price$2.99$2.99
Rating4.2 (86 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.6% of reviews — better72.7% of reviews
Number of ratings86 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB784 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperFairlady MediaIngrid Connors

Customer experience

Grandpa's Workshop

All ratings46 ratings
Positive87.0%
Neutral6.5%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews86 reviews
Positive82.6%
Neutral7.0%
Negative10.5%

Monster Phonics

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative27.3%

Bugs and requests

Grandpa's Workshop

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • No sound
  • Crashing at specific points
  • App reverts to iPad opening screen
  • Crushes on iPad

Requested features

12 requests
  • More varied activities and games
  • New videos and puzzles
  • Additional difficulty levels or grade levels
  • More spoken directions for non-readers
  • More tool videos
Show 7 more
  • A Grandpa's auto shop app
  • More content to complete the clubhouse
  • More variety in jobs/activities
  • Updates with new tools and videos
  • More levels and content
  • Clubhouse expansion
  • More crazy uncles

Monster Phonics

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Grandpa's Workshop

No in-app purchases

None

Monster Phonics

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Grandpa's Workshop free?
Grandpa's Workshop costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Monster Phonics free?
Monster Phonics costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Grandpa's Workshop or Monster Phonics?
Monster Phonics is rated higher. Grandpa's Workshop averages 4.2 out of 5 from 86 ratings, while Monster Phonics averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Grandpa's Workshop or Monster Phonics have ads?
Neither Grandpa's Workshop nor Monster Phonics shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Grandpa's Workshop or Monster Phonics?
Grandpa's Workshop ships an update every 4 months, and Monster Phonics every 9 months. Most recently, Grandpa's Workshop was updated on October 23, 2026 and Monster Phonics on October 24, 2026.

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