Elmo Loves 123s

What is Elmo Loves 123s?

While many parents learned their numbers from Sesame Street kids today can take to their tablets to learn numbers alongside Elmo and Abby with the Elmo Loves 123s app. Elmo Loves 123s is rated for preschoolers, is free to download and play, and is available in both the App Store and the Google Play Store.

Each number, from one to twenty, features 3 accompanying videos (classic Sesame Street clips covering the number), 3 activities (a number search, puzzle and fill-a-bucket), and 3 coloring pages.

When the Elmo Loves 123s app opens, a video clip featuring Elmo and Abby plays telling kids to tap on the Abby icon on the bottom of the screen to play number games or to tap a number on the screen to have number fun with Elmo.

Children choosing to explore numbers with Elmo will see a simple menu on the right of their screen. Each activity type is depicted with an icon (a controller for games, a crayon for coloring/tracing pages, and a video camera for video clips) which brings up additional options once selected.

The coloring pages in Elmo Loves 123s, provide a number with plenty of room to trace or color in, in addition to objects depicting the number.

For example, the number 2 is shown on a coloring page with two keys, one on either side of the number. Children may have the most fun with the bucket game in which Elmo instructs children to fling a specific number of the same object, into the bucket in the lower left hand corner of the screen. After which children are praised by Elmo, telling them “very good counting!”

An additional activity is hide and seek with numbers, in which the number a child is working on is “hidden” in a picture of Sesame Street.  Children simply tap each of the numbers depicted in the scene to complete the puzzle.

Lastly, children are able to drag and drop pieces to put together a puzzle featuring the number on which they’re working.

For a change in pace children can choose to work with Abby in the Elmo Loves 123s app. Here children practice higher order thinking skills in working with numbers at Abby’s direction.

Children are instructed to add a certain number of items to a scene and then all of the items are counted at the end, illustrating addition. In other activities, children are instructed to remove items, leaving a specific number behind, essentially, practicing simple subtraction.