“The great thing about these apps is they don’t stop you learning from the way you are taught in school. They
just add to it and help you practice what you are learning on an ipad. As a Montessori teacher I was at first
worried that Mrs Judd’s Games would encourage you to use the computer more, from an even earlier age. But
Mrs Judd has taught young children for 25 years in a school in the U.S.A. She has designed the games so
that you are encouraged to do the games in the traditional way and not just on the computer.”

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“Chalk Walk by Mrs. Judd’s Games is an app designed to teach your child pre-writing skills using a variety of games. Users must complete each mini game with two or more stars out of three to earn their letters and advance. The app works on pinching skills which are necessary for holding a writing utensil…

The app helps practice fine motor, tracing, pinching as well as other skills practiced in occupational therapy.  It is best suited to children age three to six who are practicing early writing skills.”

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“If your child is entering the phase of life when pencils, crayons, markers, even chalk, are the writing implements of choice, Chalk Walk is a great app for getting her started. Created by an actual teacher named Mrs. Judd who taught kindergarten for 25 years, Chalk Walk is a way for kids to fine-tune their motor skills and practice the correct hand positioning for writing.”

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“Created by teaching veteran Frances Judd who taught Kindergarten for 25 years, Chalk Walk aims to help prepare kids for their school years by working on things like their pincer grasp (for holding pencils), hand position and left to right progression. This app takes some of the most important skills for little ones to learn, and applies them to the world of technology in a unique, fun and inspiring way.”

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(5/5 Apples)

“My six-year-old took the iPad to bed with her and worked through the entire app in a couple of hours one evening, just for the fun of it!  She has even gone back and started it again from the beginning at a slower pace – getting to the end of the path on the map was a huge motivator for her as were the colorful buildings that animated once each neighborhood was completed.  This is an incredibly low conflict way to encourage proper pencil grip and can easily be spaced out on a daily basis to help encourage find motor development skills.  The continuous flow of the motions is also particularly valuable if you are preparing for cursive instruction, the loops and curls can help to form motor memory pathways even before letter shapes are formally taught.”

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“Chalk Walk is a dynamic activity requiring maintenance of the pincer hold to make the line and constant motor planning and visual attention to observe where the line is being drawn ahead of you.”

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“In an effort to beef up fine motor skills, the newChalk Walk app from Mrs. Judd’s Games forces kids to use a thumb-and-finger pincer grip in order to trace and chase.”

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“The more screens unlocked, the more challenging the scenario. But chances are your kindergarten prep star will be having too much fun to notice.

Consider it a write of passage.”

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“I do wonder sometimes if the use of the iPad and iPhone still may impede my son’s fine motor skills development more than if he only had crayons or paints to create with, although the use of these supplies would never be welcomed in his bed before sleep on long drives or on the sofa in our family room – places he loves to curl up with the iPad.

Because of these concerns, I am intrigued by this application, Chalk Walk, developed by a teacher, Frances Judd, which was thoughtfully created to give iPad users a chance to practice their pincher grip as they trace a character on the screen who draws a chalk line across the page styled to be the sidewalk of a urban area (think Sesame Street) but with the P.O.V. of the sidewalk.”

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“It’s a lot of fun. I played with this for a long time and my kids had a lot of fun.”

Watch the video review here.

“There are a lot of fine motor apps for the iPad, but most of them, unless used with a stylus, focus on letter formation or writing-stroke development at the expense of hand position, using just a pointer finger to write. Chalk Walk cleverly helps the child to use the iPad with the hand positioned in a very similar way to a pincer pencil grasp, using both the forefinger and the thumb.

This app also provides a great link to a real-life kid activity that parents should not miss. Take the skills learned out to the street, or at least the sidewalk! Children will have fun trying to create their own chalk lines outside, now with a better pincer grasp.

…I recommended Chalk Walk to help get tech-savvy kids ready to write.”

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“Typical iPad tracing games ignore this need for children build awareness of hand positioning required for success in school. CHALK WALK helps focus a child’s attention on this skill and offers clever tracing lines that bend and twist before the player’s eyes.

[Chalk Walk is] a well executed and unique tracing training game, ideal for helping the little ones improve their fine motor skills. Make sure to specify if your kid is right or left-handed so the hand doesn’t get on the way of the tracing lines.”

“What did my daughter think?  She is a natural artist and the pincer grip has come easy for her, however, after playing with the app myself, I can definitely see how helpful this tool can be for the 4, 5 and 6 year olds.  The gaming part of this app is fun, colorful and engaging.”

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“Looking for an app to help children with their fine motor skills?

Chalk Walk is a fun, drawing app that will help children to develop the pincer grip. This app can help prepare kids for the pencil-and-paper tasks they encounter in school.”

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Chalk Walk was named “Mom’s Weekly Special” over at TheiPhoneMom.com the week of May 14th! 

“I love both the uniqueness and the practicality of Chalk Walk. It has identified a valuable skill, seen the possibility of that skill being lost by children’s increased use of iPods and iPads and so it tackles it head on. Why not fight back with the very thing that’s causing it to weaken? I think that’s brilliant. I’d definitely recommend this app for older preschoolers, Kindergarteners and First Graders. In fact, any elementary school child who needs to work on their penmanship could probably benefit. I can’t wait to see what Mrs. Judd’s Games brings us next!”

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“The app really has a single goal in mind which it does well: develop children’s finger-thumb pincer grip. It does this by using the line tracing activity with pincer grip control instead of the usual single finger style. It also develops secondary skills as well. It develops simple hand-eye coordination through the tracing challenges. In a way, it also introduces children to letters and words. The menu’s layout of progressive levels and tracing challenges really exposes children to left to right progression which will be used in the future through reading, writing, etc.

Before every tracing challenge, an icon is shown to remind users about the pincer grip which allows them to jump right into the game without reading the instructions section. Of course, the option for left handed users is a thoughtful detail to include. The drawings, the textured backgrounds, music, video playback of the finished tracing, and reward system all work towards encouraging its users to learn while having fun.”

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“Why did I agree to review an educational iPad app? Because Chalk Walk is refreshingly different. See, Chalk Walk actually does teach a valuable skill to young children, one that we have overlooked in our zeal for early childhood academic learning.

That skill is the pincer grip, a fine-motor skill that children need to master in order to hold a pencil. Chalk Walk is the first app designed specifically to help young children practice the pincer grip.”

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“As a mom, I love this app. Oh sure, we have sidewalk chalk stuck up on a shelf in the closet somewhere. But after an unseasonable cold weekend, the kids didn’t miss out on their chalk fun. Chalk Walk also really requires a pinch motion, much like what children use when they start to write their letters. As the game progressed, kids collected letters to create fun words and be-bopped around to tons of different music tracks. They also learned that they had to keep the correct pinch hold, or their hard work was for nothing. It was pretty cool to see.”

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“The 6 year old child I observed using it did use a pincer grasp while following the path rather than a typical touch with the index finger. It was a little hard at times but in general she could do it maintaining the pincer grasp. If you do not maintain it you can not follow along the path. She preferred to watch the object go along the path and then trace. It is a hard to immediately follow the path because if you are right handed your hand blocks the path. The child enjoyed the video play back feature where you can watch what you just drew.”

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