Parents may know Jolly Phonics from it being taught to their children in schools: it’s one of the better known early-reading programs of its type.

Now it’s spawned an app, Jolly Phonics Letter Sounds, which was released for Apple’s iPhone and iPad this week.

It’s a collection of mini-games designed to introduce 42 letter sounds to children as young as three years old, with a choice of British or American audio to accompany them.

(That’s good: many phonics apps still choose one or the other, even if they’re released in both countries.)

The games give children the chance to hear and recognise letter sounds, see how their letters are formed and practise writing them, as well as blending and identifying the sounds in longer words.

“Together these skills give your child the best possible start as they learn to read and write,” promises developer Jolly Learning.

It’s a good week for new phonics apps: yesterday we wrote about Teach Your Monster to Read: First Steps, which is aimed at a similar age group. Both look like a fun way for young children to practise their phonics skills during the summer holidays.

Jolly Phonics Letter Sounds costs £2.99 for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, although that’s an introductory deal – usually it’ll cost £4.99 – so if you’re interested, snap it up quickly.

Read about more phonics apps for kids on Apps Playground, and check out our 100 Best iPad Apps of 2013 e-book – £1.99 from Apple’s iBooks Store