Category Archives: apps for kids

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Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim

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This FREE app for the iPhone/iPad teaches young children about water safety. Stewie, a cute little duck, wants to swim with the bigger ducks but his sister prevents him from doing so until he learns the rules of water safety. This iBook has a read-to-me audio option, a memory game, and a song  – all emphasizing how to be safe around the water. Because drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children under 5, there are also tips for parents.

In 1989, Kim and Stew Leonard Jr. lost their 21-month-old son in a drowning accident. They pledged to do whatever they could to prevent this tragedy from affecting other families. In 1990 they founded Stewart Leonard III Children’s Charities to promote water safety awareness. The Foundation has raised over a million dollars to go towards swimming lessons, lifeguard training, and safety awareness/education. Their most recent endeavor was having The Allen Group. Inc. develop this app in loving memory of their son, Stewart Leonard III. It was released on April 4, 2012 which would have been his 25th birthday.

For more information go to www.stewietheduck.com.

Highly recommended with sincere appreciation to Kim & Stew Leonard for helping young children to be safe!

Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim - Stew Leonard's

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ABC Wildlife

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This app for the iPhone/iPad is FREE this week. It is geared towards 3 – 5 year olds to teach them about 80+ animals. The app opens to a grid arranged in ABC order. Kids can tap on a letter to bring up animals that begin with that letter or they can tap on a specific animal. As an animal’s photo appears, a child’s voice says the initial letter then reads the name of the animal (which appears in writing at the bottom of the screen). A little cartoon person drops down on the left hand side of the screen with a link to a video clip about that animal or an interactive scene. The child can scroll to the left for additional pictures & videos about each animal. There is also an exclamation point to tap on each page that gives an interesting fact about the animal pictured.

This app needs an internet connection to work because the 100+ videos are actually links to You Tube videos. They are chosen by Peapod Labs and checked to be interesting and safe for kids. Kids cannot link from this app into other You Tube content. This app is nicely done and the facts make it interesting for adults too!

Highly recommended!

ABC Wildlife - Peapod Labs LLC

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Class Bingo

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Classroom Bingo is an iPad app designed for teachers & students in grades K – 3. This app comes preloaded with educational content – Dolch and Fry sight words, written & numeric numbers to 100, regions (see above screenshot), K spelling (word families) & letters (upper case, lower case, mixed), grade 1 – 3 spelling words. A built-in random generator produces different bingo cards for each student. Kids tap the square when a word is called and a dot appears over the word. The teacher’s call sheet makes it easy to keep track of the game as it progresses. This app can be used in its simplest form (word recognition) or made more challenging by the way the teacher calls the game. For example – “I am the state that is Ohio’s neighbor to the west” OR “I am the product of 9 X 99”. The graded spelling lists are organized in alphabetical order and would be great for word study. The teacher could give a hint like – “I am a compound word” and allow for all of correct possibilities on her call sheet. Lots of possibilities for using this app!

Common Core Standards met:

  • K.RFS.3 – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
  • 1.RFS.3 – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
  • 2.RFS.3 – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
  • 3.RFS.3 – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

Highly Recommended!

Classroom Bingo HD - Tapfun Inc.

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ABC Spy HD & ABC Spy Phonics HD

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ABC Spy for the iPhone/iPad is currently FREE. It challenges kids to create their own ABC book with photos of items that start with each letter. Children can take their own pictures, use pictures from the app’s library, or use photos from their own library. After the child has the photo, he/she chooses a frame for it then types in the text to go with the framed picture. When the book is finished, it can be turned into a movie and saved or shared via email, text message, or You Tube.

Kids can create ABC books of almost anything – animals, a vacation, their town, etc. Since the app allows you to pull things from your photo library, kids can create their own artwork in another app and pull it into this one. VERY cool with loads of potential!

Highly Recommended!

ABC Spy HD - Stealth Education

ABC Spy Phonics for the iPhone/iPad is also currently FREE. It challenges kids to create their own ABC book with photos of items that start 15 different sounds. It works the same way as ABC Spy. This app is fine but has the potential to be much better.  I am not sure why only 12 out of 26 alphabet letters were used. Only one vowel sound (short a) is used and it is not correctly pronounced. No blends are included and only 3 digraphs (ch, sh, th) were used. It would also be great to be able to add sound to the photos instead of text since this is a phonics app. This app seems incomplete – hoping for an update because it could be fabulous 🙂

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Even Monsters Get Sick

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This interactive story for the iPad is FREE this weekend. It is a story written for kids 5+ about a boy and his pet monster. Kids can follow along or read on their own as Harry tries to discover what is wrong with his monster. The artwork is appealing and there are animations on every page. It is a nicely done story with a positive message told by Harry, the boy. Perfect 🙂

Recommended!

Even Monsters Get Sick - Busy Bee Studios

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Cash Cow Lite

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This is the lite version of Cash Cow for the iPhone/iPad. Kids/adults help Buck the Cow save the farm by counting and combining coins to reach a monetary goal. By successfully completing a level, money is earned to purchase items to improve the farm. This app falls more under the game category than educational but it does require kids to understand the value of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and dollars. The lite version only has three levels but if you are using it to teach kids to count and combine coins, you probably don’t need any more than that. Cute game!  –  I love the secret language of the cow and pig 🙂

Worth downloading if your child needs practice counting money.

Cash Cow Lite - Chillingo Ltd

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Times Table Bubble

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This simple to use app  sells for $1.99 but I was able to download it when it was offered for FREE. It drills kids on their basic multiplication facts and beyond. In level 1 kids learn 1×1 – 1×12, in level 2 they learn 2×1 – 2×12, this continues all the way through level 100! Kids tap to match the problem in the square with the answer in the circle until all the problems have disappeared. They can play on their own or they can play against another student (which third graders would love).

As simple as this game appears to be, there is a lot of potential here. I like how a teacher or parent can choose which sets of problems kids should work on – start with the 1’s, 2’s, and 5’s then add the 3’s & 4’s etc. I like the fact that the larger numbers are available for kids who are ready for a challenge. This app could provide teachers/parents with an easy way to give their student 10 minutes of fun drill each day. Just assign a level or two to play with a friend. Teachers could also create a tournament to encourage math fluency. As for home use, I always told my third graders to practice their math facts during commercials  – this app makes it easy to do that. One improvement I would suggest is to include zero. Recognizing that zero X anything is always zero is an important concept.

Common Core Standards met:

  • 3.OA.7 – Fluently multiply and divide within 100. …………… By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

times table bubble HD - Mintmomeg

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Adding Apples

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This iPhone/iPad app usually sells for $.99 but at times is if offered for FREE. It is from the creators of Subtracting Sardines (see review July 17). It is geared for preschoolers/grades (K-1) and it meets Common Core Standards for kindergarten and first graders in the area of addition. Kids add (up to 18) using apples. The apples are displayed on a keyboard with domino-like keys (number on the left/picture on the right). The child chooses an addition problem and the apples appear at the top of the screen. Here’s how it works: If a child chooses 6 + 7: 6 green apples appear then 7 yellow apples appear. As the child counts the apples to find the answer, they are wrapped in purple paper. Children earn gold coins as they work. Nicely done app that helps kids with the beginning concept of addition.

Common Core Standards met:

  • K.OA.2  – Add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to represent the problem.
  • 1.OA.6 – Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10.

Recommended!

Adding Apples HD - Operatio

 

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Reading Rainbow

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This app is FREE to download but requires a subscription for $9.99 per month or $29.99 for 6 months. Once you subscribe, your child will have unlimited access to 150 interactive books and 16 video trips. This app is an updated interactive version of Reading Rainbow, the award-winning children’s television series that encouraged children to read. It was on PBS for 23 years (from 1983 – 2006). The app features the same host – LeVar Burton. After installing the app, kids fill out their profile (name, age, kinds of stories they like to read) and may choose a free book from one of the themed islands in the sky. There are interactive activities in every book and a sticker rewards program that motivates kids to read.

I must admit, I was drawn to this app because of nostalgia. But the appeal of Reading Rainbow today is the same as it was almost 30 years ago – Reading Rainbow provides kids with quality authentic literature.  If I had a child or a grandchild (3 – 9 years old), I would subscribe without hesitation 🙂

Highly Recommended!

Reading Rainbow - Reading Rainbow

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Sushi Monster

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This FREE app for the iPhone/iPad was developed by Scholastic for kids to practice, reinforce and extend their math facts. There are 12 levels in all – 7 addition and 5 multiplication. A chef places numbered plates of sushi on the counter. Kids have to combine the numbers on the plates to reach the target number (worn by the sushi monster). If the combination is correct, the monster gobbles up the sushi. If it is wrong, the monster throw a tantrum. Each round has 14 target numbers. Successfully completing one level unlocks the next. As kids progress through the levels they are expected to extend their thinking beyond the basic facts. At each level a strategy is provided to help kids succeed.

Common Core Standards met:

  • 3.OA.7 – By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.
  • 3.NTB.3 – Multiply one-digit whole numbers by multiples of 10 in the range 10–90 (e.g., 9 × 80, 5 × 60) using strategies based on place value and properties of operations.

Great for math fluency – highly recommended!

Sushi Monster - Scholastic