This FREE app from mapsinternational.co.uk for the iPad teaches kids (ages 5 – 9) about the major geographical features of the world using 6 different maps: political, physical, cities, deserts, mountains, and rivers. The app is simple to use – the maps are zoomable and kids can easily switch from one map to another. This is a nicely done beginning geography app for kids.
Recommended!
This iPad app normally sells for $2.99 but I was able to download it on a day that it was FREE. It allows you to easily create photo albums/slide shows. You can create multiple albums from your Photos or take photos with your iPad 2. You can write memos on the back of your photos (like in iPhoto) or record up to 30 second voice memos. Each page can hold up to 5 photos which can be rotated & zoomed or imported as a background. You can add text to each page and easily change its color and font. You can share your albums with friends via Facebook, Twitter, email, or download them from iPad to iPad over Wifi……or so they say. I found the sharing options to be where the “bugs” are found. It didn’t seem that you were really able to save or share “albums.” Rather, you could save and share single pages of your albums. Also, while trying the different share options, the app would freeze. I had to double-click the iPad home button to make all my open apps jiggle before I could completely close Happy Show.
This app was updated in December of 2011. I think I would wait for the next update before buying it. Hopefully the bugs will be worked out because it does have potential 🙂
This adorable iPad app is currently $1.99 but I was able to download it on a day that it was FREE. This app is based on the television show and book series by Marie-Louise Gay. The Stella and Sam books have been translated into 15 languages and have sold over a million copies. Disney Junior Canada sponsored a Draw Along Contest using this app earlier last month. Winners were featured on a special Stella and Sam event on July 1. What a cool opportunity for kids!
Kids choose one of 10 shapes to color, stamp, and/or add pictures to. Finalized creations can be shared with family and friends as images or animated videos clips. Here is a link to a You Tube video showing how this app works: Draw Along with Stella and Sam for iPad – YouTube.
5 other Stella and Sam Adventures are available on iTunes and are sold for $2.99 each: Into the Snow We Go, Rainy Days and Rainbows, Backyard at Twilight, Go There Square, Cocoons and Caterpillars. OR… you can purchase all 5 titles for $6.99 in the Stella and Sam Story Pack. These apps are also supported in French. To use the French version you would need to go into your settings and set the language from English to French under General> International> Language.
Highly Recommended for preschoolers.
This is another FREE app for the iPad & iPhone from TabTale LTD, the creators of Friendly Shapes (see previous review). It is designed to teach opposites to very young children by using cute drawings of dogs. Although it is named Dog Story, there really isn’t a story per se. Instead, the book introduces kids to the concept of antonyms. It also has fun animations and/or puzzles on each page. The app has three modes: auto-play, read-it-to-myself, and read-to-me but there is very little difference between auto-play and read-to-me. There is also an option to record your own voice as you read. There were two sets of antonyms that I didn’t feel were quite accurate: angry/glad and brave/shy. I would think that a more appropriate antonym for angry would be calm and a more appropriate antonym for brave would be cowardly. The other 11 antonyms in the book were more geared towards a young audience: wet/dry, cold/hot, young/old, etc.
Just like Friendly Shapes, this app has ads placed at the bottom of each page between the backward and the forward arrows. But, for $.99 you can remove them so little fingers won’t end up hitting links to things like the Hotels.com app, the Gilt app, Fairway Solitaire, and other products not necessarily geared towards kids.
I am not sure that there is enough content in this app to pay $.99 for the non-ad version but you might want to try for free 🙂
This FREE app is for the iPad and iPhone. This cute little story for toddlers/preschoolers starts as Circle goes looking for his friend, Star. Along the way he meets other shapes: Triangle, Square, Rectangle, Pentagon, Heart, and Oval. As each shape joins the search, the group morphs into more complicated vehicles. There are three modes: auto-play, read-it-to-myself and play. There is also an option to record your own voice as you read. Each page also has fun animations, and/or puzzles in addition to the story. All in all, this is a nicely done app for little ones to learn shapes, colors, left/right, etc.
So how can it be FREE? Well, this app that gives you the option of removing the ads for $.99. The ads are placed at the bottom of each page between the backward and the forward arrows. I think little fingers would end up hitting the ad bar somewhat regularly which links to things like a Wizard of Oz interactive book, the Hotels.com app, the download of American Reunion (unrated) in the iTunes store, etc. Obviously, all of these links are not geared towards kids, which baffles me in this day and age. I understand that ads help pay the bills but please gear them towards your users.
Recommended!
This FREE app for the iPad, iPhone, or iPod seems to be popular. The current version has 4 stars after 365 ratings. There are 75 pictures to color and it has some nice features – it zooms in and out for small areas, it saves automatically, it’s easy to clear and start over, and it saves to the Photos library for sharing or to be used as wallpaper. The app also claims to develop eye-hand coordination. However, the only coloring tool within the app works like a paint can. Kids choose & touch a color, then choose & touch the area of the picture they want that color. The app does the rest as it color-fills that area. There is no possibility of coloring out of the lines so I am not sure of how much eye-hand coordination is involved. There is no possibility of making stripes, polka-dots, plaid, or any other fun design within an area so I am not sure how creative it is either. That being said, several people have commented that their kids like it and the price is certainly right 🙂
Voted one of the best kid’s apps by the Chicago Tribune, Puzzingo (for the iPad/iPhone & Android) is FREE today. Kids build a circus ground by playing groups of interactive puzzles that teach them things like numbers, farm animals, ocean animals, the alphabet, and more. The names of the animals and objects that are pronounced as the child moves each puzzle piece into place. When each puzzle is completed, there is a celebration! Kids can pop balloons and more. Great fun for little ones 🙂
Highly recommended!
additional coloring pages to purchase
According to iTunes, this FREE coloring app for the iPad/iPhone has been downloaded 2.5 million times. Designed for 2 – 4-year-old kids, this app names each colors as it is chosen. As children fingerpaint, sparkles spread across the screen – a cool effect I am sure little ones will love. Tools include 3 brush sizes, a fill bucket, an eraser and a camera to take a picture of the child’s creation. Included in the app are 8 different colors of background paper and 7 free coloring pages. The other 140+ coloring pages are sold separately. You can get all pictures for $3.99 or purchase separate packages which would cost you a lot more in the long run. This app would be fun for little ones and worth checking out.
Interactive FREE books for the iPad/iPhone for 2 – 7 year olds. These original rhyming stories have appealing animated illustrations. Both are read aloud by British children’s celebrity, Sarah-Jane Honeywell. Words are highlighted as they are read so kids can follow along. There is also a read it myself option which allows the child to touch any word to be read aloud if he/she gets stuck. Also included are some simple games and puzzles featuring the characters from the stories.
Nicely done and worth downloading – recommended!
Old MacDonald
Mr. Fox’s Sound Studio
This iPad/iPhone app for 2 – 6 year olds is adorable! It usually sells for $2.99 but I was able to download it today when it was FREE. The artwork design is from Heidi Wittlinger, an Oscar nominated artist. Included are 3 children’s songs: Old MacDonald, London Bridge, and Evening Song. Kids can also visit Mr. Fox’s sound studio which is full of 100+ interactive surprises. The app also includes a Karaoke mode and can be switched from English to German. Kids will be delighted with the interactivity found in every scene.
Highly recommended!
appydazeblog 