Category Archives: apps for kids

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Alphabet Game

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Alphabet Dots

FREE again – Alphabet Game from Ellie’s Games (normally $.99). This educational app uses bright colors and a simple interface to teach young children to recognize the alphabet from A to Z. Kids learn to recognize both upper and lower case letters by popping colorful dots in order. The app has three levels of difficulty – choosing from 4 letters, 9 letters, or 16 letters. Kids can work on all upper case letters, all lower case letters or a mixed letters. There are also settings for sound, hinting, and enabling vibrations (iPhone only). This simple but visually appealing game is sure to help your little one learn the ABCs.

Alphabet Dots - Ellie's Games, LLC

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Halftone 2 Comic Book Creator

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Apple’s of the Week is FREE! halftone 2

Halftone 2 – Comic Book Creator is FREE for a limited time. This app was named by Apple as one of the Best of 2013, an Editors’ Choice, and now it is featured as App of the Week. Halftone 2 is a categorized as a photography app but it has many educational uses. This app makes it easy to turn your photos into comic book pages that your friends and family will love! The app includes a large assortment of paper styles, captions, speech bubbles, graphic stamps, and fonts for your projects. And… it’s so simple to use. First choose a page layout, then apply photo filters. Next add text by using captions and/or speech & thought bubbles. Then finish your project with some fun graphics like WHAM, BAM, or POW. You can even add a few sound effects. Your creation can be shared as an image, a multi-page document, or high-definition video. Because it is so easy to use, this app would be great for creating visuals to go with classroom projects such as stories, book reports, newsletters, etc. And… it would be really fun to use this app to create comics of your family vacation. Get started today – there are SO many creative & educational uses for this app!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/halftone-2-comic-book-creator/id603139024?mt=8&uo=4

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Star Walk™ 2 – Guide to the Night Sky to Watch Stars, Planets, Meteor Showers & Constellations

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star walk 2FREE today – Star Walk™ 2 – Guide to the Night Sky to Watch Stars, Planets, Meteor Showers & Constellations. Just point your iPhone or iPad at the sky to begin your journey through the stars, comets, and constellations. Star Walk™ 2  is the next generation of the best-selling Star Walk which has been used by over 10 million people. Summer is the perfect time for you and your children to learn the position of stars, planets, constellations, comets, ISS, satellites, star clusters, nebulae and meteor showers in the night sky. Grab your telescope and Star Walk 2 and have a family stargazing party tonight!

Direct Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-walk-2-guide-to-night/id892279069?mt=8

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Toca Boca’s 4th of July Sale

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I LOVE Toca Boca apps!! They make learning what it should be – fun, creative, and joyful!

12 of their apps are on sale for $.99 each. These apps are usually $2.99.

Toca Hair 222,198 reviews can’t be wrong so you don’t want to miss this one. Toca Hair Salon 2, a creative educational app, is $.99 for a limited time. This app is the sequel to the original – Toca Hair Salon. In this app, kids go back into the salon to groom NEW characters in this app. Using the tools in the salon, they cut hair, comb it, curl it, straighten it, make it grow, shave it, color it, etc. Great sound effects are also included in this fantastically fun app. Kids or parents can take a photo of the finished creation and save it to the camera roll. If parents wish, creations may be posted on the Toca Boca Facebook page. The developers have also built-in options to turn off sounds, pictures, and news. What a great springboard for creative writing – give a character a whole new look and write a story to go with it. Use this app to inspire creative writing on Wacky Hair Day!!

Download Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-hair-salon-2/id569632660?mt=8&uo=6&at=&ct=

hair salon meOnly $.99 – Toca Hair Salon Me, the newest addition to the popular Toca Hair Salon apps. Using this app, kids can create a whole new look for themselves and/or their family & friends. They simply import a picture from the camera roll and “the styling” can begin. The salon is equipped with all the right tools to style hair. They can cut it, comb it, make it grow, shave it, color it, etc. They can also wash it, blow it dry, curl it or straighten it. Great sound effects add to the fun! After they finish the styling, they can add fun accessories – glasses, bow, mustaches, etc. They can even use their own photos for the background. Kids or parents can take a photo of the finished creation and save it to their camera roll. What a great springboard for creative writing – give yourself a whole new look and write a story to go with it. What a fun activity for a Wacky Hair Day!!

Download Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-hair-salon-me/id730873197?mt=8&uo=4

Toca BuildersAlso $.99  – Toca Builders, another wonderfully creative app from Toca Boca. Kids (ages 5+) create things with the help of 6 builder friends: Blox, Cooper, Vex, Stretch, Connie, and Jum-Jum. Each builder has unique skills which kids can control with simple gestures. The builders help move, stack, drop, spray, smash, paint, & lift blocks as kids create/construct new objects.The educational app also has a snapshot feature and an autosave feature to share & save the world that your child has created. If your child can imagine it, he/she can build it with the help of the Toca Builders – creative fun for your budding engineer/builder!

Download Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-builders/id652077009?mt=8&uo=4

toca kitchen

Also on sale – Toca Kitchen, another fun educational app from Toca Boca. Kids take to the kitchen to cook for four lovable characters. In the frig they will find 12 different foods that they can prepare 180 different ways. They can slice, blend, boil, fry, microwave, and/or mix the foods together. They can also add seasoning to the food; but they need to be careful not to add too much. Once the food is prepared they plate it up, serve it to the character, and wait for a reaction. Kids will learn which foods each character prefers in a fun creative way. I love the questions and conversations that Toca Boca apps inspire. It’s no wonder that this app was a Gold Winner of the Parent’s Choice Awards in 2012. Teachers – use this app to inspire creative writing. Write stories or poems about being a cook and the preferences of your consumers. Or, you could have kids compare and contrast the food preferences of the different characters on a graphic organizer. This app also inspires conversation about healthy eating. There are lots of possibilities for learning while having fun!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-kitchen/id476553281?mt=8&uo=4

Toca Kitchen 2:  https://tunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-kitchen-2/id943869618?mt=8

toca pet

Toca Pet Doctor is another creative app for preschoolers from Toca Boca. The app guides kids (ages 2 – 6) through activities that teach them to care and feel for animals. Fifteen animals need some tender loving care. Kids come to their rescue in a variety of ways. They help to clean & medicate Rascal’s ear, flip over Tarzan the upside down turtle, untie the knotted worm, and more. After the animals are cured, kids feed them and they go back to sleep. If your child likes the other Toca Boca apps, you’ll want to add this one to your collection today. These apps do not go on sale or free that often. Another great app from a developer that makes learning fun. 🙂

 

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-pet-doctor/id808108897?mt=8&uo=4

toca miniToca Mini, another creative app from Toca Boca. With this app kids can create silly monsters, imaginary animals, or playful friends. Toca Minis can become whatever you want them to be. To start, kids add colors to the mini’s body, arms, & legs. Then they add details using a wide variety of stamps – bows, hats, buttons, polka dots, etc. Next, kids add facial features which brings their minis to life – they, ooh, ah, sneeze, smile, blink, and more. Kids can also add hair, eyebrows, beards, mustaches, etc. With 60 different colors and 78 different stamps, there are thousands of possible combinations. When kids finish creating their own unique mini, they can take a snapshot and save it to the camera roll. Then they can print it, share it, pull it into a story writing app, and more. Creating a mini could be a great springboard for creative writing – descriptive paragraphs, a story about their created character/creature. Toca Boca has created another open-ended, creative app!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-mini/id718082838?mt=8&uo=4natureToca Nature is one of the latest apps from Toca Boca. Kids explore nature with this educational app. They can carve out lakes, create mountain ranges, plant trees to grow a forest. Then they can watch as animals move in to populate their new habitats. Kids can also can collect berries, nuts, and mushrooms to feed the animals. As they explore, they will find out what different creatures eat and learn about their natural habitats. Thanks, Toca Boca, for another great app that encourages kids to learn through exploration and use their imagination!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-nature/id893927401?mt=8&uo=6&at=&ct=

Also on sale:

Toca Boo: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-boo/id919097064?mt=8

Toca Train: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-train/id521640355?mt=8&uo=4

Toca Lab: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-lab/id748057890?mt=8&uo=6&at=&ct=

Toca Cars: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-cars/id689936776?mt=8&uo=4

Enjoy!!

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Toca Mini

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image

On sale for $.99 – Toca Mini, another creative app from Toca Boca. With this app kids can create silly monsters, imaginary animals, or playful friends. Toca Minis can become whatever you want them to be. To start, kids add colors to the mini’s body, arms, & legs. Then they add details using a wide variety of stamps – bows, hats, buttons, polka dots, etc. Next, kids add facial features which brings their minis to life – they, ooh, ah, sneeze, smile, blink, and more.  Kids can also add hair, eyebrows, beards, mustaches, etc. With 60 different colors and 78 different stamps, there are thousands of possible combinations. When kids finish creating their own unique mini, they can take a snapshot and save it to the camera roll. Then they can print it, share it, pull it into a story writing app, and more. Creating a mini could be a great springboard for creative writing – descriptive paragraphs, a story about their created character/creature. Toca Boca has created another open-ended, creative app!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-mini/id718082838?mt=8&uo=4

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Slice Fractions

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slice fractions

On sale for only $.99  – Slice Fractions was recently listed as one of Apple’s Best of 2014:Apps. Kids learn about fractions as they slice through ice and lava to clear a path for a cute mammoth. Along the way they collect silly hats for the mammoth to wear. As they solve the app’s 90+ physics puzzles, they are exposed to key concepts of fractions – partitioning, equivalent fraction, numerator/denominator notation, ordering, subtracting from a whole, etc. Kids will enjoy learning about fractions in this wordless environment that seems more like a game than math lessons. I love that the app encourages kids to be problem solvers. Its replay button permits them to try each puzzle again and again until they figure it out. Hints are only given when support is needed. The end result is that kids are learning through discovery!  It’s no wonder that this app has received so many accolades: Apple Editor’s Choice, Editor’s Choice for Excellence in Design: Children’s Technology Review, Winner of a Parents’ Choice Gold Award 2014, Gold Medal Winner 2014: International Serious Play Awards, and Best Family Friendly Game 2014: Indie Prize Showcase Awards.

Common Core State Standards met:

  • 2.G.2. Partition a rectangle into rows and columns of same-size squares and count to find the total number of them.
  • 2.G.3. Partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, half of, a third of, etc., and describe the whole as two halves, three thirds, four fourths. Recognize that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape.
  • 3.NF.1. Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.
  • 3.NF.3 – Explain equivalence of fractions and compare fractions by reasoning about their size. Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the same size. Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3).
  • 4.NF.2. Compare two fractions with different numerators and different denominators, e.g., by creating common denominators or numerators, or by comparing to a benchmark fraction such as 1/2.
  • 4.NF.3b. Decompose a fraction into a sum of fractions with the same denominator in more than one way, recording each decomposition by an equation.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slice-fractions/id794730213?mt=8&uo=4

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Everyday Math® APPS: Addition Top – It, Beat the Computer, Squeeze Monster, Equivalent Fractions, Divisibility Dash

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FREE again!!!

5 educational apps from McGraw Hill’s Everyday Math® – If your school system uses this program to teach math, you may want to take advantage of these offers. 🙂

Everyday Math’s Addition Top-It app for iPhone/iPad is a two player game. It is fun easy way for kids to practice basic addition facts from 1 – 10 and greater than/less than.

Common Core Standards met:

  • 1.OA.6 – Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10.
  • 2.OA.2 – Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies. By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.

Everyday Mathematics® Addition Top It - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

Everyday Math’s Beat the Computer app for iPhone/iPad is fun easy way for kids to practice basic multiplication facts. They race against the computer to score as many points as they can.

Common Core Standards met:

  • 3.OA.7 –  By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

Everyday Mathematics® Beat the Computer™ Multiplication - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

Everyday Math’s Squeeze Monster app for iPhone/iPad is a two player game. Designed for younger students, it reinforces number line concepts and number comparisons.

Everyday Mathematics® Monster Squeeze™ - McGraw-Hill School Education Group
Everyday Math’s Equivalent Fractions app for iPhone/iPad is fun easy way to reinforce fraction concepts. Note: the app uses a digital version of the fraction cards from the Everyday Math third grade book.

Common Core Standards met:

  • 3.NF.3 – Explain equivalence of fractions and compare fractions by reasoning about their size. Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the same size, or the same point on a number line. Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3). Explain why the fractions are equivalent, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.
Everyday Mathematics® Equivalent Fractions™ - McGraw-Hill School Education Group
Everyday Math’s Divisibility Dash app for iPhone/iPad is fun easy way to practice recognizing multiples of a number and applying divisibility tests.

Common Core Standards met:

  •  4.OA.4 – Find all factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1–100. Recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. Determine whether a given whole number in the range 1–100 is prime or composite.

Everyday Mathematics® Divisibility Dash™ - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

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Halftone 2 Comic Book Creator

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halftone 2

Halftone 2 – Comic Book Creator is FREE for a limited time. This app was named by Apple as one of the Best of 2013 and an Editors’ Choice. Halftone 2 – Comic Book Creator is a categorized as a photography app but it has many educational uses. This app makes it easy to turn your photos into comic book pages that your friends and family will love! The app includes a large assortment of paper styles, captions, speech bubbles, graphic stamps, and fonts for your projects. And… it’s so simple to use. First choose a page layout, then apply photo filters. Next add text by using captions and/or speech & thought bubbles. Then finish your project with some fun graphics like WHAM, BAM, or POW. You can even add a few sound effects. Your creation can be shared as an image, a multi-page document, or high-definition video. Because it is so easy to use, this app would be great for creating visuals to go with classroom projects such as stories, book reports, newsletters, etc. And… it would be really fun to use this app to create comics of your family vacation. Get started today – there are SO many creative & educational uses for this app!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/halftone-2-comic-book-creator/id603139024?mt=8&uo=4

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Toca Town

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toca town

FREE for a limited time – Toca Town, a digital town where kids rule. Toca Town features twenty-one playful characters and seven locations to explore – park, pond, store, police station, restaurant, house, and apartment. As kids move around the town, they choose their own adventures. They can grocery shop, cook thirty different dishes at the restaurant, visit the police station, or just hang out with friends. With a tap of the sun, kids can change day into night – perfect for camping in the dark! The app is full of interactive surprises for kids to discover – presents to wrap, lights that turn on and off, etc. Toca Town is great for vocabulary development and oral story telling. Don’t miss this great app from Toca Boca.

Direct Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-life-town/id871694174?mt=8&uo=6

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Nighty Night Circus

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nighty night circus

FREE today – Nighty Night Circus, the sequel to the popular bedtime app “Nighty Night!“ This time kids find themselves in a circus setting with eight circus animals. They put the animals to bed by switching off the lights or blowing out candles. Each circus animal wants to show his tricks off before going to sleep – super cute! The app has all of the same great features as the original – cute animals, sleepy lullaby music, great narration, and fabulous artwork done by Heidi Wittlinger. It’s no wonder that Nighty Night Circus is on Apple’s Best of 2014 list!

Direct Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nighty-night-circus-bedtime/id931936670?mt=8&uo=6