Category Archives: apps for kids

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Sound Touch

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Sound Touch

FREE for a limited time – the full version of Sound Touch, an educational app for toddlers. Kids see images and hear the sounds for dozens of animals, vehicles, musical instruments, and household items. There are 6 pages with 12 cute cartoons per page. When your child taps a cartoon, the real-life photo of that animal/item appears accompanied by its sound. When the picture is tapped again, it disappears. There are 5 picture/sound combinations for each cartoon – 360 in all! The app can be set so that will pronounce/display the spelled text of the animals/items in 32 languages: English, Afrikaans, Arabic, Bokmål, Norwegian, Catalan, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, and Turkish! Just go to your device’s settings: “Settings” > “SoundTouch” > “Speech” on. This app was on Apple’s “New and Noteworthy” list. It’s sure to delight your little ones!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sound-touch/id348094440?mt=8&uo=4

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Flat Stanley

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Flat Stanley

FREE for a limited time – Flat Stanley. Teachers around the world have been using the Flat Stanley Project since 1995 to help children learn about travel, cultures, and the love of books. This educational app makes creating, sharing, & sending Flat Stanleys easier and safer for teachers, kids, and parents. Kids start by creating their own Flat Stanleys/Flat Stellas with different shirts, pants, and shoes etc. Then Flat Stanley/Stella is ready for adventure! Kids can send, receive, and share their favorite photos and Flat Stanleys. Teachers and parents will be happy to know that any content uploaded through the app is the monitored and approved by the “Flatter World” team members. If you have ever participated in the Flat Stanley project, you will want to check out this app. Kids LOVE being involved in this project – it’s really fun!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flat-stanley/id382161936?mt=8&uo=4

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ABCmouse.com – A-Z Music Videos

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a to z

FREE – A to Z Music Videos. This educational app has 26 animated videos  – one for each letter of the alphabet. As kids watch the videos, they earn tickets to unlock other videos. There is also an option to purchase tickets to unlock videos more quickly. The videos are top-notch! They help children learn letter names and sounds AND develop vocabulary. Every video is produced in a different musical style, so kids are also introduced to a wide variety of musical genres. This app is a must-have for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teachers – a perfect introduction to the letters of the alphabet!

Common Core Standards met:

  • K. RF.3 – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant. Associate the short sounds with common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

ABCmouse.com 26 A-Z Music Videos - Age of Learning, Inc.

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MathLands – Kids Logic Game & Brain Builder for Math and Critical Thinking

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MathLands

All I can say is WOW! MathLands is a completely FREE educational math app that makes kids THINK! Kids have to use logic, problem solving skills, and critical thinking to solve 5 levels of 5 different puzzles. Each puzzle is timed, has hints available, and has a section that tells the history of the puzzle. Kids can choose to start over. They can try again to get a better score or they can try again to get the BEST score (the app tells what is the best possible score). I love that this app challenges kids to be the best!! There is also a Math Comics section – problems are written in comic strip form. Kids solve the word problems by using the interactive manipulatives on the page. In a word full of math apps that stress practice and drill, this app is like a breath of fresh air. LOVE it!!!!

MathLands - Kids Logic Game & Brain Builder for Math and Critical Thinking - Mamanijo

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My Story – Book Maker for Kids

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One of my favorite writing apps – ON SALE !!

My Story – Book Maker for Kids is a great educational writing app for the iPad. The cost is normally $1.99 but it is on sale for $.99!! Kids can easily create an unlimited number of their own books using this app. Each page has an area for writing and an area for pictures. In the picture area kids can draw their own illustrations, take photos, or use pictures from their photo library. They can also record themselves reading their books. Finalized stories can read directly from the app, be published to iBooks, and/or shared via email with anyone who owns an iPhone or iPad.

Watch the video and learn more about this app here: My Story – Book Maker for Kids.

What a great medium for your child to share his/her life experiences with grandparents and other loved ones – take photos of your day (at the zoo, in the park, etc.) and let your child narrate the experience! The voice recordings remain intact when the book is shared. The words can be typed in after your child has provided the narration so that kids make the connection that the words in books are really just “talk written down.”

In the classroom kids can share their stories with friends through iBooks, write and present digital reports, keep ongoing vocabulary books and/or journals etc.

Highly recommended!!

My Story - Book Maker for Kids - HiDef Web Solutions

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Bug Games HD

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bug games

Singing crickets! Bug Games HD is FREE for a limited time. This super cute educational app for preschoolers has 4 sections: Cricket Concert, Bee Word Builder, Ant Tunnel Builder, and Spider Dot-to-Dot. In the Cricket Concert section, kids can select a song to hear the crickets sing together or they can tap on each cricket to play the song on their own. In Bee Word Builder, kids hear the phonic pronunciation of individual letters as they use them to put words together. Ant Tunnel Builder requires kids to rotate puzzle pieces so that the ants can march through a completed tunnel. Spider Dot-to-Dot has kids connecting dots in numerical order. Kids collect sticker rewards along the way. This app has a nice combination of learning games for preschoolers – cute, fun, & engaging! Who knew playing with bugs could be so much fun 🙂

Bug Games HD - by Busy Bee Studios - Busy Bee Studios

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ABC House

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FREE again – ABC House for the iPhone/iPad introduces your toddler (3 – 5) to 60+ everyday things through sight, sound, and touch. This educational app opens to a grid arranged in ABC order. Kids can tap on a letter to find objects that begin with that letter or they can tap on a specific object to learn about it. As an object’s photo appears, a child’s voice says the initial letter then reads the name of the object (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 or an interactive scene where kids may iron a shirt, clean with a duster, open drawers, etc. The child can scroll to the left for additional pictures and videos about each object.

This app needs an internet connection to work because the 100+ videos are actually links from You Tube. 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  – great for building vocabulary and beginning to read/spell words.

Also check out my review of ABC Wildlife by the same developers 🙂

Recommended!

ABC House - everyday objects with pictures, sounds and videos for kids - Peapod Labs LLC

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Toca Hair Salon 2

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Toca Hair 2

5,905 reviews can’t be wrong so you don’t want to miss this one. Toca Hair Salon 2, a creative educational app, is on sale for only $.99. 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!!

Toca Hair Salon 2 - Toca Boca AB

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Lullaby Piano Book

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lullaby

FREE for a limited time – Lullaby Piano Book, an educational app for your budding pianist! The app’s keyboard has 13 sounds. There is a learn mode and a play mode. In the learn mode, kids are guided (note by note) through the songs. In the play mode, the notes are provided but kids are on their own. I wish the app also included an autoplay so kids could hear the song before attempting to play it. The app features cute cartoon characters and 6 songs that kids love – Hickory Dickory Dock, Mary Had A Little Lamb, It’s Raining, It’s Pouring, Eensy Weensy Spider, Three Blind Mice, and  Do Re Mi. This educational app is designed for both iPhone and iPad. 

Lullaby Piano Book - BelugaBloo

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Montessori Numberland HD

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Numberland

Montessori Numberland HD – FREE today. This educational app helps young children (ages 3 – 5) learn the numbers from 0 – 9. The app consists of 10 interactive scenes which are meant to be explored. For instance – the number 7 is a beach scene with 7 umbrellas, 7 palm trees, 7 shells, 7 balls, 7 crabs. As they explore, kids learn the name of the number, how to write the number, and how to count to that number. The app uses number rods to help kids understand the concept of quantity. There is also an opportunity for kids to practice writing and counting numbers on their own. And… kids can create artwork, practice numbers, etc. in the “draw” section of the app then take a photo to share! Ready to learn the numbers in a different language? The app can be switched to English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, or Spanish. Featured in Apple’s “New & Noteworthy”, this educational app does a nice job of helping young kids learn and understand numbers.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/montessori-numberland-hd/id388154228?mt=8&uo=4