Category Archives: apps for kids

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Facts for Kids – a new fact every day

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Free today only for iPhone/iPad. You’ve heard the adage – “You learn something new every day.” Well with this app, your child can!  Every day when your child launches this app, he/she will learn an interesting fact of the day such as – “Just as human children hold their parents’ hand when crossing the street, baby elephants hold their parents’ tails when crossing dangerous land.” and “Snakes cannot hear.” and “A gecko washes his eyes with his tongue.” Fun stuff  – kids (and adults) will LOVE learning these things 🙂

FACTS FOR KIDS - a new fact every day - Wombi Apps

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Doodle Buddy – Paint, Draw, Scribble, Sketch – It’s Addictive

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The FREE version of Doodle Buddy (for the iPhone/iPad) is great for drawing and creating pictures. It comes with five kinds of tools. The drawing tool has several options – a brush, chalk, glitter, smudge, an eraser, and a color picker with thousands of colors. The stamper tool includes 80+ stamps with the option of making them small or large. Each stamper makes a funny sound when used. The stencil tool comes 6 stencils (basic shapes) with the option to buy other sets as an in-app purchase. Sets available to purchase are theme-based such as fashion, beach, cars, princess, dinosaurs, Christmas, and more. The text tool has 4 fonts with the ability to resize them. Text can be written in any color you choose. The background tool has about 30 backgrounds to choose from or you have the ability to pull in your own photos. Armed with such great tools, you can only imagine the fun you or your child will have creating a works of art! And…. the finished masterpieces can be saved to your photo album and/or shared via email. Fun!!!

There are so many fun ways to use this app. Kids can use it to illustrate their stories because saved illustrations can easily be pulled into a story writing app such as My Story – see my review from June 27. Have kids draw pictures of their vacation then save into photos and use as additional pictures or backgrounds for a photo vacation booklet created on Snapfish, etc. Make a book for Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, a grandparent, etc. – incorporating your child’s drawings and family photos. If creating a family cookbook, have kids do the illustrations. The list goes on……

Highly recommended!

Doodle Buddy for iPad – Paint, Draw, Scribble, Sketch – It’s Addictive! - Pinger, Inc.

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Earth Science Volume 1

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FREE  for the iPad for a limited time, this science e-book is designed for 8 – 11 year olds & science teachers. Each page features a photograph that relates to earth science. The page also includes three scientific details about the photograph in both written and audio form – great for different styles of learners. Pertinent definitions are also included on many pages. The photos are arranged in groups – all the water photos are together, rocks & soil photos are together, etc. There are 20+ photos in this book and lots of great information but I wish there was an index to make it easier to retrieve it.

I like the combination of photography and science. Teachers could challenge their students to complete a project doing the same thing – take a photo of something in nature then research three facts to go with it. Kids need to be encouraged to take a closer look at the world around them and learn from what they see. This app helps to provide that encouragement  🙂

Earth Science Vol 1 - Alex D. Jones

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Moon Secrets – Interactive Children’s Book HD

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FREE for the iPhone/iPad, Moon Secrets is a sweet, beautifully illustrated story about the moon told through the eyes of a child. All pages include animations that become interactive when tapped. The story can be enjoyed in three modes: autoplay, read to me, and read by myself. There are also three games at the end of the story – coloring, find the difference, and find hidden objects. The only thing I don’t like about the app is the placement of the pop-up ad for PlayTales Gold Bookstore. It’s right smack in the middle of the story and it ruins the flow and the mood of the story. Other than that, I think this story would be a great bedtime read.

Moon Secrets - Interactive Children´s Book HD - Genera Kids

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Three Little Pigs – A Play

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FREE app for the iPhone/iPad for kids 4+. An updated version of the 3 Little Pigs is presented as a play starring Mitch, Clara, Ran, and Clarence Bear. The book is brightly illustrated and the characters respond when they are tapped. The background music and narration are nicely done. The book can also be read alone. The story generally follows the traditional tale – the first pig builds a house from straw, the second pig builds a house of sticks, and the third pig builds a house of bricks. All of the pigs get away (rather than the first 2 being eaten) and wolf runs away yelping in pain. The first 2 pigs learn the lesson: Take your time and do your best. The story ends with the first 2 pigs starting to rebuild their houses in the spring – with bricks, of course!

In my classroom I used different versions of the same fairy tale/folk tale for studying story elements as well as comparing & contrasting. This would be a good version to compare with the traditional tale since its setting is in modern times. Kids can look for evidence to prove that the story takes place in current times. They could also use Venn diagrams to compare the traditional tale to this version or other versions that they have read. Lots of possibilities to extend the use of this book as you get comprehension strategies.

Recommended!

Three Little Pigs - A Play HD - C&B Unlimited

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100 Diggers and Excavators

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The e-book, 100 Diggers & Excavators, was FREE for the iPhone/iPad last week but it is now $.99. This book is easy to use and features over 100 HD pictures of diggers in action with sound clips! There is text on every page describing a digger or excavator, its location, or the job that it is doing. The list in the upper right hand corner can be used to preview/access individual pages in the app. The book does have not to be read in order since it is not telling a story. It is simply describing the machines pictured on each page. Also included is a video clip of a digger in action. If you have a lover of heavy machinery in your life – you may want to check out this book 🙂

Keep reading my blog to find out when apps become FREE.

100 Diggers and Excavators - Whyse ApS

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Magic Town

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Magic Town, FREE for the iPad for 2 -6 year olds, is an interactive world where stories live. To use the app you must first register via Facebook or email. Then you set up your children’s profiles – for up to 4 children. After registering, you get six free permanent stories which are housed in the Aesop’s fables/Hans Christian Andersen houses. Also, every day Louis the Lion flies into Magic Town on his magical airship to deliver a FREE story to your child. Your child will only have access to that FREE story for one day, unless you subscribe. Paying for a subscription gets you access to all of Magic Town’s content – one month is now (4-3-13) only $3.99 (originally  $11.99) and a year is $74.99. If you do not want to subscribe, you can also buy books one at a time. The stories are wonderful and can be enjoyed in four modes: explore, read together, watch, and play. Magic Town is a great source of quality interactive stories for kids!!

Here is a link to the website where you can watch an introductory video: http://www.magictown.com/ 

Highly Recommended!

Magic Town - Discover a World Where Stories Live - Mindshapes Limited

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Animal Photobook 1

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FREE for a limited time for the iPhone/iPad – This app (for 3 – 12 year olds) contains beautiful pictures and fascinating facts about 12 animals. Each page poses a question about an animal such as: Is it true that snakes smell with their tongues? How do chameleons change color? etc. The answer can be read independently or read aloud by a narrator. The narrator’s voice can be set to US English or UK English. There are lots of interesting facts in this app – the kind of things kids love to learn. One minor caution – The question about the wolf asks: Are wolves really evil?  We actually addressed this issue in my third grade class when we our fairy tale/folk tale unit because the wolf was always the villain. Their answer gives a good explanation of how wolves ended up with bad reputation – no problem there. My concern is the line: You shouldn’t be afraid of wolves because they are neither evil or dangerous. I agree that wolves are not evil but I think kids need to know that any wild animal is somewhat dangerous. Other than that, this app is great.

Animal Photobook - CYBERLINE

 

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Squeebles Fractions

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From England and FREE today – this app for the iPhone/iPad is designed to teach fractions to 7 – 11 year olds. The Squeebles want to enter a cake making contest but their ingredients have been stolen by the Math Monster. By working on the app’s 4 games, kids help the Squeebles earn back their ingredients. In Piece of Cake, kids drag the fractional part of a cake to a Squeebles when he asks for it. The easy mode covers halves, fourths, thirds. The hard mode cover fractions to tenths. In Tricky Pairs, kids have to match pairs of equivalent fractions. In the easy mode they match 4 pairs and in the hard mode they match up to 9 pairs. Think Big has kids feeding cake to the Squeeble that calls out the biggest fraction. The easy mode covers halves, fourths, thirds. The hard mode cover fractions to twelfths. Super Sums requires kids to add fractions as quickly as they can and has three levels of difficulty. After earning ingredients, kids can create cakes and enter them in The Cake Show – fun! Another great thing about this app is that you can have more than one player. My only concern is that the easy mode of Piece of Cake requires kids to know some equivalent fractions – for example, it asked kids to pick 3/4 of a cake divided into 8 pieces, 1/3 of a cake divided into 6 pieces, etc. I wish it would have required a basic knowledge of fractions in the easy mode then moved on to equivalent fractions in the hard mode. This app is cute, fun, and provides great practice for a wide spectrum of kids.

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).
  • 4.NF.3 – a. Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole.

Recommended!

Squeebles Fractions - KeyStageFun

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Ice Age Movie Storybook Collection

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FREE today for iPhone/iPad, this app normally sells for $.99. The storyline is developed from the Ice Age movie and features some of its favorite characters – Manny, Sid, Diego, and others. There are three ways to  enjoy this book – read to me, auto play, and read to myself. This e-book uses the images from the movie and the narration is nicely done. The story is not interactive – there is nothing to tap, find, move, etc. on the individual pages. Regardless, you will want to download this app if you have a child (2+) that is a fan of the Ice Age, the movie – it is nicely done storybook.  Ice Age 2,3, & 4 are also available as in-app purchases.

Ice Age Movie Storybook Collection - zuuka incorporated