Category Archives: FREE apps (for a limited time)

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Nighty Night

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FREE again!! This interactive bedtime app for kids 1 – 4 years old is by the same developer that produced Little Fox Music Box (see review June 28). Like the Little Fox app, the artwork is beautifully done by Heidi Wittlinger, an Oscar nominated artist. Kids click off the lights around the farm to put 7 animals to bed – setting the mood for their own bedtime 🙂 6 additional animals can be added with in-app purchases. The story easily changes to 12 different languages – without going into the general settings of your iPad. This app is really lovely and it has been successful internationally – winning the App of the Year 2011 in the “books category” in Germany & the U.S. It also reached #1 in iPad books in the US, Brazil, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, South Africa, Australia Switzerland and Austria!

 

Nighty Night! HD – Bedtime stories – Story book for children - Shape Minds and Moving Images GmbH

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Miss Spider’s Bedtime Story for the iPad

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spider-bedtime

This app is the digital version of David Kirk’s beautiful picture book by the same name. It initially sold for $4.99 but is now FREE. There are several nice features: children can watch the story in 3-D animation, they can read along with the narration, or they can read the story on their own. As they read they can touch the illustrations to reveal special surprise effects. Also included are games, puzzles and pictures to paint.

Worth downloading – highly recommended!

Miss Spider's Bedtime Story for the iPad - Callaway Digital Arts Inc.

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Inspector Peckit

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Auryn Apps is giving away an interactive book each day in March to support National Reading Month 🙂

Inspector Peckit by Don Freeman (author of Corduroy) is FREE today! Inspector Peckit, a pigeon, solves the mystery of a young girl’s missing bag. Get another great story from a well-known author of children’s books.

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Grammar Wonderland (Primary) & Grammar Wonderland (Elementary)

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grammar primary

grammar

FREE today – the full versions of Grammar Wonderland (Primary) & Grammar Wonderland (Elementary). In both games kids lead their characters through different adventures as they practice  nouns, verbs, adjectives, and more. The primary version is for younger children – the words are read and some levels include pictures. The app does not teach the parts of speech but it provides lots of practice for kids in a fun game-like environment. After teaching a lesson about parts of speech, teachers can have kids show what they know with this app. Practice is provided for the following: common nouns, proper, nouns, concrete nouns, abstract nouns, singular nouns, plural nouns, possessive nouns, pronouns, action verbs, present-tense verbs, past-tense verbs, future-tense verbs, linking verbs, adjectives, articles, comparative/superlative adjectives, and more! Many parts of speech are taught in both apps – perfect for differentiating your instruction for a variety of reading levels. Both also apps permit multiple player – great for the classroom!

Recommended!!  – Download them today 🙂

Grammar Wonderland Primary       Grammar Wonderland (Primary) - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

Grammar Wonderland Elementary       Grammar Wonderland (Elementary) - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

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Montessori Worksheets for Kids HD: Traceable ABC Letters

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Montessori Worksheets for Kids -Traceable ABC Letters

FREE for a limited time – the full version of Montessori Worksheets for Kids HD: Traceable ABC Letters. This app uses a 2-step process to teach kids how to write upper and lower case letters. First kids trace the letters. Then they write the letter independently. Each letter is presented with a picture/word that begins with that letter so that kids are also introduced to the sounds of the letters. Also included with the app is a progress chart. If you have a little one learning to write, download this app today. It is nicely done!!

Montessori Worksheets for Kids HD: Traceable ABC Letters - Kids Academy Company

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Abby’s Aquarium Adventure

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Abby's Aquarium

Auryn Apps is giving away an interactive book each day in March to support National Reading Month 🙂

FREE today –  Abby’s Aquarium Adventure. Kids will learn about exotic sea creature and the people who work in aquariums by reading this story written by Heidi de Maine, a marine biologist. Lots of fun facts are presented in language that is easy for kids to comprehend. This e-book would be a great to use before a visit to an aquarium 🙂

Abby’s Aquarium Adventures: Develop your kid’s curiosity about the world of sea creatures through this enticing story filled with facts and fun quirks about fish and sea animals; written by Heidi de Maine. (iPad version; by Auryn Apps) - Auryn Inc.

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Parent/Child Apps :)

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A few FREE apps for parent/child time 🙂

Little Things Forever

FREE for limited time – Little Things Forever, the sequel to Little Things. These apps are the ultimate seek & find puzzles – fun for the whole family! Little Things Forever has 9 puzzles with 101 little things to find within the puzzles. The list of things to find is randomly generated so that the puzzle is never the same. The app can be played in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, or Russian. So… this app could also be used to learn words in another language – fun practice for a foreign language class!

Little Things® Forever - KLICKTOCK

Family Puzzles

Also FREE for  limited time is Family Puzzles. This app has jigsaw puzzles in two modes – kids’ mode and classic mode. Kids’ mode has 36 simple “wooden” puzzles for little ones to put together. Classic mode has 6 puzzles that can be cut into 12, 30, or 56 pieces. But… the BEST part of this app is the ability to make your own puzzles. Using the camera on your device or your photo library you really can make “family puzzles” – sorry, couldn’t resist that one 🙂 How fun would it be to create puzzles of your family vacation photos and work them with your little one!?!

Family Puzzles - Arsidian LLC

PBS Parents Play & Learn

PBS Parents Play & Learn is FREE and currently being featured as New & Noteworthy by Apple. PBS has designed this app specifically for parents and it can be used in English or Spanish. The app uses familiar locations (in the bathtub, in the kitchen, at the zoo, etc.) as themes then provides parents with meaningful activities/games for their children. I LOVE that the app includes ideas for different ages (baby, toddler, preschooler) and provides information for parents about the math & literacy skills embedded in the games. The app supports the notion that a child’s parents are his/her first and most important teacher – LOVE it!

PBS Parents Play & Learn HD - PBS KIDS

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Chalk Box Story

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Chalk Box Story

Auryn Apps is giving away an interactive book each day in March to support National Reading Month 🙂

Chalk Box Story by Don Freeman (author of Corduroy) is FREE today! Cleverly done – this app encourages kids to participate by using the box of chalk to help create the story’s setting and characters. The bonus section of the app lets kids can tap & drag 8 interactive items into the story’s final scene. Very cute!!

The Chalk Box Story, an interactive storybook for kids based on the classic tale by

 

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Mitzi’s World

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Mitzi's World

Auryn Apps is giving away an interactive book each day in March to support National Reading Month 🙂

Today’s FREE book is Mitzi’s World by Deborah Raffin –  a seek and discover book. Kids follow Mitzi the spotted dog through 15 different scenes of town & country drawn by American folk artist Jane Wooster Scott. Along the way, they look for Mitzi and 150 other items such as 4 small red birds, a snowman, 13 dogs, etc. Kids can zoom in for a closer look or get a hint when they cannot find an item. This app provides hours of fun for kids as they count, differentiate colors, built vocabulary, and learn about the seasons. If you loved the “Hidden Pictures” page of Highlights magazine when you were young, you will love this app for your kids 🙂

Mitzi's World HD - Auryn Inc.

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Sail Through Math

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sail through math

Ahoy there!! FREE again (normally $1.99), Sail through Math from McGraw Hill – a fun way for students to practice their math facts/skills. There are 3 levels of play for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Other areas covered are addition equations. subtraction equations, multiplication equations, two-step equations, names for numbers, patterns/factors/multiples, and compare numbers. This app provides of great practice built around a pirate theme – complete with music and firing cannonballs! At the end of each game, the child can see what problems he/she missed as well as a percentage score. What a fun way to learn basic facts – in the classroom, at home, in the car on a way to an evening activity. I used to tell my students to practice during commercials – 10 to 15 minutes a day works wonders. This app provides a fun way to accomplish that goal 🙂

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.
  • 3.OA.7 – Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

Sail Through Math - McGraw-Hill School Education Group