Category Archives: FREE apps (for a limited time)

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Usborne Sticker Dolly Dressing

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sticker dolly

Normally $4.99, Sticker Dolly Dressing for the iPad is currently FREE until midnight. This app is based on the popular Sticker Dolly Dressing books by Usborne Publishing. The app includes 5 dolls with over 120 drag & drop stickers to dress the dolls. Clothing can be customized with different patterns. Hair styles, hair colors, and skin tones can be changed. The dolls are placed into one of 8 colorful scenes – a wedding, the beach, a shopping area, a disco, a horse stable, a birthday party, a picnic, & a bedroom. Scenes can be further enhanced by adding animals, objects, and foods. Final creations can be emailed and/or printed to share with friends and family. Kids can create a scene & write a story or create several scenes & write a book. Also, this app will provide hours of fun for  kids who are interested in fashion design 🙂

Usborne Sticker Dolly Dressing - Usborne Publishing

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Nighty Night! HD – Winter Special

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nighty winter

FREE today – from the developers of Nighty Night, a special winter edition of this bedtime story. If you already have Nighty Night, this app is the same except for the winter setting and the singing snowman.

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 help put animals to bed by clicking off the lights and telling them goodnight. The story can easily be changed to 7 different languages (without going into the general settings of your iPad or iPhone). This app is really lovely and it has been successful internationally (according to iTunes Preview). Adorable, must-have for toddlers!

Available as in-app purchases: two additional sets of animals (3 in each) for $.99 a set and a Jingle Bells video featuring all of the animals for $.99.

Nighty Night! HD - Winter Special - Shape Minds and Moving Images GmbH

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I Think I Can – A Magic Ink Book

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FREE for a limited time for the iPhone/iPad – I Think I Can, Magic Ink Books rendition of the classic tale. The setting is Christmas Eve and a train is delivering holiday treats to kids on the other side of the mountain. A little switcher engine helps save the day! Kids can choose Read to Me (male or female narrator) or Read it Myself. Throughout the story kids use “magic ink” on the pages to reveal beautiful colored illustrations. Verses to a train song and secret animations are also found within the story. There is also an option to email the train song to friend but I found this option to be distracting to the flow of the story. A nice story for the holidays – enjoy it (and 5 other Magic Ink Books) while they are FREE  🙂

I Think I Can - A Magic Ink Book - Magic Ink Books

The 5 additional Magic Ink books that are also being offered for FREE right now – check them out!

A Frog Prince – Magic Ink Books     A Frog Prince - Magic Ink Books - Magic Ink Books

Tinker Bell & Friends  – Magic Ink Books     Tinker Bell & Friends - Magic Ink Books

The Little Mermaid’s Surprise – Magic Ink Book     The Little Mermaid's Surprise - Magic Ink Books

Magic Ink  – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz     Magic Ink - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Magic Ink Books

Cinderella – Magic Ink Books     Cinderella - Magic Ink Books - Magic Ink Books

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Arthur Christmas Movie Storybook

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FREE for a limited time for the iPhone/iPad – Arthur Christmas Movie Storybook. The story explains how Santa delivers all those presents in one night by showing Santa’s secret high-tech operations at the North Pole. However, one present is accidentally left behind and Arthur, an unlikely hero, is called upon to deliver it. This interactive storybook features original content from the movie. Kids swipe across selected pages to make the characters/scenes come alive – very cool feature! The book has 3 options: read to me, read to myself, and autoplay. Also included are story-related, interactive activities: lull the lions, snowy Arthur, and wrap the bike. Download it today before the price goes back to $3.99.

Arthur Christmas Movie Storybook - zuuka incorporated

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Build and Play – Construction Play Scene

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Build and Play – Construction Play Scene for the iPhone/iPad is FREE for a limited time. This app has two components – a memory game and an area to create construction scenes. Kids will have fun building their own constructions scenes with the 30+ stickers of bulldozers, pile drivers, dump trucks, and people who operated them.  Sound effects of moving vehicles add to fun! The app is simple to use  – just tap and drag the stickers into the scene. I like that it is open-ended which promotes creativity. If you have a little one who loves to play with trucks, check it out 🙂

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The Tooth That’s on the Loose!

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The Tooth is on the Loose is an e-book for the iPhone/iPad. It is currently $1.99 but I was able to download it on a FREE day. The setting is the old West and a shifty, wiggly, little varmint named T.B. Wiggly is on the loose. Kids will be delighted by this legend, narrated by Sheriff Tex. The language is rich and fitting to the genre of the story. The story is illustrated in a cartoon-like style with animations, sound effects, and hidden activities throughout the tale. Coloring pages are also included. A really fun story for kids who are ready to lose a tooth!

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

The Tooth That's on the Loose! - SachManya LLC

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Hickory Dickory Dock

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Hickory Dickory Dock for the iPhone/iPad is FREE for a limited time. Your child can learn to read a clock to the nearest hour while playing with an adorable, purple mouse. Kids begin by setting the time on the clock. For each hour there is an exploration that sends the lovable little mouse bouncing, springing and sleeping his way through the nursery rhyme accompanied by catchy music, sounds effects, and fun animations. The explorations in Hickory Dickory Dock simulate principles of physics –  gravity, collision, friction, weight, etc. as kids play pinball with the mouse, balance weights on a set of scales, and bounce the mouse off the walls of the clock. Very cute for preschoolers – a fun way to learn how to tell time with some physics slipped in as a bonus 🙂

Hickory Dickory Dock - Mindshapes Limited

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Three Little Piggies – Interactive Story Book with Animations

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FREE for a limited time – the full version of Three Little Piggies, an interactive version of a classic tale for your iPhone/iPad. This e-book is brightly illustrated with cute animations and interactivity on every page. Kids tap objects in each scene to interact with the story. They can also bend the iPad from side to side to start the animations. There are three reading modes: autoplay, read to myself, and listen & play. Cute sound effects and professional narration complete the package. And best of all – no characters meet their demise. This version has a happy ending so it is great for little ones. Worth downloading!

3 Little Piggies – Interactive Story Book with Animations - Kids Academy Company

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American History Time Line

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FREE for a limited time from McGraw Hill – American History Timeline. Kids can navigate the timeline to read about the hundreds of important people, places, and events that have shaped American history. When kids tap on a thumbnail photo, the app brings up a larger image and an explanation of the person, place, or event. The majority  of the drawings/photos used are from Library of Congress. There are 7 categories (such as women, inventors, constitution, etc.) that can be turned on and off so kids can see figures and/or events specific to that category. World events are also included on a parallel timeline. Two games are included: Time Line Scramble and Memory. Kids sequence events in the correct order with the Time Line Scramble Game. In the Memory Game, they match the correct date with the correct event or person.

I really like the design of the app – the ability to customize what categories you want to look at, the authenticity of the drawings/photos, the parallel world history timeline for comparison. It would be great for teaching kids read or create timelines. I only wish that it included more. Hopefully the developers will add more information in updates.

American History Time Line - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

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Plug & the Paddywhacks

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Plug & the Paddywhacks for the iPhone/iPad is an interactive storybook series. The app has some unique features such as word bubbles that trigger the narration for each page and scenes that scroll from side to side. The first issue is FREE. Additional issues are available as in-app purchases: $.99 each or $5.99 for the season of 10 issues. Plug (a lovable monster/creature) and the Padddywhacks (his friends) live inside the Plex because they cannot survive outside its walls – or so they have been taught. Issue 01 ends with a mysterious figure breaking Plug and his friends out of the Plex and the adventure begins…

Here is a link to the website that introduces the series: Plug & The Paddywhacks™. Each issue also has original music composed by Denison Witmer and friends. Download issue 01 to see if this series is something that your child might enjoy 🙂

Plug & The Paddywhacks - Scholar & Saint