Category Archives: FREE apps (for a limited time)

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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

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More Halloween Apps

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FREE today – Scrap It: Halloween HD for the iPad. You (or your child) can add a Halloween touch to your photos with this app. First take a photo or use an existing one. Using the photo editor, you can crop it and/or add an effect (about 40 filters available).  Then its time to get creative – add stickers, change the papers & tiles, add letters & numbers/ribbons/word art, and add & manipulate text using the text editor. Items can be resized, shadowed, sent to the back, sent to the front, etc. Creations are saved in My Scrap Pages. They can also be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, via email. They can be saved to your camera roll or printed. I think kids would love decorating pictures of themselves, their family & friends, and the family pet 🙂 You could also create an electronic postcard or invitation with this app. Lots of possibilities!!

Scrap It: Halloween HD - Dirk Bost

Halloween Jigsaw Puzzles is FREE for the iPad. It includes 18 puzzles with the option to purchase more. There are 7 levels of difficulty ranging from 4 to 49 pieces per puzzle. Most puzzle images are appropriate for younger kids but there are a few that are a bit iffy: scary-faced pumpkins, a few skeletons, and a witch in questionable attire. So if your child loves puzzles, check it out and be selective if your child scares easily.

Halloween Jigsaw Puzzles! - Toy Box

Dibu’s Monster Maker Lite is FREE for the iPhone/iPad. Dibu is a little boy who loves monsters so he created a machine to build them – I think this is how Dr. Frankenstein got started 🙂 The Monster Maker has hundreds of combinations of monsters waiting to be made. The lite version has 2 bodies to choose for the base.Then kids add hair, eyes, noses, mouths, hats & horns, tops, bottoms, and shoes. There is also a random monster generator which creates a monster with one tap. Finished monsters can be named then saved, printed, made into a puzzle, or emailed. This app also has a child lock that hides all promotional buttons and disables printing & emailing. And… there is a “parents only” button which gives written instructions for access to the app store. The developer does not want young children to end up there accidentally – how refreshing!

This app would be great to use with elementary aged kids. They could create a monster then write a descriptive paragraph about it. They could create two monsters and do a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the monsters. Lots of possibilities!

Dibu's Monster Maker Lite - Playtend Apps LLP

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Halloween Apps

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Even though I am a retired teacher, I still find myself thinking in themes 🙂 So…. here is a list of some FREE Halloween apps (with one exception) that you may want to download this month for your kids.

I am going to start with the exception – Millie’s Book of Tricks and Treats is currently $.99 (although I did get it on a FREE day). The Millie books feature a very cute, lovable dog and kids LOVE them! If you own the other two: Meet Millie and Millie and the Lost Key, you will probably want this one too. This book presents a series of silly tricks and treats featuring Millie – nothing scary for little ones. Every time you read it, the randomly generated video clips change so the book is always different.There is also scratch-off picture & hidden sticker on every page. Love this series!

Millie's Book of Tricks and Treats - Megapops LLC

Lego Halloween Creationary is FREE for the iPhone/iPad. Kids roll the dice to choose a category: nature, buildings, vehicles, or things. The app starts to build an object from that category. Kids have to guess what is being built by tapping one of 4 illustrations (found on the pumpkins). Points are awarded by how quickly one can guess correctly. The game becomes increasing difficult. This game is great for making kids think about how objects would be constructed – great for the Lego lovers in your life!

LEGO® Halloween Creationary - The LEGO Group

Carve-a-Pumpkin from Parents Magazine is FREE for the iPhone/iPad. Kids first choose one of 5 pumpkins (orange, white, orange with green, black or orange & bumpy). They can “cut” it by hand or use premade eyes, noses, mouths, and faces. Instead of cutting the pumpkins, kids can choose to decorate them with stickers. In either mode, kids can manipulate the size and orientation of the objects that they add. There is an undo and redo button to change things easily. Once the pumpkins is complete, kids choose a background. The final project can be shared on Facebook. Twitter, & emailed, or saved as a photo. This app would be fun for kids to use as a planning tool for real pumpkin carving.

Carve-a-Pumpkin from Parents magazine - Resolute Digital, LLC

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Bean Bag Kids present Little Red Riding Hood

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FREE for a limited time – an interactive fairy tale for the iPhone/iPad. Read along with this classic tale presented as a play by the Bean Bag Kids. Tapping the 3D characters, makes them act even better. The app has 3 modes – read to me, read alone or autoplay. Words are highlighted as the story is read so children can read along. Children collect hidden stars on each page to unlock the Bean Bag Kids’ bios. There are also simple 6 piece puzzles at the end of the play. One minor concern that I have is that the font may be difficult to read for little ones. Other than that, it’s definitely cute and worth downloading 🙂

Bean Bag Kids present Little Red Riding Hood - Mundomono

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i Learn With Poko: Fun Counting & Addition

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Toddlers and preschoolers (ages 3 – 6) learn how to count and add numbers with this app for the iPhone/iPad. There are 3 games included: Bowling (counting & adding to 6), Building Blocks (adding to 10), and Poko’s Toys (add toys up to 15). Each game is divided into 3 levels of increasing difficulty. All i Learn With apps have the option for children to register so that they can earn rewards to play with on Planet Boing (a FREE central app that goes with the i Learn With series). Registration also allows parents to track their child’s progress. Detailed reports are generated telling parents the number of attempts for each game as well as the rate of success. The report also allows a parent to compare their child’s progress with other children of the same age. The i LearnWith program is brought to you by the developers of PBS KIDS PLAY and CBC Wonderworld online learning programs.

Common Core Standards met:

  • K.OA.2  – Add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to represent the problem.

This app is currently $1.99. Keep reading my blog to find out when it is offered for FREE.

Recommended.

i Learn With Poko: Fun Counting and Addition! - Tribal Nova

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Super Stretch Yoga

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FREE today – This app for the iPhone/iPad was designed & created to teach 12 yoga poses to kids but the content can be used by everyone. Each lesson begins with an animated explanation of a pose by one of Super Stretch’s animal friends. Kids learn how movement and breathing make every day balanced. Following the explanation of each pose is a video clip of actual children demonstrating that pose so kids can see what it looks like. Once a child has gone through the 12 poses, he/she gets to share a favorite pose in a Super Stretch team photo. Kids are encouraged to “make NAMASTE part of their day” as they learn to find a balance in their lives. The Adventures of Super Stretch Code of Ethics uses NAMASTE is an acrostic for Nothing is impossible. Always be honest. Make the world a better place. Act with kindness. Share with others. Trust and belief in yourself. Enjoy and have fun. – what a fantastic message!  And… kids learn a healthy way to calm down & relieve stress while building self-awareness, self-esteem & respect for others. Wow!!

More and more teachers are bringing yoga into the schools because of its physical and emotional benefits. This app would be great to use on the Smartboard with the entire class.

Highly Recommended !

Super Stretch Yoga HD - The Adventures of Super Stretch, LLC English version          Super Stretch Yoga Spanish HD - The Adventures of Super Stretch, LLC Spanish version

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Submarine Math Race

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Submarine Math Race is FREE for a limited time. Kids can practice the 4 basic operations – addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division by racing their submarine against various sea animals. There are two modes in this app – play and practice. In the practice mode you can choose the operation and level of difficulty. The child taps the answer to advance the submarine and win the race. After completing 10 problems, a score is given followed by number right vs number wrong (which was not always accurate). Then there is the “try again” screen – sometimes that came up instead of number right vs number wrong, sometimes it came up instead of advancing to the next level of the game or as a new level was supposed to begin. Also, the app is connected to the Game Center so it constantly reminds you to log in – whether you want to or not. I had lots of problems using this app so I cannot recommend downloading at this time.

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Kids Fun for iPhone/Kids Fun for iPad

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There are 70+ activities for your preschooler (ages 2 – 6) in this app for the iPhone or iPad – jigsaw puzzles, matching, coloring,hide-and-seek, dot-to-dot, find the differences, stickers, mixed-up animals, animal sounds, and a section which requires matching an animal with its baby, shadow, diet, or where it lives. The application is very intuitive & easy to use. It can be used by kids all over the world because it contains no words. Connections to Twitter, Facebook and email are included in order to share the coloring and the mixed-up animals pages. Personally, I don’t think it’s necessary for these connections to be built into kids’ apps. If the app permits the child’s work  to be saved into photos, that is all that is really necessary. Then the work can be emailed, messaged, tweeted, printed, posted for Facebook, etc. That being said, this is a nicely done app with lots of fun, educational activities about animals.

The iPhone version of this app is currently FREE. The iPad version costs $3.99.

Kids Fun for iPhone - toomanyscreens FREE for iPhone                      Kids Fun for iPad - toomanyscreens for iPad