Category Archives: FREE apps (for a limited time)

0

RefMe

|

image

FREE for a limited time – RefMe, an app that creates citations, bibliographies, and reference lists. Before you can use RefMe, you must register for an account using your email address. Once you’re registered, you are ready to begin. Name your project and choose a formatting style for it. The app has a search option for 6500+ styles or you can choose one of the thirteen most popular styles with a simple click. Once you choose your style, you can start referencing. There are three ways to add your sources: use the device’s camera to scan a book’s barcode, type in the website’s URL, or add the resource manually. The app can reference thirty-five different types of resources such as blog posts, maps, musical scores, pamphlets, etc. It syncs and saves all of your information to http://www.refMe.com. You can export your citations into a Word, Bib Tex, and more. Or, you can email them to yourself then copy and paste them into your document. Bibliographies become simple using refMe!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/refme/id553222694?mt=8&uo=4

1

Star Rover HD – Stargazing and Night Sky Watching

|

star rover

FREE for A limited time – Star Rover HD – Stargazing and Night Sky Watching. If you want to learn more about the sky, this is the app for you! Just hold your iPad up to the sky and Star Rover will identify what you are seeing – the stars, moons, planets, constellations in their proper place. Star Rover finds your location and updates your view of the sky as you move your iPad. The app features over 120,000 stars, 88 constellations, planets & their moons, moon phases, the Milky Way, and more. You’ll see twinkling stars, images of beautiful nebulae, eclipse simulations, sunrises and sunsets – a planetarium in your pocket. 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-rover-hd-stargazing-night/id437217048?mt=8&uo=4

0

TeleStory

|

telestory

FREE for a limited time – Telestory, another fabulously creative app from Launchpad Toys, the creators of Toontastic. Kids can write, direct, and star in their own TV shows with this educational app. Kids choose a theme to start: The News, Star Adventure, Eye Spy, or their own creation. Then they mix and match scenes to create their story. Next they craft a script using the prompts within the app or their own ideas. Then it’s time for the show! Kids choose one of fifty digital costumes for their performance.They perform and record their show which includes animated scenes and special effects. Recordings can be saved to the camera roll to be shared with classmates, family, and friends. How fun!!

Teachers, check out “The News” theme for use in your classroom. Kids can choose to be different types of reporters: The Beat, The Sports Roundup, The News Desk, The Weather, The Critic, or The Eye in the Sky. Then the learning begins. They could choose to read, summarize and report about current events. Or, they could choose to learn the science behind the weather so that they can explain it to their viewers. Or they could choose to write reviews of the literature that they are reading. Telestory News is a great tool for getting kids excited about non-fiction. Make it a part of your weekly routine with a new show rolled out every Friday. 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/telestory/id915378506?mt=8&uo=4

0

Brainy Bugs Preschool Games

|

bug gamesSinging crickets! Brainy Bugs Preschool Games 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

0

Spelling Star

|

spelling star

FREE for  limited time – Spelling Star, an educational app for practicing spelling lists. The app is simple to use – just type in and record the words. You may also include sentences to clarify the words’ meanings. Kids must spell each word correctly three times to become a Spelling Star.  Words are presented in random order. As kids practice, they can get a hint – a quick look at the word spelled correctly. When they spell a word without a hint, they earn a star. Spelling Star provides feedback after each word is spelled with the option to “try again” when an error is made. This educational app is great for home and/or school. Parents can use it to input spelling lists for multiple kids. Kids may enjoy inputting their own lists at the beginning of the week which would be GREAT practice! Teachers can create lists on one device and share those lists with anyone who has the Spelling Star app. Simple to use, effective, and tracks progress – what more do you need? 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spelling-star/id557070660?mt=8&uo=4

0

Bogga Vacation

|

image

FREE for a limited time – Bogga Vacation. Kids take a virtual vacation with this educational app – they pack their suitcase, fly away to a tropical island, build sand castles, make their own smoothies, and go treasure hunting! Cute & fun for little ones. 🙂

Bogga Vacation - Boggatap

0

Earthlapse

|

earthlapse

FREE for a limited time – Earthlapse, an app that turns your iPad/iPhone into a window aboard the International Space Station. The app comes with 7 views of Earth (aurora borealis, a tropical storm, Canadian arm of the ISS, the cupola of the ISS, Earth & clouds, Canada & northern USA, and aurora australis) captured by NASA astronauts. It also has 8 relaxing space soundtracks. Love the music! When you touch the screen, you can control what you see with your finger. You can also enable a clock and/or worldwide weather – a nice feature if you want to use it as a screen saver. It would be great to Airplay this app on a big screen in your classroom when kids were doing creative writing about space, living on the ISS, etc. 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/earthlapse/id522003167?mt=8&uo=4

0

Giggle Ghosts

|

FREE for a limited time – Giggle Ghosts, a cute counting app for preschoolers. The giggle ghosts are very cute – kids will love to hear them laugh. Kids help 20 ghosts get the party by bouncing them across rooftops. In the first level the sky is clear and they have to bounce 5 ghosts. The app counts to 5 and shows the written numbers. The second level is the same but there are leaves blowing in the sky. In the third level there are clouds in the sky and in the fourth level it is raining. Both provide additional counting practice from 1- 5. At the end, all 20 ghosts at the party are counted. This app is great for little ones – nothing scary, just fun & friendly ghosts going to a party. 🙂

Giggle Ghosts - by Busy Bee Studios - Busy Bee Studios

0

Shadow Puppet

|

Shadow Puppet

Use the power of this app to create a unique Mother’s Day tribute or greeting!!

Fabulous and FREE – Shadow Puppet is a photography app which has been featured by Apple as a Best New Apps. Using this app, it’s easy to create “puppets” – recorded explanations of your photos. First you choose your photos and put them in the order. Then you talk about your pictures. Everything is recorded. Finished “puppets” can be shared via email, SMS, Facebook and/or Twitter. There are so many ways for everyone to use Shadow Puppet: to teach something new, to share adventures with friends, to record children talking about their experiences, to tell the story behind old family photos, etc.

Recent updates have added many new features. Now you can include video clips, add music, search the web for images, overlay text/stickers, and more! The FREE version of the app permits you to include up to 10 photos/video clips. For $1.99 you can get Puppet Essentials which allows you to add up to 100 items to each video and have access to more drawing & decorating tools. The update made this great app even better!

The classroom uses for this app are only limited by your imagination: Take pictures of a child’s work and have him/her explain it to parents. Send pictures and voice recordings of the class field trip. Have kids give a step-by-step explanation of what happened in a science experiment. Draw & sequence pictures to retell a story. Make a “talking timeline” by sequencing photos of historical events. Have kids use it to present mini reports on any subject. Have virtual “pet day” – kids bring in pictures/recordings of their pets. Because you can use anything saved to your photo library, you can explain photos from the web, artwork created in other apps, and so much more. The possibilities for using this educational app are endless. For more suggestions go to http://get-puppet.com/education. What a fabulous resource!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shadow-puppet/id700902833?mt=8&uo=4

0

17 FREE Educational Apps to Share with Preschoolers

|

Six FREE science apps – PEEP and the Big Wide World apps from WGBH, the producers of the animated series of the same name. Major funding for these educational apps is provided by the National Science Foundation. These apps are designed to teach science to preschoolers (3 – 5 years) in a cute, fun way! The games begin simply but become more challenging as kids are successful. Each app also includes a “Try This Anywhere Activity” for you and your children to do together based on the lesson in the app. Your child will LOVE learning with Peep and friends. And you will too!

PEEP - House Hunt

PEEP and the Big Wide World House Hunt: Kids turn over leaves to pair animals with their homes in a match game that demonstrates that some habitats are home to many different animals.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-house/id536554271?mt=8&uo=4

PEEP - Hide & peep

PEEP and the Big Wide World Hide and Peep: Peep and friends are hiding in the tool shed. This app helps kids practice their observation and memory skills.

Download link:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-hide-peep/id536312346?mt=8&uo=4

Peep - Paint Splat

PEEP and the Big Wide World Paint Splat: Kids join two quirky characters named Quack & Chirp to experiment with mixing colors in a fun, silly way!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-paint/id536621786?mt=8&uo=4

Peep - Sounds

PEEP and the Big Wide World Sounds Like Fun!: Kids explore music and sounds as they mix and match sounds with this app. The characters represent different musical rhythms.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-sounds/id536623915?mt=8&uo=4

Peep - trash

PEEP and the Big Wide World Trash Stash: Kids practice their categorization skills by sorting objects using increasingly sophisticated criteria.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-trash/id536624731?mt=8&uo=4

Peep - Quack's Apples

PEEP and the Big Wide World Quack’s Apples: Kids roll Quack’s apples into a pond – testing and tweaking the design of their route as often as needed. As they play, they are practicing the engineering design process!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-quacks/id536623428?mt=8&uo=4

Four FREE and fabulously creative apps from Lazoo – perfect for preschoolers. 🙂

squiggles

Squiggles is a FREE educational app for the iPad and it is ADORABLE! Kids are encouraged to draw squiggles to create: rain clouds (to water flowers), waves (to help fish swim), wool (on sheep), cotton candy, etc. Once the squiggles are drawn, they press GO and the drawings come alive. The app includes an interactive storybook and an animated short which introduces the characters – Bobu, the monkey & Miku, the rabbit. It also includes 14 squiggle-ready drawing pages as well as a blank page for your child to create his/her own pictures. Tools included are stickers, markers, paint, chalk, a ketchup bottle, as well as 10 colors & a mystery color wheel. Work can be saved into the gallery of the parents’ section by pressing the piggy bank. This app is super cute!! It encourages children to be imaginative & creative – it’s one of my favorites! 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lazoo-squiggles!/id498599631?mt=8&uo=4

let's colorLet’s Color is another educational app from Lazoo that encourages creativity! The app includes an animated short in which the characters – Bobu, the monkey & Miku, the rabbit use their imaginations to turn triangles into a strawberry, a dog, a mountain, etc. Then kids are encouraged to color different things to complete a page: what is coming out of a hose, who is riding in the train, etc. Once the coloring is completed, they press GO and the drawings come alive. There are 17 coloring pages as well as a blank page for your child to create his/her own pictures. Additional coloring pages can be purchased within the app. Tools included are stickers, markers, paint, chalk, a ketchup bottle, as well as 10 colors & a mystery color wheel. Work can be saved into the gallery of the parents’ section by pressing the piggy bank. Another super cute app from Lazoo, a developer that encourages imagination and creativity.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lazoo-lets-color!/id515438833?mt=8&uo=4

Miku's PicnicAlso FREE  – Miku’s Picnic, an adorable interactive story designed to support creative thinking. Kids join Bobu, the monkey & Miku, the rabbit on a chase after some jumping beans. The two need help capturing the beans before they bounce away! Along the way kids learn about using their imaginations and creative problem solving as the Bobu & Moku use “Squiggles” to… make a car go faster, make springs to get to the top of a tree, make binoculars to look for the beans, make a rocket zoom to the moon, and more. This educational app has 2 reading modes – “Read to Me” and “Read it Myself” as well as an option to record your own voice as the narrator. The story ends with a link to the FREE Squiggles app for kids so kids can “take a turn” drawing. I love the way Miku’s Picnic encourages kids to use their imaginations to solve problems!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lazoo-mikus-picnic/id652945863?mt=8&uo=4

Lazoo ZooAnd last but not least from the developers of Squiggles – Lazoo Zoo, another fabulous educational app. KIds help out with snack time at the zoo where there are 10 animals (lion, ape, chameleon, giraffe, hippo, whale, crocodile, crab, bird, & penguins) to feed. But Lazoo Zoo is not your ordinary zoo, so its animals react in extraordinary ways – the giraffe’s spots change according to what it’s fed, the ape tosses the food it doesn’t like to others, and more! Kids can even create their own foods to feed the animals. And, Lazoo Zoo has a photo booth where kids can snap their picture with their favorite animals. How cute is that?! 🙂 Check out the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L564yPHM3No&feature=youtu.be

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lazoo-zoo/id727786503?mt=8&uo=4

From ABCMouse.com….

a to zFREE – A to Z Music Videos. This 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.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/to-z-music-videos-from-abcmouse.com/id586100697?mt=8&uo=4

Three for FREE from PBS. 🙂

PBS Parents Play & LearnPBS Parents Play & Learn is a great FREE educational app that encourages families to learn together. 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 fact that a child’s parents are his/her first and most important teacher – LOVE it!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pbs-parents-play-learn-hd/id605542914?mt=8&uo=4

word friends

Learn with WordFriends is a FREE educational game from WordWorld, PBS’s Emmy winning show. Kids build and discover words with Dog, Duck, Sheep, Ant, Bear, Pig and Frog. Animal characters and word objects are formed from the words’ letters – a very cool feature! There are 3 puzzles to play: WordRain – grab letters as they rain from the sky to build the word, WordScramble – rearrange the scrambled letters to form the word, and WordMatch – a tile memory game. There is also a WordFriend Farms where kids can interact with the different animal characters. Dog is included with the app and the other animals are available as in-app purchases. Very cute, happy app!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn-with-wordfriends/id580328460?mt=8&uo=4

play squareWordWorld’s Happy Birthday Dog (by PlaySquare) is another educational app featuring the same characters as Learn with WordFriends. Children (ages 3 – 6) play and learn words and letters as the play in Word World. In the first episode, Happy Birthday Dog, Dog thinks that everyone has forgotten his birthday. Kids are engaged in the story as they help gather things for a birthday party to surprise Dog.

There are so many wonderful things about this app. It is colorful and engaging. Early literacy skills (letter recognition, letter sound, word building, word recognition) are developed throughout the story. The characters are funny and lovable. But the best part is of the app is how the developers (media experts from Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, LeapFrog, and MIT) have used the letters of the word to form the object being spelled – very clever! I LOVE this app!!

Watch the video from the developers @ http://playsquare.tv/

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/playsquare-presents-wordworlds/id536304087?mt=8&uo=4

caillouKids learn about going to the doctor’s office with Caillou Check Up – Doctor’s Office, an adorable app for toddlers/preschoolers. This educational app has 11 mini-games that will teach your child about his/her next check-up. Four of the activities (check height & weight, tonsil check, follow the stick, & eye check) are included for FREE. The other 7 activities (thermometer, ear check, stethoscope, blood pressure, reflex check, medicine shot, & applying ointment) are available as in-app purchases. The app utilizes a variety of mechanics as kids tap and drag their way through the interactive mini-games. After completing each task, kids are rewarded with a colorful celebration. The app is sure to take the stress out of your child’s next visit to the doctor. No wonder it’s featured by Apple as one of the “Best New Apps & Games.” 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/caillou-check-up-doctors-office/id772369925?mt=8&uo=4

Guess How Much I Love You

Guess How Much I Love You – Interactive Episodes is FREE. This wonderful educational app from Australia is based on the book Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and inspired by the animated TV series created by SLR Productions Pty Ltd. Guess How Much I Love You is a beautiful story about the love between a parent and a child – one of my all time favorites. Originally published in the UK in 1994, it has sold more than 20 million copies in 37 languages. It was the first book I purchased for my granddaughter – truly a book not to be missed!! That being said, this app conveys the same sweetness that makes the original story so special.

Kids join Little Nutbrown Hare in 2 interactive episodes – “Can You Touch the Stars” and “Snow White Hare.” Designed for 3 – 5 year children to explore with their parents, the episodes are integrated with simple games & puzzles. At the end of each episode, Big NutBrown Hare and Little NutBrown Hare express their love for each other. Don’t miss this one – it is SO sweet!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/guess-how-much-i-love-you/id572817746?mt=8&uo=4

care bearsFrom American Greetings comes Care Bears Love to Learn, a FREE educational app for preschoolers. Kids join 7 of their favorite Care Bears to play a variety of games that are designed to help children count, build shapes, identify colors, learn beginning sounds, and more. After completing each activity, kids earn Care Bears stickers. These stickers can be saved and played with later. If you have a Care Bear fan in your house, check out this cute app!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/care-bears-love-to-learn/id884245655?mt=8&uo=