Category Archives: FREE apps (for a limited time)

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Ocean – Animal Adventures for Kids

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ocean

FREE for a limited time – Ocean – Animal Adventures for Kids, an educational app for preschoolers. Kids will become sea life experts as they explore 3 ocean scenes – a coral reef, a shark reef, and the deep sea. The app has two modes – one for tapping/interacting with the creatures and the other for listening to/learning facts about them. Kids will learn fun facts about more than 30 animals and be delighted with the 60+ animations. The app is narrated in 12 languages – English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Turkish, Dutch and Italian. Check out this cute interactive book for your 1 – 5 year old today. 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ocean-animal-adventures-for/id819165012?mt=8&uo=4

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SpeakaZoo and Winston Show

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speak a zooFrom the creators of the Winston Show comes another FREE app – SpeakaZoo, the only zoo where the animals talk with you. This educational  app is currently featured as one of the “Best New Apps” by Apple. The SpeakaZoo houses 20 different animals from 4 different habitats. Each one has a lot of character – a fast-talking octopus, a porcupine that needs a hug, an angry beaver, a sleepy bear, etc. And each character has a lot to talk about. The animals ask kids questions then “listen” to their answers. The conversation continues when the animal responds to what the child just answered – fun!

Parents are asked to create an account with a valid email address so that they have full control over all account information and content for children under 13. From the ToyTalk privacy policy FAQs: “ToyTalk apps involve characters that interact with users. When children use ToyTalk apps, audio recordings and photographs of such interactions are captured as part of this use. We may add the ability to capture video in the future. In that case, we will update this FAQ to describe how we use those recordings too.” Read more at: http://www.toytalk.com/legal/

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speakazoo/id850553929?mt=8&uo=4

winston

FREE – The Winston Show, an adorable app for kids 6+. Winston (a self-proclaimed, yellow fellow) and his sidekick Ellington have created the first talk show starring you! Special guests include Blackbeard the Pirate, Marie Antoinette, and the Blue Whale. Kids visit 6 different studios within the app. In Studio 1, they become a contestant on a quiz show called Win with Winston. Studio 2 features Fireside Chats on a variety of kid-friendly subjects such as magic and chores. In Studios, 3 kids can choose to become the star in two movies: Squabble Among the Stars or Winston Sly, Private Eye. They battle colorful characters (such as Lewis & Clark) in Studio 4′s You vs., another game show. Studio 5 is the Costume Department where kids can play dress-up in an assortment of costumes. And finally, Studio 6 features the Writing Room where kids choose the path of a story. This app is fabulous for helping kids with conversational language because the characters listen and talk back! It’s quite ingenious and could be really fun – for kids and adults. Adults will love seeing kids interact with Winston and friends. And, they will understand all of the jokes. 🙂 Delightful!!

From the ToyTalk privacy policy FAQs: “Users under 13 are only authorized to use ToyTalk apps under their parent/guardian’s account. As a result, we do not knowingly collect emails or other contact information directly from children under 13. ToyTalk apps involve characters that interact with users. When children use ToyTalk apps, audio recordings and photographs of such interactions are captured as part of this use. We may add the ability to capture video in the future. In that case, we will update this FAQ to describe how we use those recordings too.”  Read more at: http://www.toytalk.com/legal/

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/winston-show/id669541931?mt=8&uo=4

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Three Little Pigs – A Play

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FREE again – Three Little Pigs – A Play 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 – this time 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 of the Three Little Pigs 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. This app could be used to reinforce several comprehension skills.

Recommended!

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

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Lullaby Piano Book

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lullaby

FREE again for a limited time – Lullaby Piano Book, an educational app for your budding pianist! The app’s keyboard has 13 sounds. There is a learn mode and a play mode. In the learn mode, kids are guided (note by note) through the songs. In the play mode, the notes are provided but kids are on their own. I wish the app also included an autoplay so kids could hear the song before attempting to play it. The app features cute cartoon characters and 6 songs that kids love – Hickory Dickory Dock, Mary Had A Little Lamb, It’s Raining, It’s Pouring, Eensy Weensy Spider, Three Blind Mice, and  Do Re Mi. This educational app is designed for both iPhone and iPad. 

Lullaby Piano Book - BelugaBloo

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Drawnimal

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FREE again for a limited time – Drawnimal, an ABC app for kids that has them thinking (and drawing) outside the box. Kids begin by placing the device on a piece of paper or other drawing surface. Then they draw around the device (as shown above) to complete the drawing of an animal. When they press play, the app identifies the animal. Finally, they tap the animal for a delightful surprise! Kids will love the animal animations that they helped to create. It’s the perfect combination of an alphabet app and a drawing app for little ones. And, it’s in 5 languages – English, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and French. It’s super cute and super fun!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drawnimal/id586239095?mt=8&uo=4

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Alphabet Game – Build Letter Confidence

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Alphabet Dots

FREE again – Alphabet Game from Ellie’s Games (normally $1.99). This educational app uses bright colors and a simple interface to teach young children to recognize the alphabet from A to Z. Kids learn to recognize both upper and lower case letters by popping colorful dots in order. The app has three levels of difficulty – choosing from 4 letters, 9 letters, or 16 letters. Kids can work on all upper case letters, all lower case letters or a mixed letters. There are also settings for sound, hinting, and enabling vibrations (iPhone only). This simple but visually appealing game is sure to help your little one learn the ABCs.

Alphabet Dots - Ellie's Games, LLC

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Shadow Puppet

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Shadow PuppetUse the power of this app to create a unique Father’s Day tribute or greeting!!

Recently updated and still FREE – Shadow Puppet, a photography app which has been featured by Apple as one of the “Best New Apps” for over 6 months!  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.

The update has 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

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TED – TED conferences and TEDiSUB – Enjoy TED videos with Subtitles!

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Parents/Teachers – here is an app for you and the kids!

TED started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It is now a nonprofit devoted to ideas worth spreading. Here is information on 2 apps that will bring the world of TED to the device of your choice!

TED - originalRiveting talks by remarkable people and FREE to the world. Connect with the official TED app for iPhone/iPad. Access more than 1,400 TEDTalk videos with more added every week! When you open the app, you will see a wide variety of featured talks – Where is Google going next? by Larry Page, A new way to grow bone by Molly Steven, Teach teachers how to create magic by Christopher Emdin, and so on. There are about 60 talks to choose from. Click on a title that interests you to get additional information about that talk: the length of the talk, a short synopsis, related talks, and related tags. Then you can watch the talk, save it, bookmark it, or share it. The app permits you to browse the entire library at any time – even when you are offline. You can browse by tag or by language. TEDTalks are subtitled in over 100 languages! You can create your own playlist or the app can create one for you based on your mood and how much time you have to listen. A fabulous resource for lifelong learners!!

TED - TED Conferences

Ted

FREE for a limited time – TEDiSUB – Enjoy TED videos with Subtitles!  This app enhances the TED experience with added control features. It also allows you to see two subtitles at once – great for a language classes. 

TEDiSUB - Enjoy TED videos with Subtitles! - semix2

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Professor Garfield Fact or Opinion

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professor garfieldProfessor Garfield Fact or Opinion is a FREE educational app. The comic teaches kids why it is important to know difference between fact and opinion, especially when using the internet. Garfield’s friend, Nermal, gets an F on his report about goats because it includes facts & opinions. With the help of Professor Garfield, Nermal learns that not all information on the internet is true. He learns that fact is “something that can be proven to be true” and an opinion is “something that someone believes but cannot be proven.” Nermal learns how important it is to read with a questioning mind. After reading the comic strip, kids practice what they have learned by helping Nermal write a report about school lunches and by feeding facts to the Fact-Bot. I love this app! Kids start learning about fact vs opinion in second/third grade but many of them struggle with the concept. This app presents the content in a fun way then gives students the opportunity to apply what they have learned. It does a fabulous job of teaching kids an important element of critical reading – in my opinion. 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/professor-garfield-fact-or/id401257010?mt=8&uo=4

 

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Operation Math

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operation math

On sale ($.99) for a limited time – Operation Math, a great educational app from Spinlight Studio. Kids will have fun practicing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, & division tables in this interactive “spy” game. The object of the game is to stop Dr. Odd’s quest to eliminate the world’s even numbers. In order to do so, kids must complete 105 missions by solving equations. Missions can be selected based on a child’s skill level and/or the operation (+, -, +/-, x, ÷, x/÷  or +/-/x/÷).  Of course, time is of the essence so kids have to answer problems in 60 seconds or less. By doing so, they lock doors along their escape routes. And as they complete missions, they earn the gear of a seasoned spy. What a great game – I love how the app integrates math practice into a really cool game for kids. I especially like the modes which permit kids to practice multiple operations at a time. It makes kids pay attention to operation signs and quickly switch their thinking. What a fun way for kids to practice facts and meet CCSS! No wonder Operation Math was given a 2012 Parents’ Choice Award. Get it today – kids will LOVE it!

Common Core State 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.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/operation-math/id487387270?mt=8&uo=4