Category Archives: FREE apps (for a limited time)

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On This Day

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On This Day

FREE for a limited time – On This Day, an educational app that let’s you view historical events, births, & deaths for any day of the year. There are hundreds of entries for every date linked to related Wikipedia articles which open right within the app. When I was teaching, I had students correct punctuation, capitalization, & spelling in two sentences every morning while I took attendance, did lunch count, etc. This educational app would have been helpful because I always used information about something interesting that happened that day. After correcting the sentences, we would talk about that day’s history. You may want use this educational app as part of your classroom’s morning routine. It would also be fun to see what famous people share birthdays with your students!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/on-this-day…/id317064309?mt=8&uo=4

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Disney Creativity Studio

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Disney

FREE for a limited time – Disney Creativity Studio, an educational app that turns an iPad into an artist’s studio. There are 4 sections of this app: Learn to Draw, Activities, Draw Your Own, and My Artwork. In the Learn to Draw section, Disney artists teach kids how to draw favorite Disney characters with step-by-step instructions. The activities section includes tracing, connecting dots, and coloring pages. The Draw Your Own section provides kids with blank pages for drawing & creating. Or, your child can use the app’s fun backgrounds & Disney character stickers to create their own scenario! Finally, the My Artwork section automatically saves anything created in the app. For an additional $.99 you can purchase a stylus that magically interacts with the Creativity Studio App. If your child is a Disney fan who loves to draw, you may want to check out this app.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/disney-creativity-studio/id557238273?mt=8&uo=4

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Wubbzy’s Dance Party

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Wubbzy

FREE today – Wubbzy’s Dance Party, a storybook app featuring Wonder Wubbzy and Flower Power Daizy. This educational app was developed by Cupcake Digital in partnership with the producers of the Emmy® Award-winning Nick Jr. TV series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!®.

 Kids dance and read along with Wubbzy and his pals as they plan the most Wubbtastic Dance Party ever! Along the way kids will discover animations & interactivity on every page! The app also has educational games and sing-along music videos. The Grown Up’s Corner has 2 sets of questions about the story. The questions address literal understanding of the story (thin questions) as well as extended meaning (fat questions). Also included in the Grown-Up Corner is information about the Common Core Standards addressed by this app which are predominately kindergarten standards. Print-outs and activities to supplement the story are available online at cupcakedigital.com. What is not to love about this educational app? – Cute story packed with interactivity, educational games, sing-along videos, standards-based, and a guide for adults!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wubbzys-dance-party/id635871029?mt=8&uo=4

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Rainy Days and Rainbows

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Raiiny Days

FREE for a limited time – a Stella & Sam educational app: Rainy Days and Rainbows. Stella and Sam apps are based on the television show and the bestselling picture book series by Marie-Louise Gay. The books have been translated into fifteen languages & have sold over one million copies. In Rainy Days and Rainbows, the kids and their dog Fred paint, dig through leaves looking for treasures, and have a pine cone race across Puddle Lake. Beautifully done apps for preschoolers!

Other Stella and Sam Adventures have been reduces on iTunes to $1.99 each. Titles include: Backyard at Twilight, Into the Snow We Go, Cocoons and Caterpillars, Go There Square, and Draw Along with Stella and Sam. Or, you can purchase the Stella and Sam Story Pack which includes 5 titles for only $3.99. All Stella and Sam apps are supported in English and French. You can easily change from English to French/French to English in the app’s settings. Download Rainy Days and Rainbows to see what the apps are like. If you like what you see, take advantage of the reduced prices. 🙂

Rainy Days: A Stella and Sam Adventure - zinc Roe

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Apps for “Talk Like a Pirate Day”

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Arrrggg… it’s “Talk Like a Pirate Day” so here are some educational apps to enjoy with your kiddos.

Toontastic Jr. Pirates

Ahoy Matey…. Toontastic Jr. Pirates is FREE again for a limited time. This storytelling app, from the creators of Toontastic, has kids creating their own pirate cartoons. They start by choosing a beginning, middle, and ending. Then they animate the story by moving the characters and recording their voices at the same time. The educational app features 12 story starter videos and a cast of characters to get kids started. If kids would like to create a story with friends or family, they can utilize StoryShare, a new feature in Toontastic Jr. which is very cool! It enables kids to talk & create stories with friends or family anywhere in the world! Yo, ho, ho – how fun is that??

Toontastic Jr. Pirates - for iPad - Launchpad Toys

Ahoy Matey! Jake’s Never Land Pirate School for the iPhone/iPad is FREE from Disney. Kids 3+ join Jake and his crew (from Never Land Pirates TV) for pirate classes which include sailing, pirate band, map & spyglass, and pixie dust. In pirate school, kids practice listening & following directions, counting, tracing shapes, and more. You can import your child’s picture and create a pirate – very cute!  Kids can keep track of the levels they have completed and the badges they have earned in the Captain’s Log. This is a fun educational app  – especially for young fans of the show!

Jake's Never Land Pirate School - Disney

This iPhone/iPad app was FREE when I downloaded it but is now $3.99. Designed for 4 – 7 years olds, it introduces math concepts (such as counting, ordering, addition, subtraction, shapes) using a pirate theme. Kids earn and collect rewards for their treasure chest as they progress through the 700 math tasks included in this app. More than one child can be added to the program and parents or teachers can monitor their children’s progress. The statistics section shows what tasks have been completed and which were completely correctly on the first attempt. Nicely done app!

Common Core Standards met:

  • K.CC.2 – Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.
  • K.CC.4 – Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
  • K.OA.1 – Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds (e.g., claps), acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations.
  • K.G.2.  – Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.

Love to Count by Pirate Trio - Next is Great

Pirate's Treasure

Pirate’s Treasure is FREE for a limited time. It’s a pirate-themed memory game for two players. Cute – with sounds and music to create the perfect pirate atmosphere!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pirates-treasure-memo-game/id449449296?mt=8&uo=4

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FriendStrip Kids Pro

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Friendstrip

FREE for a limited time – FriendStrip Kids Pro, a cool photography app that turns your child into the star of his/her own comic strip! This educational app is easy to use. First kids pick one of the app’s 85 scenarios (created by true comic book artists) from categories such as fairy tales, space, stuffed animals, dinosaurs, and more. Frame by frame they set up a scene, strike a pose, and snap the picture. Before you know it, your child is the start of his/her own comic strip! Fully customizable texts give the app even greater flexibility. Final creations can be shared via email or Facebook – there are parental controls for this option.

This app would be so much fun to use in a classroom! It would help kids understand the elements of a story (setting, characters, problem, sequence of events, and conclusion) in a simple and fun way. And kids would LOVE presenting their comic strips to their peers. Super cute!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/friendstrip-kids-pro/id687451368?mt=8&uo=4

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Sago Mini Bug Builder

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bug buider

FREE for a limited time – Sago Mini Bug Builder, an educational app for toddlers/preschoolers. Kids create, hatch, and play with cute little critters. They can transform 1 of 8 shapes into a colorful bug, add some color, then bring it to life. They can also add a funny hat, feed it a snack, clean up its mess, and take its picture. Kids can make unlimited number of unique bugs using this app – very cute & creative!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sago-mini-bug-builder/id657821775?mt=8&uo=4

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Guess How Much I Love You – Interactive Episodes

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Guess How Much I Love You

FREE a limited time – Guess How Much I Love You – Interactive Episodes. From Australia comes this wonderful app 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. The book is beautiful – one of my all time favorites. Originally published in 1994 in the UK, it has sold more than 20 million copies in 37 languages. It is 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!

Guess How Much I Love You - Interactive Episodes - SLR Productions Pty Ltd

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Toontastic Jr. Shrek and Toontastic

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Shrek

Toontastic Jr. Shrek is FREE for a limited time. This storytelling app, from the creators of Toontastic, has kids creating their own Shrek cartoons. They start by choosing a beginning, middle, and ending. Then they animate the story by moving the characters and recording their voices at the same time. The educational app features 12 classic Shrek scenes and a cast of characters to get kids started. If kids would like to create a story with friends or family, they can utilize StoryShare, a new feature in Toontastic Jr. which is very cool! It enables kids to talk & create stories with friends or family anywhere in the world!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toontastic-jr.-shrek/id632359329?mt=8&uo=4

And if you haven’t tried the original Toontastic, do yourself a favor and check it out….

toontastic

Parents and teachers love Toontastic and kids can’t stop creating! Named by the NY Times as one of Top Ten iPad educational apps of 2011, Toontastic is a fabulously creative FREE app for kids. This app allows kids to draw, animate and share their own cartoons AND it teaches them the elements of a story! Kids are able to use backgrounds and characters from the app or create their own with the drawing tools that are provided. The basic app is FREE but there are several in-app purchases available. Final creations can be shared online via ToonTube, Toontastic’s global storytelling network. Over 2 million cartoons have been created in over 150 countries. Unleash your child’s creativity with this great educational app!!

Here is a link to more information: Toontastic: Play, Create, Learn on the iPad!.

Not only are the possibilities for using this app are endless but a child’s work can be shared with parents, grandparents, other classes, etc.

Toontastic - Launchpad Toys

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Stumpy’s Alphabet Dinner

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Stumpy

FREE again for a limited time – Stumpy’s Alphabet Dinner, an educational app that teaches toddlers/preschoolers the upper case letters of the alphabet. Kids feed Stumpy, a pink hungry monster. In easy mode, kids feed him the letter that matches the one on his belly. In hard mode, kids have to listen for the letter that Stumpy would like to eat. Simple & cute!

Stumpy's Alphabet Dinner - Roo Roo