Category Archives: FREE apps (for a limited time)

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Alien Buddies

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Alien Buddies

Alien Buddies is FREE for a limited time. Formerly listed as one of Apple’s “New & Noteworthy” and geared towards kids ages 3 – 7, this educational app features 4 different activities (matching, puzzles, dot-to-dot, and stickers) with varying levels of difficulty. Matching can be played in 2 modes (visual or audio) to reinforce colors, shapes, numbers and letters. Puzzles can be set to contain 4, 6, or 8 pieces. In the sticker section, kids add out-of-this-world stickers to 8 different space scenes.  All activities are well done but I especially like the dot-to-dot activity which has a “please help” or an “I can do it myself” button. Kids need to visually recognize the order of the numbers to connect the dots and the app counts as the dots are connected – love it! The app is cute, colorful, and sure to appeal to kids!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alien-buddies-preschool-learning/id469461540?mt=8&uo=4

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The Tree I See

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FREE for a limited time – The Tree I See, a storybook app for iPhone/iPad. Geared towards toddlers, this educational app tells a story about a little boy who spends time with a tree that willingly gives and shares with wilderness friends. The Tree I See is a beautifully animated story about sharing and what it means to be a friend  🙂

The Tree I See - Interactive Storybook - Aridan Books

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Word Wonderland (Primary) and Word Wonderland (Elementary)

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Word Wonderland

FREE for a limited time – Word Wonderland (Primary) and Word Wonderland (Elementary), games that have kids hoping, eating, and shaking their way to the end of a game board as they sort words. Children start by creating name badges – the app permits multiple children to play. In the primary (K – 2) version, kids help to guide a friendly frog through the pond as they sort words by sounds – short vowels. long vowels, r controlled vowels, blends, digraphs, and more. In the elementary (3 – 6) version, kids guide an astronaut crab through the space station as they sort more difficult words by sounds, inflectional endings, Greek/Latin roots, etc. These educational apps provide a fun way for kids to sort words but I am a bit apprehensive about encouraging kids to shake the iPad. Check it out for yourself while the full versions are FREE.

Download links: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-wonderland-primary-full/id611436564?mt=8&uo=4 and https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-wonderland-elementary/id634947932?mt=8&uo=4

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Wubbzy The Superhero

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Wubby The Superhero

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

 Kids join Wubby and Daizy as they help Ms. Bookbinder the librarian, rescue a poodle from a tree, and find a lost key to the city. Along the way kids will discover animations & interactivity on every page! The app also has 4 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, great message about helping others, educational games, sing-along videos, standards-based, and a guide for adults!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wubbzy-the-superhero/id616726246?mt=8&uo=4

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Grammar Wonderland (Primary) & Grammar Wonderland (Elementary)

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grammar primary

grammar

FREE again – the full versions of Grammar Wonderland (Primary) & Grammar Wonderland (Elementary). In both games kids lead their characters through different adventures as they practice  nouns, verbs, adjectives, and more. The primary version is for younger children – the words are read and some levels include pictures. The app does not teach the parts of speech but it provides lots of practice for kids in a fun game-like environment. After teaching a lesson about parts of speech, teachers can have kids show what they know with this app. Practice is provided for the following: common nouns, proper, nouns, concrete nouns, abstract nouns, singular nouns, plural nouns, possessive nouns, pronouns, action verbs, present-tense verbs, past-tense verbs, future-tense verbs, linking verbs, adjectives, articles, comparative/superlative adjectives, and more! Many parts of speech are taught in both of theses educational apps – perfect for differentiating your instruction for a variety of reading levels. Both also apps permit multiple player – great for the classroom!

Recommended!!  – Download them today 🙂

Grammar Wonderland Primary       Grammar Wonderland (Primary) - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

Grammar Wonderland Elementary       Grammar Wonderland (Elementary) - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

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TypeDrawing

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TypeDrawing

FREE for a limited time – a VERY cool educational app that permits you to draw in type!

TypeDrawing is super easy to use and perfect for creating typography art. The app allows you to input whatever text you want. Then you can use those words to draw a  shape in any color you wish. You can also change the font and the size of the text. This app would be perfect for writing concrete poetry. Kids could write a tornado poem in the shape of a tornado, a cloud poem in the shape of a cloud, etc.

Creations can be saved to a photo gallery. So from there the sky is the limit – you can email works of art/poetry to parents or grandparents, bring them into another program to create a book, etc. Awesome!!

Highly recommended!

TypeDrawing for iPad V3.0 - Hansol Huh

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Madagascar Movie Storybook Collection

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FREE today for iPhone/iPad, this app normally sells for $.99. The Madagascar Movie Storybook Collection features favorite stories & characters from the Madagascar movies. Included with the app is a 30 page story based on the first Madagascar movie. Madagascar Escape 2 Africa and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted are available as in-app purchases. There are three ways to  enjoy this book – read to me, auto play, or read to myself. This e-book uses vivid images from the movies and features genuine character narration – which kids will love. 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 Madagascar movies – it is nicely done storybook.

Madagascar Movie Storybook Collection - zuuka incorporated

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Toontastic Jr. Pirates

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Toontastic Jr. Pirates

Toontastic Jr. 2

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

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Shiny Party

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Shiny Party

FREE for a limited time – Shiny Party, a math app for preschoolers. Charlie the monkey and Alice the giraffe are getting ready for their friend’s surprise birthday party. Kids learn about basic geometric shapes as they help. They find matching shapes, do shape puzzles, build cupcakes – all within the context of the story. All activities are age appropriate. Just have one minor concern about the content… the app teaches kids that a square has 4 sides rather than 4 equal sides. All in all, this educational app is great – colorful with adorable characters. Also, you can take a picture of your child with the characters and save it to your photos – a really cute feature. Nicely done and fun for little ones!

Shiny Party - Shiny Things

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Tiny Dentist

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Tiny Dentist

FREE again – Tiny Dentist. Kids get to be a dentist for a day with this educational app that teaches about dental treatments and instruments. Dozens of patients with dental problems need fixed. The “dentist” has the tools to: remove cavities & fill in the hole, remove plaque, use water & air sprays, remove decayed teeth, put on braces, and more! The app was developed to alleviate children’s fear of the dentist. Visual instructions for using the different tools are found in the grown-ups section. Another fun feature of the app is the ability to take before and after pictures of the patient. 🙂 Check it out!!

Tiny Dentist - fantastoonic