FREE 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!
FREE – A to Z Music Videos. This educational 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:
Very cute FREE educational app for the iPhone/iPad from PBS KIDS. Add your favorite PBS character to your child’s picture in 3 easy steps. First take a picture or choose one from your photo library. The edit it as needed – zoom, rotate, or resize. Lastly frame it and decorate it by adding your favorite PBS characters. You can share the results on Facebook, Twitter, via email or save them into your photo library.
There are lots of fun ways to use this app. Take pictures of kids with the characters at a themed party based on one of the shows. Take pictures of students with Curious George, Arthur, or Clifford after reading books featuring those characters. Pull those pictures into a story writing app to create a new adventure of the PBS character and the student. Add the characters to settings – pictures of the school playground, pictures of the classroom etc. – use your pictorial creations as springboards to creative writing. Pull your pictures into TellPic (see review July 31) and have the child explain. Fun!!
Recommended!
Just updated on June 6, named New & Noteworthy, and FREE for the iPhone/iPad – Penguin Leveled Readers. This educational app opens with a great introduction video that explains how it works. 4 books are included – one for each of the app’s reading levels. The levels respond to the following guided reading levels: level 1 = levels A-D, level 2 = levels E-I, level 3 = levels J-M (about second grade), level 4 = levels N-P (about third grade). If you want to add to your collection, 75 additional titles are available as in-app purchases for $3.99 each. The majority of the additional titles are either level 2 or 3 so this app is best suited for first/second grade readers. The app permits you to record and store your child reading the story – a GREAT feature for improving fluency. If you have an early reader in your family, this app could be a wonderful resource!
FREE for the weekend – Monster’s Socks, a darling interactive tale about a little monster who goes in search of his lost socks. Kids join Monster on his journey and help him cross streams, sail across the sea, and blast into outer space to find the lost socks. The story advances in a unique way – as Monster travels page by page through the book, he stops on the yellow dots and the text appears. The animation and interactivity are done in a meaningful way that enhances the story. This educational app is a great example of what an interactive book should be – don’t miss it!!
FREE again for a limited time – Super Readers, an animated storybook app for early readers! This educational app uses the Dolch sight words in 10 vocabulary controlled stories at 5 different reading levels: kindergarten, beginning first, middle first, end of first, and beginning second. Kids can choose to have the stories read to them with automatic text highlighting or they can touch individual words to have them read. Another great feature – kids can record themselves reading the book and then play it back. What a wonderful confidence builder for little ones trying to build their fluency!!
Common Core Standards met:
K.RF.3 – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. c. Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).
Recommended!
FREE again today – Teach Me Toddler, a fabulous educational app for teaching your little one letters, numbers, shapes, colors, phonics (letter sounds), and counting. The app includes parental controls so that parents/teachers can choose which areas they want their child/children to work on. Up to 40 players can be entered and the topics for each player can vary – it’s fully customizable by individual! And… the app keeps track of each child’s performance – perfect for a preschool or kindergarten classroom. Teachers could start by assigning general practice for all then reset the players and customize it to meet individual kids’ needs – AWESOME!!
Kids are rewarded for correct answers with stickers or coins. Sticker scenes include the beach, reef, pirate cove, city, farm, and playground. Parents/teachers can set the number of correct responses needed for getting a sticker from 1 – 9. Completed scenes can be exported to share. 🙂
One of the BEST thing about this app is the appropriateness of the topics. It teaches numbers to 20, counting to 10, upper and lower case letters, 11 colors, 9 shapes, and letter sounds. I was so excited that it taught the hard and soft sound of c!! Download this one today – it is rarely FREE!
ABCSounds Lite for the iPhone/iPad is FREE again for a limited time. This educational app was developed by Barbara Milne, an early childhood educator. It’s based on her song” Apple, Apple, AAA” and it introduces kids to the sounds of the alphabet. The music is soothing and repetitive making it easy for little ones to sing along. Her approach is multi-sensory. For each letter of the alphabet, the child hears & sees the letter and a word beginning with that letter. The letter is also hidden in a picture which has been chosen because it looks similar to the letter – great for helping kids make connections. Nicely done for little ones – would be great for preschool & kindergarten classes!
Recommended!
WOW – here’s one you don’t want to miss!! FREE again for a limited time – Cookie Next Door-Rainy Days. This educational app was a choice in the “New & Noteworthy” section of the app store in early February. Kids become storytellers in this animated adventure. Their speech, songs, and rhymes bring Cookie and his friends alive. The app includes a Creative Comic Book, a Voice Over Studio, and an Animated Stage Projector. Creative Comic Book utilizes storyboards to guide kids through the storytelling experience. In the Voice Over Studio, kids can change the pitch of the characters’ voices. As kids tell the story their speech, singing, etc. is transformed into the voices of the characters. Once the story is complete, the Animated Stage turns it into a play with dancing props! This app is very creative, very fun and it’s great for developing oral language skills. I am looking forward to more adventures of Cookie and friends!!
FREE for a limited time – Madagascar: My ABCs. If your preschooler is a fan of Madagascar, you may want to check out this educational app. It teaches letters (upper & lower case), letter sounds, and letter formation. There are also songs to sing and poems for each letter! Kids can create their own alphabet books with the help of 400+ stickers that reinforce beginning sounds. Kids can also travel on a field trips with Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria to tropical beaches, New York City, savannahs, and jungles in a fun game called Sticker Safari. Kids use their trusty binoculars to find hidden letter stickers. If you have more than one child, no problem – the app allows more than one child to play and save their work & progress. Fun for little ones. 🙂
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