FREE today – Alphabet Animals iMix for toddlers and preschoolers. In this flip game, kids mix & match 3 character parts to create a silly looking character with a funny new name. Kids can touch the syllables to hear them pronounced individually or they can touch the speaker to hear the entire new name pronounced. With over 2000 possible combinations, this app provides a fun way to practice making new words. Older children could also use this app to create a new creature then write about it – a fun subject for descriptive writing!

FREE for a limited time – The Flying Alphabetinis Deluxe. Alphabetinis are tiny acrobats with letters on their bellies. Kids (and parents) use them to create as many words as they can, as quickly as they can in this fast-paced, circus-themed word game. As a player is creating words, picture flashcards appear. If the player can spell the word that goes with the picture on the card, he/she earns more points. The game also includes stunts – Super Chill, Cannonball, Super Crystal Ball, or Mind Reader. These stunts power up the play – adding to the fun! Players can earn stunts through playing or they can buy them with in-app purchases. The deluxe edition (currently FREE) includes a 5000 coin bonus. There is also a completely FREE edition of the game available.

The game is designed to be played by 2 people. The app supports child-safe, multi-player gaming or a single family account that shares one device. The app also delivers learning reports to parents which detail minutes played & what was learned. Great word building practice for kids!!

FREE for a limited time – PlaySquare is billed as Touchable Television. 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/

Highly recommended

FREE again – Find the Synonym is an app designed for the iPhone/iPad. It is listed as a game app rather than an educational app but it would be great for kids in upper elementary school/junior high. A word is shown with its part of speech and definition. You are directed to create a 4 – 7 letter synonym of that word using the letters provided. Points are awarded based on the length of the word, the time involved, whether clues are used, and/or if any mistakes are made. Badges are earned as the game is played. It’s simply designed  – not a lot of bell & whistles but it is heavy on content. There are a total of 1600 synonyms in the app. After you find 250 of them, the antonyms are unlocked. There are 700 antonyms in the app.

I realize that this app was not designed for kids per se but it is educational. More flexibility in the settings would make it more suitable for classroom use. I could not find a way to restart the game. The game picks up where it left off & points are cumulative, so only one person can play. Also, having access to both synonyms and antonyms would be a plus. I am sure that teachers will come up with creative ways to use this resource 🙂

Recommended!

FREE again – for a limited time. Funny Alphabet is an easy to use, interactive app for toddlers which teaches the alphabet. Each letter has its own page showing the upper and lower case letter as well as four objects that begin with that letter. When you touch the arrow next to each item on the page, the object is named. The animations in this app are very cute – most objects have an interactive sound or movement. Also included in this app is a soap-bubble game that feels like the electronic equivalent to playing with bubble wrap 🙂

Please note that at the beginning and the end of the app have links to the FB page for the app – easy for your child to click on and end up in Facebook.

The app was last updated on September 3 and a quiz was added as an in-app purchase.

FREE for  limited time – Sight Word Hangman. This app helps kids learn 300 common sight words – broken into 40 manageable lists. The app is simple to use. First select a list of words. Then choose a mode – game mode or flashcard mode. In game mode, the word is pronounced and the child has to touch the correct word to prevent the hangman from appearing. Pretty easy! But… the best part of this app is results section. It shows you which lists were mastered, the child’s overall score, and the date mastered. It even shows specific words the child has missed. I love apps that gather data for teachers/parents!! Too bad there is not a way for it to be printed or shared via email – maybe in an update?

WOW – here’s one you don’t want to miss!! FREE again for a limited time –  Cookie Next Door-Rainy Days. This 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!!