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!
Lullabytes
FREE for a limited time – Lullabytes, an app to soothe your baby to sleep. The app contains 12 classical lullabies. The 25 minute concert begins with Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11 and gradually winds down to end with Brahms’ Lullaby. The app has a special feature called the Sleep Keeper™ which detects crying then replays the softest music tracks to help your baby drift back to sleep. The app also features a Sleep Diary™ which works like a stopwatch. It records the length of overnight sleeps and/or naps and logs the times. Parents can tag sleep sessions to indicate teething or illness. The diary also compares your baby’s sleep with the suggested amounts of sleep for babies of the same age. The app works with AirPlay for transmission to wireless speakers or Apple TV. What a great app for the nursery!!
Bill Nye The Science Guy
Just released (July 13) and FREE – Bill Nye The Science Guy. It’s Bill Nye’s 20th Anniversary and Disney is celebrating with the release of this educational app! Kids scan their thumbs to gain entrance to Nye Labs – a scientifically fascinating place. There they can play games, watch clips from their favorite shows, try some experiments, and more. This app is a place where science rules!!
Tiny Dentist
FREE for a limited time – 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!!
Toontastic Jr. Pirates
Ahoy Matey…. Toontastic Jr. Pirates is FREE 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. This 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??
Monster’s Socks
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!!
123 Color HD: Talking Coloring Book
Earlier this morning 123 Color HD: Talking Coloring Book was listed – FREE today only. I was able to download it for FREE. Now I am a bit confused by which version (if any) is still FREE. Please check the link before you download it. It was supposed to be the version below but when I rechecked the link, it is now $.99.
Keep reading my blog to see when educational apps like this one go FREE again!
Check before you download this one as the price seems to have changed!!
Super Readers – A Dolch Sight Words Based Story Book App That Will Help Turn Your Child Into a Super Reader!
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!
My Story Time
FREE for a limited – My Story Time, an educational app that makes your child the main character in the underwater story entitled If I Were a Scuba Diver. To begin, you or choose or take 2 photos (faces) to put into the story. The app makes it easy to align and scale them. Time to read! Children can read the story on their own or there is a narration button on each page. The story is told in rhyme, brightly illustrated, and the characters appear to be swimming if you tilt some of the pages. 🙂 The story is cute. But… it’s write-up describes it as a fairy tale and “technically” it is not. The developers hope to add additional stories but at this time there is only the one. Kids LOVE being the start of a story. It might be fun to create this story before/after a trip to the beach!
Arithmetic Invaders: Grade 3 Math Facts
FREE for a limited time – Arithmetic Invaders: Grade 3 Math Facts. Kids defend the planets from invaders in this math game. The table of contents shows the titles of the missions, a short description of the math required, and the high score for that mission. There are 8 “missions” to complete – 2 addition, 2 subtraction, 2 multiplication, and 2 division. With completion of the last mission, your child earns the highest rank – DEFENDER OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. In each mission, the child matches the value on the laser gun to an equation having the same value – written below 1 of 3 invader ships. The mission’s length can be 2, 3, or 5 minutes. Even though the title implies that the app only practices facts, the addition & subtraction missions include 2 digit numbers. All in all, this educational app provides another fun way for kids to practice math!









