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Just Me & My Mom – Little Critter

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Just Me and My Mom

FREE for  limited time – the digital version of a Mercer Mayer Little Critter story, Just Me and My Mom. Little Critter and his mother go to the city for a special day together. He gets into trouble along the way when he loses the train ticket, picks up a dinosaur egg in the museum, and experiences other difficulties. The app features the original artwork of Mercer Mayer with background audio for each scene. The story can be read in three modes – read to me, autoplay, or read it myself. A parent can record the story in his/her own voice. There is also a find the frog mini-game included. There’s a reason these stories have been loved by parents and kids for so many years. 🙂 Perfect for Mother’s Day!

Just Me and My Mom - Little Critter - Oceanhouse Media

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Funny Kids Poems

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Funny Kids Poems

FREE for a limited time – Funny Kids Poems, an interactive book of 12 short rhymes by Maria Lindholm. The brightly illustrated poems are read aloud and can easily be changed from English to Russian. Kids can make the characters respond by tapping them. They can also tilt their device to see the entire scene come alive!

Funny Kids Poems - We Are Interfaces AB

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The Lorax Garden

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Lorax Garden

FREE today – for Earth Day. The Lorax Garden is a game app (which I don’t usually review). But, this app one goes perfectly with a favorite Earth Day book – The Lorax by Dr. Seusss. After sharing the story with kids, they can create and care for their own Truffula trees! The object of the game is to regrow forests. Progress can be viewed on a world map. Creations can be shared with family and friends via email. BEWARE: The app includes in-app purchases which the developer says can be locked in the settings. I played with it for a while and could not see how/where. I wanted to get this posted before the day ends so I will contact the developers for further info and revise this posting.

REVISED 4/23.  The following information came from Michael at Oceanhouse Media: To turn off in-app purchasing, do the following:

  1. From your home screen, tap on the Settings app
  2. Tap on General
  3. Scroll about halfway down the page and tap on Restrictions
  4. Tap the Enable Restrictions button
  5. When you do this, you’ll be asked to Set a Passcode. The Passcode is a password that locks certain functions of the iOS device. Use a passcode you’ll be sure to remember, but don’t share it with people you don’t want making in-app purchases. If they know your passcode, they can enable in-app purchases even if you don’t want them to. Enter the passcode twice to set it.
  6. Once the passcode is set, scroll down to the Allowed Content section. Slide the In-App Purchases slider to Off. This will prevent anyone who doesn’t know your passcode from making in-app purchases.

Lorax Garden - Oceanhouse Media

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StoryToy Apps – Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, Hansel & Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Puss in Boots, Little Mermaid

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Puss in Boots

FREE today to celebrate World Book Day – fairy tale apps by StoryToy. These apps are normally $4.99 each and are designed as digital pop-up books. All books can be read in 3 modes – read to me, read on my own, or autoplay. They all feature interactive 3D pop-up scenes with simple tasks for kids to perform throughout the story. The stories are professionally narrated and include fun sound effects and a musical score. Check them out while they are FREE!

Here are the links 🙂

Rapunzel   Grimm's Rapunzel ~ 3D Interactive Pop-up Book - StoryToys Entertainment Limited

Red Riding Hood   Grimm's Red Riding Hood ~ 3D Interactive Pop-up Book - StoryToys Entertainment Limited

Hansel & Gretel   Grimm's Hansel and Gretel ~ 3D Interactive Pop-up Book - StoryToys Entertainment Limited

Sleeping Beauty   Grimm's Sleeping Beauty ~ 3D Interactive Pop-up Book - StoryToys Entertainment Limited

Snow White   Grimm's Snow White ~ 3D Interactive Pop-up Book - StoryToys Entertainment Limited

Puss in Boots   Grimm's Puss in Boots ~ 3D Interactive Pop-up Book - StoryToys Entertainment Limited

Little Mermaid   The Little Mermaid ~ 3D Interactive Pop-up Book - StoryToys Entertainment Limited

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Crazy Hair Studio

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Crazy Hair Studio

FREE for a limited time – Crazy Hair Studio. Turn your iPhone/iPad into a virtual hair salon with this entertainment app. Just take a picture with your camera or choose one from your library and change your hairstyle with following tools – brush, scissors, trimmer, tint brush, curlers, dryer, and/or extensions. Your new look can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, email – if you wish.

What does this app have to do with education? Well… it certainly can spark some creativity! Use it to inspire writing on your school’s “wacky hair” day. Have kids create/write about their worst haircut ever!  Use it with one of the many books about kids & haircuts – check out the list at Amazon. Give a character from a story a new look. Create some new styles then write an ad for your salon. The list goes on…..

Crazy Hair Studio - Portegno Apps

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Alphabet Animals iMix

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Alphabet Animals iMix

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!

Alphabet Animals I Mix- for preschool and kindergarten kids - PlaneTree Family Productions

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The Chicken and the Egg

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chicken

FREE again for a limited time – The Chicken & the Egg is an interactive e-book written by Allan Plenderleith for the iPhone/iPad. It is the story of Flo, a little chicken, who just cannot lay an egg. One rainy night something happens… An object rolls down a hill and lands next to Flo who thinks it’s her egg. She loves her egg & takes very good care of it. Then one night a “dark thing” appears… Even though all ends well, read this one first before you share it with preschoolers. You know if your child is sensitive to stories with “scary” parts.

Teachers – this story is perfect for teaching prediction. I would stop the story when Flo wakes up next to “her egg” and have students predict what will happen next. Is it actually an egg? If so what will hatch out? There are lots of possibilities for creative writing with this story. Then read the rest of the story to see how the author finishes it. The story is cutely illustrated with delightful narration. Its interactivity adds to the story rather than distracting the reader from the story. Definitely worth downloading 🙂

The Chicken & the Egg HD - Plendy Entertainment

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The Flying Alphabetinis Deluxe

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Flying Alphabetinis Deluxe

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!!

The Flying Alphabetinis Deluxe - A Fingerprint Network App - Fingerprint

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What Will I Be?

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What Will I Be?

FREE for a limited time (during the London Book Fair), What Will I Be? is another delightful story from Digital Leaf. A father answers his child’s questions about the future in a story that encourages children to dream big! Before the story starts, the app permits you to choose the gender of the child. The story is cute and written in rhyme. There is interactivity throughout  – sounds and things to move. Kids are encouraged to find “the dog” hidden in 19 places throughout the story. If they do, a bonus game is unlocked. This app is a perfect example of  what a digital story should be – a great story with interactivity that enhances the overall reading experience. And… as an extra added bonus, the story send a positive message to kids! Don’t miss out on this one – perfect to read in the classroom when talking/writing about careers!

What Will I Be? - Digital Leaf

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Sail Through Math

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sail through math

Ahoy there!! FREE again (normally $1.99), Sail through Math from McGraw Hill – a fun way for students to practice their math facts/skills. There are 3 levels of play for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Other areas covered are addition equations. subtraction equations, multiplication equations, two-step equations, names for numbers, patterns/factors/multiples, and compare numbers. This app provides of great practice built around a pirate theme – complete with music and firing cannonballs! At the end of each game, the child can see what problems he/she missed as well as a percentage score. What a fun way to learn basic facts – in the classroom, at home, in the car on a way to an evening activity. I used to tell my students to practice during commercials – 10 to 15 minutes a day works wonders. This app provides a fun way to accomplish that goal 🙂

Common Core Standards met:

  • 1.OA.6 – Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10.
  • 2.OA.2 – Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies. By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.
  • 3.OA.7 – Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

Sail Through Math - McGraw-Hill School Education Group