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. 🙂
FREE today – North Pole – Animal Adventures for Kids. Have kids check out the animals in Santa’s neighborhood! This educational app features 3 interactive settings: the arctic, an iceberg, and eternal ice. Kids tap the animals in each scene to discover their sounds and hear interesting facts about them. Facts for each animal in are narrated in 12 different languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Turkish, Dutch, and Italian. The app features cute artwork and is sure to delight little ones.
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/north-pole-animal-adventures/id716696933?mt=8&uo=4
Also FREE today – Africa – Animal Adventures for Kids.
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/africa-animal-adventures-for/id695120934?mt=8&uo=4
Just named as Apple’s App of the Week and FREE for a limited time – Tiny Firefighters, an interactive seek & find book. Toddlers tap their way through interactive scenes (full of fun sounds) to help firemen and policemen do their work. They can help firefighters to put out a house fire, rescue a cow from a pond, rescue a cat from a tree, and more. In the police scene, kids help policemen direct traffic, catch a wanted burglar, escort a celebrity, etc. Kids will also love the fun “extras” in each scene – the jewelry-stealing bird, the flying helicopter, the flying superboy, and more. The app has another fun feature – snow can be turned on/off to change the look of the 2 scenes. The app features lots of detail – great for talking with your child about what is going on in each scene and/or storytelling.
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-firefighters/id632012899?mt=8&uo=4
FREE for a limited time – Wee Kids Math, an educational app that features a variety of activities for beginning math students. There are 20 activities in all – each activity presented in a new brightly colored scene. Kids can order numbers on a caterpillar, match number words/numerals/pictures on ocean liners, practice addition on a farm, practice subtraction in the ocean, etc. A definite strength of this app is its variety. Number skills (0 – 20) included are matching, counting, ordering, identifying equalities & inequalities, identifying > & <, adding, and subtracting. The app jumps right into each activity without any sort of instructions. Most of the activities are fairly intuitive. But if kids can’t figure what they are supposed to do, they can go back & press the help button. Then they will find visual instructions for each activity. This app would be a good one to use WITH your child. There is no progress tracking so you will want to see what your child understands. 🙂
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wee-kids-math/id638457112?mt=8&uo=4
March 2 is the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr. Seuss. Geisel published over 40 children’s books full of rhyme and imaginative characters. 200 million+ copies of his books have been sold. In his honor, March 2 has been named National Read Across America Day, an initiative created by the National Education Association. This year, Read Across America Day will be celebrated in schools on March 3.
Just in time for the celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday/Read Across America Day, his books (apps) are on sale. Most of them are $1.00 off but several of them are $.99. Here are links to 8 titles that are being offered for only $.99 each.
The Cat in the Hat: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-cat-in-the-hat-dr.-seuss/id353473931?mt=8&uo=4
Green Eggs and Ham: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/green-eggs-and-ham-dr.-seuss/id380751745?mt=8&uo=4
Oh, the Places You’ll Go: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oh-places-youll-go!-dr.-seuss/id371171766?mt=8&uo=4
FREE for a limited time – GeoBee Challenge HD by National Geographic, a challenging game of geography for kids. Each year the National Geographic Society prepares the questions for the National Geographic Bee, a contest open to schools with 4 – 8 graders. The national contest was started to increase public awareness, encourage teachers to include geography in their teaching, and stimulate kids’ interest in their world. GeoBee Challenge HD uses materials from the National Geographic for three types of play: multiple choice questions, a map challenge, and a photo bonus round. The multiple choice questions come from the library of 1300+ National Geographic Bee questions. The faster that kids answer, the more points they accumulate. In the map challenge, students must identify one of 1000+ locations on a map. Once they zoom, pinch and tap their way to the location, the app shows them its EXACT spot on the map and tells them how close they were. The photo bonus round is the most challenging. Students have to identify a photo AND know its location on the map. This educational app is fun for adults too! GeoBee Challenge HD gives kids lots of practice in a fun, fast-paced game – LOVE it!
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geobee-challenge-hd-by-national/id373203236?mt=8&uo=4
FREE for a limited time – The Lonely Beast 123, an educational app based on Chris Judge’s well-loved children’s book. Every day, the Beast counts the things in his house. Kids join him on his counting adventure which features 12 fun & interactive scenes. Every number has something to count – 4 eggs to fry, 6 flowers to water, 9 cakes to eat, 11 stars to tap, etc. The app is top-notch with lots of attention to detail. I love how the numbers are drawn – they show kids what to count on that page. The app is visually appealing with great sound effects – really fun for little ones! Highly recommended.
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-lonely-beast-123/id646406000?mt=8&uo=4
FREE for a limited time (as of few hours ago) – Toca Doctor HD, another fantastic app for toddlers from Toca Boca. Kids get to be a doctor for the day with this app that introduces kids to the medical field. There are 21 puzzles/mini games in all. Kids will love the fun sounds and animations that accompany the tasks! If your child likes the other Toca Boca apps, you’ll want to add his one to your collection today because these apps do not “go free” that often. This is another great app from a developer that makes learning what it should be – fun, creative, and joyful!
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-doctor-hd/id430807533?mt=8&uo=4
FREE for a limited time – Shadow Puppet, a photography app that was featured by Apple as one of the “Best New Apps” for 4 weeks in a row! Using this app, it’s easy to create “puppets” – recorded explanations of your photos. First you choose your photos and put them in the order. Then you talk about your pictures. Everything is recorded. Finished “puppets” can be shared via email, SMS, Facebook and/or Twitter. There are so many ways for everyone to use Shadow Puppet: to teach something new, to share adventures with friends, to record children talking about their experiences, to tell the story behind old family photos, etc.
And… the classroom uses for this app are only limited by your imagination: Take pictures of a child’s work and have him/her explain it to parents. Send pictures and voice recordings of the class field trip. Have kids give a step-by-step explanation of what happened in a science experiment. Draw & sequence pictures to retell a story. Make a “talking timeline” by sequencing photos of historical events. Have kids use it to present mini reports on any subject. Have virtual “pet day” – kids bring in pictures/recordings of their pets. Because you can use anything saved to your photo library, you can explain photos from the web, artwork created in other apps, and so much more. The possibilities for using this educational app are endless. What a fabulous resource!!
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shadow-puppet/id700902833?mt=8&uo=4
FREE again for a limited time – Operation Math, a great educational app from Spinlight Studio. Kids will have fun practicing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, & division tables in this interactive “spy” game. The object of the game is to stop Dr. Odd’s quest to eliminate the world’s even numbers. In order to do so, kids must complete 105 missions by solving equations. Missions can be selected based on a child’s skill level and/or the operation (+, -, +/-, x, ÷, x/÷ or +/-/x/÷). Of course, time is of the essence so kids have to answer problems in 60 seconds or less. By doing so, they lock doors along their escape routes. And as they complete missions, they earn the gear of a seasoned spy. What a great game – I love how the app integrates math practice into a really cool game for kids. I especially like the modes which permit kids to practice multiple operations at a time. It makes kids pay attention to operation signs and quickly switch their thinking. What a fun way for kids to practice facts and meet CCSS! No wonder Operation Math was given a 2012 Parents’ Choice Award. Get it today – kids will LOVE it!
Common Core State Standards met:
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/operation-math/id487387270?mt=8&uo=4
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