Tag Archives: apps for kids

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Geo-Me!

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Geo-Me

FREE for a limited time – Geo-Me!, a geography app for elementary-aged students. Kids are introduced to world geography by “Geo-Me”s (cute rounded avatars) who live all over the world! This educational app has music & animations to capture the interest of younger students but it also has multiple types of maps (normal, anthrome, climate, population, & elevation) and lots of interesting facts for older students. Using  the iPad’s location, the app creates a “Geo-Me” to represent the user. Children can then use their “Geo Me” avatars to compare and contrast their location on Earth to other avatar’s locations. There are many opportunities to use the information in this app for a variety of lessons – making a table, Venn diagrams, math word problems… the list goes on! This first version of the app introduces 6 residents of the “Geo-Me!” world – their video stories are included. More characters will join them in the near future. Check it out… Geo-Me! helps kids recognize their location’s uniqueness from and similarities to other locations!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geo-me!/id654772729?mt=8&uo=4

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Alien Buddies

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Alien Buddies

Alien Buddies is FREE for a limited time. Formerly listed as one of Apple’s “New & Noteworthy” and geared towards kids ages 3 – 7, this educational app features 4 different activities (matching, puzzles, dot-to-dot, and stickers) with varying levels of difficulty. Matching can be played in 2 modes (visual or audio) to reinforce colors, shapes, numbers and letters. Puzzles can be set to contain 4, 6, or 8 pieces. In the sticker section, kids add out-of-this-world stickers to 8 different space scenes.  All activities are well done but I especially like the dot-to-dot activity which has a “please help” or an “I can do it myself” button. Kids need to visually recognize the order of the numbers to connect the dots and the app counts as the dots are connected – love it! The app is cute, colorful, and sure to appeal to kids!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alien-buddies-preschool-learning/id469461540?mt=8&uo=4

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The Tree I See

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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  🙂

The Tree I See - Interactive Storybook - Aridan Books

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Word Wonderland (Primary) and Word Wonderland (Elementary)

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Word Wonderland

FREE for a limited time – Word Wonderland (Primary) and Word Wonderland (Elementary), games that have kids hoping, eating, and shaking their way to the end of a game board as they sort words. Children start by creating name badges – the app permits multiple children to play. In the primary (K – 2) version, kids help to guide a friendly frog through the pond as they sort words by sounds – short vowels. long vowels, r controlled vowels, blends, digraphs, and more. In the elementary (3 – 6) version, kids guide an astronaut crab through the space station as they sort more difficult words by sounds, inflectional endings, Greek/Latin roots, etc. These educational apps provide a fun way for kids to sort words but I am a bit apprehensive about encouraging kids to shake the iPad. Check it out for yourself while the full versions are FREE.

Download links: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-wonderland-primary-full/id611436564?mt=8&uo=4 and https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-wonderland-elementary/id634947932?mt=8&uo=4

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Wubbzy The Superhero

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Wubby The Superhero

FREE today – Wubbzy The Superhero, a storybook app featuring Wonder Wubbzy and Flower Power Daizy. This app was developed by Cupcake Digital in partnership with the producers of the Emmy® Award-winning Nick Jr. TV series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!®.

 Kids join Wubby and Daizy as they help Ms. Bookbinder the librarian, rescue a poodle from a tree, and find a lost key to the city. Along the way kids will discover animations & interactivity on every page! The app also has 4 educational games and sing-along music videos. The Grown Up’s Corner has 2 sets of questions about the story. The questions address literal understanding of the story (thin questions) as well as extended meaning (fat questions).  Also included in the Grown-Up Corner is information about the Common Core Standards addressed by this app which are predominately kindergarten standards. Print-outs and activities to supplement the story are available online at cupcakedigital.com. What is not to love about this educational app? – Cute story packed with interactivity, great message about helping others, educational games, sing-along videos, standards-based, and a guide for adults!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wubbzy-the-superhero/id616726246?mt=8&uo=4

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TypeDrawing

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TypeDrawing

FREE for a limited time – a VERY cool educational app that permits you to draw in type!

TypeDrawing is super easy to use and perfect for creating typography art. The app allows you to input whatever text you want. Then you can use those words to draw a  shape in any color you wish. You can also change the font and the size of the text. This app would be perfect for writing concrete poetry. Kids could write a tornado poem in the shape of a tornado, a cloud poem in the shape of a cloud, etc.

Creations can be saved to a photo gallery. So from there the sky is the limit – you can email works of art/poetry to parents or grandparents, bring them into another program to create a book, etc. Awesome!!

Highly recommended!

TypeDrawing for iPad V3.0 - Hansol Huh

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Tiny Dentist

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Tiny Dentist

FREE again – 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!!

Tiny Dentist - fantastoonic

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Sago Mini – Forest Flyer

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Sago Mini Forest Flyer

FREE for  limited time – Sago Mini Forest Flyer. Young children guide Robin on an adventure through the forest. The fun begins at Robin’s birdhouse where kids ring the doorbell inviting Robin out to play. From there they fly though the forest looking for the yellow markers that trigger 20+ animations. Along the way Robin dances, sings, and plays. Kids can make up stories to go with Robin’s travels. A small caution – one of the animations is the little bird burping after drinking from the pond. Parents can use this scene to have a dialog about using good manners. All in all, the educational app is very cute and fun for little ones!

Sago Mini Forest Flyer - Sago Sago

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Brain Quest

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Brain Quest

36 million kids can’t be wrong!  Brain Quest® started as a series of flashcards that quizzed kids on academics – language, science, math, and more. Kids, parents, and teachers have loved it since its release. Their motto – It’s Fun to Be Smart!® still rings true 20 years later! And now, Brain Quest has been released as an educational app! Kids join Casey, Jake, and Gizmo on their quest to learn. The app covers 5 grade levels and includes 100 questions per level for FREE. Additional questions can be unlocked as in-app purchases. The game is fun for the whole family and permits the tracking of scores for up to 3 kids. We took Brain Quest® flashcards with us on many family vacations – it’s perfect for a long road trip! It also works well in the classroom when you have a few minutes to spare at the end of the day, before lunch, etc. Check out the FREE questions and see for yourself.

BRAIN QUEST - Workman Publishing Company, Inc.

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Robots for iPad

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Robots for iPad

Who doesn’t love robots? Robots for iPad is FREE for a limited time. This educational app was listed as “New & Noteworthy” by Apple. It was also reviewed or mentioned in the NY Times, Mashable, Wired, CNET and more! Kids (and adults) can explore real-world robots with this fun app which is chock full of interactivity, animations, photos, videos, & articles. The app introduces over 150 robots from 19 countries. Kids can swipe each robot for a 360° view then tap the robot to interact with it. There are also hundreds of videos and 500+ pictures. The app has information about all kinds of robots (drones, androids, etc.) as well as information about some famous robots – Honda’s humanoid Asimo, a NASA Mars rover, and Google’s self-driving car. VERY cool and very informative!

Teachers, there are lots of possibilities for using this app in your classroom. After exploring, use it for writing activities – descriptive paragraphs, write about a robot you would invent, pick a robot and write a story, etc. The app’s ratings section could be used for graphing activities. There is also a great timeline included as well as a section on how to get started in robotics. I can see how kids will love this app. 🙂

Robots for iPad - Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers Inc