Tag Archives: apps for kids

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Three Little Pigs – A Play

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FREE app for the iPhone/iPad for kids 4+. An updated version of the 3 Little Pigs is presented as a play starring Mitch, Clara, Ran, and Clarence Bear. The book is brightly illustrated and the characters respond when they are tapped. The background music and narration are nicely done. The book can also be read alone. The story generally follows the traditional tale – the first pig builds a house from straw, the second pig builds a house of sticks, and the third pig builds a house of bricks. All of the pigs get away (rather than the first 2 being eaten) and wolf runs away yelping in pain. The first 2 pigs learn the lesson: Take your time and do your best. The story ends with the first 2 pigs starting to rebuild their houses in the spring – with bricks, of course!

In my classroom I used different versions of the same fairy tale/folk tale for studying story elements as well as comparing & contrasting. This would be a good version to compare with the traditional tale since its setting is in modern times. Kids can look for evidence to prove that the story takes place in current times. They could also use Venn diagrams to compare the traditional tale to this version or other versions that they have read. Lots of possibilities to extend the use of this book as you get comprehension strategies.

Recommended!

Three Little Pigs - A Play HD - C&B Unlimited

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100 Diggers and Excavators

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The e-book, 100 Diggers & Excavators, was FREE for the iPhone/iPad last week but it is now $.99. This book is easy to use and features over 100 HD pictures of diggers in action with sound clips! There is text on every page describing a digger or excavator, its location, or the job that it is doing. The list in the upper right hand corner can be used to preview/access individual pages in the app. The book does have not to be read in order since it is not telling a story. It is simply describing the machines pictured on each page. Also included is a video clip of a digger in action. If you have a lover of heavy machinery in your life – you may want to check out this book 🙂

Keep reading my blog to find out when apps become FREE.

100 Diggers and Excavators - Whyse ApS

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Magic Town

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Magic Town, FREE for the iPad for 2 -6 year olds, is an interactive world where stories live. To use the app you must first register via Facebook or email. Then you set up your children’s profiles – for up to 4 children. After registering, you get six free permanent stories which are housed in the Aesop’s fables/Hans Christian Andersen houses. Also, every day Louis the Lion flies into Magic Town on his magical airship to deliver a FREE story to your child. Your child will only have access to that FREE story for one day, unless you subscribe. Paying for a subscription gets you access to all of Magic Town’s content – one month is now (4-3-13) only $3.99 (originally  $11.99) and a year is $74.99. If you do not want to subscribe, you can also buy books one at a time. The stories are wonderful and can be enjoyed in four modes: explore, read together, watch, and play. Magic Town is a great source of quality interactive stories for kids!!

Here is a link to the website where you can watch an introductory video: http://www.magictown.com/ 

Highly Recommended!

Magic Town - Discover a World Where Stories Live - Mindshapes Limited

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Animal Photobook 1

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FREE for a limited time for the iPhone/iPad – This app (for 3 – 12 year olds) contains beautiful pictures and fascinating facts about 12 animals. Each page poses a question about an animal such as: Is it true that snakes smell with their tongues? How do chameleons change color? etc. The answer can be read independently or read aloud by a narrator. The narrator’s voice can be set to US English or UK English. There are lots of interesting facts in this app – the kind of things kids love to learn. One minor caution – The question about the wolf asks: Are wolves really evil?  We actually addressed this issue in my third grade class when we our fairy tale/folk tale unit because the wolf was always the villain. Their answer gives a good explanation of how wolves ended up with bad reputation – no problem there. My concern is the line: You shouldn’t be afraid of wolves because they are neither evil or dangerous. I agree that wolves are not evil but I think kids need to know that any wild animal is somewhat dangerous. Other than that, this app is great.

Animal Photobook - CYBERLINE

 

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Squeebles Fractions

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From England and FREE today – this app for the iPhone/iPad is designed to teach fractions to 7 – 11 year olds. The Squeebles want to enter a cake making contest but their ingredients have been stolen by the Math Monster. By working on the app’s 4 games, kids help the Squeebles earn back their ingredients. In Piece of Cake, kids drag the fractional part of a cake to a Squeebles when he asks for it. The easy mode covers halves, fourths, thirds. The hard mode cover fractions to tenths. In Tricky Pairs, kids have to match pairs of equivalent fractions. In the easy mode they match 4 pairs and in the hard mode they match up to 9 pairs. Think Big has kids feeding cake to the Squeeble that calls out the biggest fraction. The easy mode covers halves, fourths, thirds. The hard mode cover fractions to twelfths. Super Sums requires kids to add fractions as quickly as they can and has three levels of difficulty. After earning ingredients, kids can create cakes and enter them in The Cake Show – fun! Another great thing about this app is that you can have more than one player. My only concern is that the easy mode of Piece of Cake requires kids to know some equivalent fractions – for example, it asked kids to pick 3/4 of a cake divided into 8 pieces, 1/3 of a cake divided into 6 pieces, etc. I wish it would have required a basic knowledge of fractions in the easy mode then moved on to equivalent fractions in the hard mode. This app is cute, fun, and provides great practice for a wide spectrum of kids.

Common Core Standards met:

  • 3.NF.3 – Explain equivalence of fractions and compare fractions by reasoning about their size. Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the same size, or the same point on a number line. Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3).
  • 4.NF.3 – a. Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole.

Recommended!

Squeebles Fractions - KeyStageFun

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Ice Age Movie Storybook Collection

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FREE today for iPhone/iPad, this app normally sells for $.99. The storyline is developed from the Ice Age movie and features some of its favorite characters – Manny, Sid, Diego, and others. There are three ways to  enjoy this book – read to me, auto play, and read to myself. This e-book uses the images from the movie and the narration is nicely done. The story is not interactive – there is nothing to tap, find, move, etc. on the individual pages. Regardless, you will want to download this app if you have a child (2+) that is a fan of the Ice Age, the movie – it is nicely done storybook.  Ice Age 2,3, & 4 are also available as in-app purchases.

Ice Age Movie Storybook Collection - zuuka incorporated

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More Halloween Apps

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FREE today – Scrap It: Halloween HD for the iPad. You (or your child) can add a Halloween touch to your photos with this app. First take a photo or use an existing one. Using the photo editor, you can crop it and/or add an effect (about 40 filters available).  Then its time to get creative – add stickers, change the papers & tiles, add letters & numbers/ribbons/word art, and add & manipulate text using the text editor. Items can be resized, shadowed, sent to the back, sent to the front, etc. Creations are saved in My Scrap Pages. They can also be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, via email. They can be saved to your camera roll or printed. I think kids would love decorating pictures of themselves, their family & friends, and the family pet 🙂 You could also create an electronic postcard or invitation with this app. Lots of possibilities!!

Scrap It: Halloween HD - Dirk Bost

Halloween Jigsaw Puzzles is FREE for the iPad. It includes 18 puzzles with the option to purchase more. There are 7 levels of difficulty ranging from 4 to 49 pieces per puzzle. Most puzzle images are appropriate for younger kids but there are a few that are a bit iffy: scary-faced pumpkins, a few skeletons, and a witch in questionable attire. So if your child loves puzzles, check it out and be selective if your child scares easily.

Halloween Jigsaw Puzzles! - Toy Box

Dibu’s Monster Maker Lite is FREE for the iPhone/iPad. Dibu is a little boy who loves monsters so he created a machine to build them – I think this is how Dr. Frankenstein got started 🙂 The Monster Maker has hundreds of combinations of monsters waiting to be made. The lite version has 2 bodies to choose for the base.Then kids add hair, eyes, noses, mouths, hats & horns, tops, bottoms, and shoes. There is also a random monster generator which creates a monster with one tap. Finished monsters can be named then saved, printed, made into a puzzle, or emailed. This app also has a child lock that hides all promotional buttons and disables printing & emailing. And… there is a “parents only” button which gives written instructions for access to the app store. The developer does not want young children to end up there accidentally – how refreshing!

This app would be great to use with elementary aged kids. They could create a monster then write a descriptive paragraph about it. They could create two monsters and do a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the monsters. Lots of possibilities!

Dibu's Monster Maker Lite - Playtend Apps LLP

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Halloween Apps

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Even though I am a retired teacher, I still find myself thinking in themes 🙂 So…. here is a list of some FREE Halloween apps (with one exception) that you may want to download this month for your kids.

I am going to start with the exception – Millie’s Book of Tricks and Treats is currently $.99 (although I did get it on a FREE day). The Millie books feature a very cute, lovable dog and kids LOVE them! If you own the other two: Meet Millie and Millie and the Lost Key, you will probably want this one too. This book presents a series of silly tricks and treats featuring Millie – nothing scary for little ones. Every time you read it, the randomly generated video clips change so the book is always different.There is also scratch-off picture & hidden sticker on every page. Love this series!

Millie's Book of Tricks and Treats - Megapops LLC

Lego Halloween Creationary is FREE for the iPhone/iPad. Kids roll the dice to choose a category: nature, buildings, vehicles, or things. The app starts to build an object from that category. Kids have to guess what is being built by tapping one of 4 illustrations (found on the pumpkins). Points are awarded by how quickly one can guess correctly. The game becomes increasing difficult. This game is great for making kids think about how objects would be constructed – great for the Lego lovers in your life!

LEGO® Halloween Creationary - The LEGO Group

Carve-a-Pumpkin from Parents Magazine is FREE for the iPhone/iPad. Kids first choose one of 5 pumpkins (orange, white, orange with green, black or orange & bumpy). They can “cut” it by hand or use premade eyes, noses, mouths, and faces. Instead of cutting the pumpkins, kids can choose to decorate them with stickers. In either mode, kids can manipulate the size and orientation of the objects that they add. There is an undo and redo button to change things easily. Once the pumpkins is complete, kids choose a background. The final project can be shared on Facebook. Twitter, & emailed, or saved as a photo. This app would be fun for kids to use as a planning tool for real pumpkin carving.

Carve-a-Pumpkin from Parents magazine - Resolute Digital, LLC

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ABC Alphabet Phonics – Preschool Kids Game Free Lite

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This FREE app is designed for the iPhone/iPad for 0 – 6 year olds. It gives kids practice in letter identification – both upper and lower case. Settings can be switched from plain letters to letters with animals, kids, monkeys, and sketches. With the letter/animal option, an animal that starts with the letter is next to it. You can add your voice or your child’s voice to customize the app. You can also turn letters on and off, mix and match upper and lower case, etc. I did find a glitch when mixing the upper and the lower case letters – the instructions said to touch the f, both F and f were displayed as possible answer but only F was correct. Needless to say, that could be very confusing to a child learning letter names. The other concern that I have with this app is the title – ABC Alphabet Phonics. Phonics is not part of the app at all. This app does not introduce any letter sounds. It simply gives kids practice differentiating between letters – touch the Q, touch the g, touch the H, etc. That is it – with plain letters or letters with illustrations. If your child would benefit from this kind of drill, you may want to download this app.

Common Core Standards met:

  • K.RF.1 – ….. Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

ABC Alphabet Phonics - Preschool Kids Game Free Lite - GrasshopperApps.com

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Who Stole the Moon? Lite

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This Lite FREE version of the app is really only a preview of this interactive story – specifically the first 6 pages. It is the story of Bertie Brown who loves looking through his bedroom skylight to see the moon. He gets worried one night when he doesn’t see the moon and thinks that someone has stolen it. The full version continues the story from this point on. It also includes games and songs. The preview is beautifully done – great artwork, nice music. It seems like it would make a nice bedtime story – the cost is $4.99 to find out 🙂