Tag Archives: educational apps for kids

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Avatar Books: Cinderella, PeterPan, Alice in Wonderland,and 5 more!

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These books from the AvatarBook collection for the iPad are currently FREE (until May 12): Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Pinocchio, Jack & the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, The Wizard of Oz. Using these apps, it is really simple to make your child the star of a fairy tale. Just take your child’s picture/use an existing photo, adjust the photo to fit the face line, then watch as your child’s avatar becomes the main character of the fairy tale. The brightly illustrated story is read aloud by a narrator. There is no option to read the story on your own so it feels more like you are watching a movie than reading a book. I also wish the words were highlighted so that kids could follow along as the story is being narrated. That being said, the real appeal of these apps is that they use your child as the main character of a well-loved tales. I think most kids would enjoy seeing themselves in those roles. 🙂

Cinderella   New AvatarBook Cinderella - JDF

PeterPan   New AvatarBook Peter Pan - JDF

Alice in Wonderland   New AvatarBook Alice in Wonderland - JDF

The Frog Prince   New AvatarBook The Frog Prince - JDF

Pinocchio   New AvatarBook Pinocchio - JDF

Jack & the Beanstalk   New AvatarBook Jack and the Beanstalk - JDF

Little Red Riding Hood   New AvatarBook Red Riding Hood - JDF

The Wizard of Oz   New AvatarBook The Wizard of Oz - JDF

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Little Learners Play and Learn

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Little Learners

Little Learners Play and Learn is a FREE app for babies and toddlers. The app can be used in conjunction with Little Learners® books by Paragon Books Ltd. Two FREE content areas are included: 1. Let’s Eat: Kids touch the screen to find out what each animal likes to eat. This activity helps hand-eye coordination vocabulary development. 2. Let’s Play: Kids can rock a horse, bang a drum, wind a jack in the box, and more in this easy tap-to-play game. Two other areas of content are available as an in-app purchase – Let’s Go and Animal Sounds. VERY cute app for little ones!

Little Learners Play and Learn - Parragon

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Counting Dots

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Counting Dots

FREE again today – Counting Dots, a counting app for young iPad users. Kids learn to recognize/count numbers by popping colorful dots in this simple but visually appealing game. The app has three settings – counting by one, fives, or tens. There are also settings for sound, hinting, and enabling vibrations (iPhone only). The app is advertised as helping kids count from one to a million. I counted by ones to 20 and by tens to 100  – didn’t quite make it to a million. 🙂 This app is by the same developer that did Rain Dots (see my March 1 review). Recommended!

Counting Dots - Helping kids count from one to one million! - Ellie's Games, LLC

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What Will I Be?

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What Will I Be?

FREE again for a limited time 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 or the future!

What Will I Be? - Digital Leaf

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Animal Origami

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Animal Origami

Animal Origami FREE for a limited time. Origami is the art of Japanese paper-folding. This app shows kids and/or adults how to fold paper into 16 different animal heads. It is nicely done with easy-to-follow, step-by-step directions – a fun activity to help kids learn how to follow directions!

Animal Origami HD - Centerwave Inc.

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More Everyday Math ® APPS: Baseball Multiplication 1-6, Baseball Multiplication 1-12, Top It Subtraction, Tric Trac,

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FREE for a limited time – 4 different apps from McGraw Hill Everyday Math ®. If your school system uses this program to teach math, you may want to take advantage of this offer. These apps normally sell for $1.99 each.

Baseball Multiplication

Everyday Math’s Baseball Multiplication comes in 2 versions (1 – 6 facts and 1 – 12 facts) and both versions work the same way. Two players play a 3 inning baseball game as they practice their facts.

Common Core Standards met:

  • 3.OA.7 –  By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

Everyday Mathematics® Baseball Multiplication™ 1–6 Facts - McGraw-Hill School Education Group Baseball Multiplication 1 – 6

Everyday Mathematics® Baseball Multiplication™ 1-12 Facts - McGraw-Hill School Education Group Baseball Multiplication 1 – 12

Top It

Everyday Math’s Top-It Subtraction for iPhone/iPad is a two player game. It is fun easy way for kids to practice reinforce 2-digit subtraction computation and number comparisons.

Everyday Mathematics® Subtraction Top-It™ - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

Tric TracEveryday Math’s Tric Trac is a 2 player game for kids to practice their addition facts. Players roll dice, find the sum, then match the sum to numbers in their hand. Every match eliminates that number or numbers from their hand and reduces their score. The player with the lowest score wins!

Common Core Standards met:

  • 1.OA.6 – Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10.

Everyday Mathematics® Tric-Trac™ - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

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Buildo Museum Sticker Book

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FREE again – Buildo Museum is a spooky sticker book for kids. The goal of the Buildo series is to get  kids to thinking about creative story telling. Included in the app are 3 scenes inspired by ancient museums with 100 + stickers. Kids can scale, rotate and flip stickers to create a scene for their oral stories. This iPhone/iPad app is FREE for a limited time.

Buildo Museum Sticker Book - JAJDO AB
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McGraw Hill books: Little Red Hen, Jack & the Beanstalk, Why the Sea is Salty, Country Mouse & City Mouse, Little Red Riding Hood

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FREE again today – five interactive readers for your iPad from McGraw Hill. All of these titles usually sell for $1.99. These classic children’s tales can be read in two ways: read aloud or read to myself. All five books are nicely illustrated and have animations/interactivity on each page. Sound effects and music are also included – both of  these features can be turned on or off. The stories are all great but I especially enjoyed the Little Red Hen. Download them today  – there is no reason to pass these up.  🙂


Little Red Hen - Interactive Reader - McGraw-Hill School Education Group  Little Red Hen      Jack and the Beanstalk from McGraw-Hill Education - McGraw-Hill School Education Group  Jack and the Beanstalk     Why the Sea Is Salty - McGraw-Hill School Education Group Why the Sea is Salty

Little Red Riding Hood from McGraw-Hill Education - McGraw-Hill School Education GroupLittle Red Riding Hood    Country Mouse and City Mouse - McGraw-Hill School Education Group Country Mouse/City Mouse

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Polk Street Press

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If you are not familiar with this developer, do yourself a favor and get acquainted 🙂 Here are two GREAT story apps – sweet stories with beautiful illustrations. The interactivity is purposeful. It truly adds the story rather than just being there so the app can be interactive. And… they are currently FREE! Thank you, Polk Street Press!

FREE  for the iPhone/iPad, Goodnight Safari is a sweet interactive story for bedtime. Kids (ages 2-4) help the animals of the savannah complete their evening activities in 7 different scenes –  a giraffe eating dinner, a monkey climbing into bed, a hippo taking a bath, etc. Optional counting & color activities are available as an in-app purchase. Very sweet story for a peaceful end to your child’s day – highly recommended!

Goodnight Safari - Polk Street Press LLC

spatter & spark

Spatter and Spark is another cute interactive book for iPhone 4 /iPad 2 and later models.  Spatter (an artistic porcupine) and Spark (an inventive fox) team up to figure out how to get a look at Hubert, the baby crow, so that Spatter can paint Hubert’s picture. Kids are invited to help as Spatter & Spark problem solve their way through the story. There are 10 interactive scenes within the app. Each scene is beautifully illustrated by Luciana Navarro Powell, the illustrator of Goodnight Safari. The story (for 4 – 6 year olds) is very cute with purposeful interactivity that adds to the story. Spatter and Spark could also be used with elementary students to encourage them to think & write about their own inventions. I would have used it with my third graders when I was teaching 🙂 An activity pack (with 4 additional activities) is available as an in-app purchase. Nicely done and highly recommended!

Spatter & Spark - Polk Street Press LLC

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ScreenChomp

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ScreenChomp is a powerful tool that can be used in so many ways and it’s FREE!! It is basically turns your iPad into a recordable whiteboard. You can use it to sketch out and record ideas for yourself or to share with others. Teachers can send tutorial videos home with kids. Kids can create videos to help each other. The possibilities for this app are only limited by one’s imagination.

Here is a link to a You Tube video that explains how it works: What is ScreenChomp? The iPad app to Record. Sketch. Share! – YouTube.

Highly recommended!

ScreenChomp - TechSmith Corporation