Tag Archives: educational apps for kids

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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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Nighty Night Apps on Sale for $.99

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nighty night On sale for $.99 – sweet bedtime apps for little your little ones.

Over 3 million downloads and counting… Nighty Night is the perfect go-to-sleep app for kids 1 – 4. The app has it all – cute animals, sleepy lullaby music, great narration, and fabulous artwork. The artwork is beautifully done by Heidi Wittlinger, an Oscar nominated artist. The story is perfect for your child’s bedtime ritual. Kids help to put 7 sleepy animals to bed by clicking off the lights around the farm thus setting the mood for their own bedtime. 🙂 Six additional animals can be added to the story with in-app purchases. The story can be switched from the winter version to the summer version and it can be changed to 12 different languages – English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. This educational app is really lovely and it has been successful internationally.  It won App of the Year 2011 in the “books category” in Germany & the U.S. It also reached #1 in iPad books in the US, Brazil, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, South Africa, Australia Switzerland and Austria! Love this app!!

Nighty Night! HD – Bedtime stories – Story book for children - Shape Minds and Moving Images GmbH nighty night circus Nighty Night Circus is also on sale for $.99. In this app kids help put eight circus animals to bed by switching off the lights or blowing out candles. Each circus animal wants to show his tricks off before going to sleep – super cute! The app has all of the same great features as the original – cute animals, sleepy lullaby music, great narration, and fabulous artwork done by Heidi Wittlinger. It’s no wonder that Nighty Night Circus is on Apple’s Best of 2014 list!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nighty-night-circus-bedtime/id931936670?mt=8&uo=4

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Animal Game Show – Whose Toes are Those? – Matching Fun for Kids and Family – Ultimate Edition

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toes

FREE again – the full version of Whose Toes are Those, a very cute app for preschoolers. The app has a game show host, music, and an audience. Kids (contestants) have to identify which animal/person is behind the curtain by their toes. If the child chooses correctly, the animal/person does a silly dance – really cute and sure to bring some giggles! Little ones will have fun building their matching skills with this app!!

Animal Game Show - Whose Toes are Those? - Matching Fun for Kids and Family - Ultimate Edition - Eggroll Games LLC

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Star Walk™ 2 – Guide to the Night Sky to Watch Stars, Planets, Meteor Showers & Constellations

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star walk 2On sale for $.99 – Star Walk™ 2 – Guide to the Night Sky to Watch Stars, Planets, Meteor Showers & Constellations. Just point your iPhone or iPad at the sky to begin your journey through the stars, comets, and constellations. Star Walk™ 2  is the next generation of the best-selling Star Walk which has been used by over 10 million people. Summer is the perfect time for you and your children to learn the position of stars, planets, constellations, comets, ISS, satellites, star clusters, nebulae and meteor showers in the night sky. Grab your telescope and Star Walk 2 and have a family stargazing party tonight!

Direct Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-walk-2-guide-to-night/id892279069?mt=8

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Toca House

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toca house 2Toca House

 

FREE again – Toca House, a free play toy for kids that focuses on everyday chores. Kids help five Toca Boca friends iron, sweep, sort mail, plant the garden, wash windows, etc. The app allows them to participate in familiar activities that they see going on in their homes – and have fun at the same time! There are nineteen mini games in all. Kids will love doing each task and the fun sounds that accompany it. If your child likes the other Toca Boca apps, you’ll want to add his one to your collection today.  It’s another great app from a developer that makes learning what it should be – fun, creative, and joyful!

Toca House - Toca Boca AB

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Toca Kitchen

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toca kitchenFREE for a limited time – Toca Kitchen, another fun educational app from Toca Boca. Kids take to the kitchen to cook for four lovable characters. In the frig they will find 12 different foods that they can prepare 180 different ways. They can slice, blend, boil, fry, microwave, and/or mix the foods together. They can also add seasoning to the food; but they need to be careful not to add too much. Once the food is prepared they plate it up, serve it to the character, and wait for a reaction. Kids will learn which foods each character prefers in a fun creative way. I love the questions and conversations that Toca Boca apps inspire. It’s no wonder that this app was a Gold Winner of the Parent’s Choice Awards in 2012.

Teachers – use this app to inspire creative writing. Write stories or poems about being a cook and the preferences of your consumers. Or, you could have kids compare and contrast the food preferences of the different characters on a graphic organizer. This app also inspires conversation about healthy eating. There are lots of possibilities for learning while having fun!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toca-kitchen/id476553281?mt=8&uo=4

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Earth 3D – Amazing Atlas

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earth 3dOnly $.99 – Earth 3D-Amazing Atlas, an educational app about our planet. The interactive globe includes: a relief model of Earth, political and geographic maps, 1,400 geographic objects, and 330 wonders of the world. As kids explore the globe they can tap on places or objects to learn more. Full descriptions are included as well as more than 900 photos. The app is very user-friendly – just a tap along the bottom accesses its different features. Kids can explore Earth by searching for a particular place. The app can be easily be changed from a geographic map to a political map. Latitude and longitude lines can be turned on. Kids can click a button to turn on the weather. The app is full of information! It would be a great addition to any classroom – perfect for projecting on to a Smartboard.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/earth-3d-amazing-atlas/id581911397?mt=8&uo=4

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Ocean – Animal Adventures for Kids

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ocean

FREE for a limited time – Ocean – Animal Adventures for Kids, an educational app for preschoolers. Kids will become sea life experts as they explore 3 ocean scenes – a coral reef, a shark reef, and the deep-sea. The app has two modes – one for tapping/interacting with the creatures and the other for listening to/learning facts about them. Kids will learn fun facts about 30+ animals and they will be delighted with the 60+ animations. The app is narrated in 12 languages – English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Turkish, Dutch and Italian. Check out this cute interactive book for your preschooler today. 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ocean-animal-adventures-for/id819165012?mt=8&uo=4

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Sago Mini Boats

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sago boatFREE for a limited time – Sago Mini Boats, an adorable app for preschoolers. Kids go on a boat trip with Harvey the dog. Each adventure begins with kids making three choices: where to go, what to pack, and which boat to drive. Kids choose one of five destinations – anything from a tropical island to a big city. Once kids decide where to go, it’s time to pack their suitcases with the appropriate clothing and items for their chosen destination. Then they choose a fun boat to drive – a pirate ship, a canoe, a bathtub, a pickle, etc.! On their voyage they can stop to pick pineapples, get an ice cream treat, meet some undersea creatures, or they can just to enjoy the sites along the way. Sago Mini Boats will spark fun conversations as kids prepare for their trips, especially when they go to pack their bags. This educational app is not only fun but it’s also great for language development!

Direct Link https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sago-mini-boats/id971329287?mt=8

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New Family iPad? A Dozen Educational Apps to Share with Young Children

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Six FREE science apps – PEEP and the Big Wide World apps from WGBH, the producers of the animated series of the same name. Major funding for these educational apps is provided by the National Science Foundation. These apps are designed to teach science to preschoolers (3 – 5 years) in a cute, fun way! The games begin simply but become more challenging as kids are successful. Each app also includes a “Try This Anywhere Activity” for you and your children to do together based on the lesson in the app. Your child will LOVE learning with Peep and friends. And you will too!

PEEP - House Hunt

PEEP and the Big Wide World House Hunt: Kids turn over leaves to pair animals with their homes in a match game that demonstrates that some habitats are home to many different animals.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-house/id536554271?mt=8&uo=4

PEEP - Hide & peep

PEEP and the Big Wide World Hide and Peep: Peep and friends are hiding in the tool shed. This app helps kids practice their observation and memory skills.

Download link:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-hide-peep/id536312346?mt=8&uo=4

Peep - Paint Splat

PEEP and the Big Wide World Paint Splat: Kids join two quirky characters named Quack & Chirp to experiment with mixing colors in a fun, silly way!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-paint/id536621786?mt=8&uo=4

Peep - Sounds

PEEP and the Big Wide World Sounds Like Fun!: Kids explore music and sounds as they mix and match sounds with this app. The characters represent different musical rhythms.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-sounds/id536623915?mt=8&uo=4

Peep - trash

PEEP and the Big Wide World Trash Stash: Kids practice their categorization skills by sorting objects using increasingly sophisticated criteria.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-trash/id536624731?mt=8&uo=4

Peep - Quack's Apples

PEEP and the Big Wide World Quack’s Apples: Kids roll Quack’s apples into a pond – testing and tweaking the design of their route as often as needed. As they play, they are practicing the engineering design process!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peep-big-wide-world-quacks/id536623428?mt=8&uo=4

Two FREE and fabulously creative apps from Lazoo – perfect for preschoolers. 🙂Miku's PicnicFREE  – Miku’s Picnic, an adorable interactive story designed to support creative thinking. Kids join Bobu, the monkey & Miku, the rabbit on a chase after some jumping beans. The two need help capturing the beans before they bounce away! Along the way kids learn about using their imaginations and creative problem solving as the Bobu & Moku use “Squiggles” to… make a car go faster, make springs to get to the top of a tree, make binoculars to look for the beans, make a rocket zoom to the moon, and more. This educational app has 2 reading modes – “Read to Me” and “Read it Myself” as well as an option to record your own voice as the narrator. The story ends with a link to the FREE Squiggles app for kids so kids can “take a turn” drawing. I love the way Miku’s Picnic encourages kids to use their imaginations to solve problems!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lazoo-mikus-picnic/id652945863?mt=8&uo=4

Lazoo ZooAlso FREE – Lazoo Zoo, another fabulous educational app. KIds help out with snack time at the zoo where there are 10 animals (lion, ape, chameleon, giraffe, hippo, whale, crocodile, crab, bird, & penguins) to feed. But Lazoo Zoo is not your ordinary zoo, so its animals react in extraordinary ways – the giraffe’s spots change according to what it’s fed, the ape tosses the food it doesn’t like to others, and more! Kids can even create their own foods to feed the animals. And, Lazoo Zoo has a photo booth where kids can snap their picture with their favorite animals. How cute is that?! 🙂 Check out the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L564yPHM3No&feature=youtu.be

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lazoo-zoo/id727786503?mt=8&uo=4

Two FREE apps from PBS. 🙂

PBS Parents Play & LearnPBS Parents Play & Learn is a great FREE educational app that encourages families to learn together. PBS has designed this app specifically for parents and it can be used in English or Spanish. The app uses familiar locations (in the bathtub, in the kitchen, at the zoo, etc.) as themes then provides parents with meaningful activities/games for their children. I LOVE that the app includes ideas for different ages (baby, toddler, preschooler) and provides information for parents about the math & literacy skills embedded in the games. The app supports the fact that a child’s parents are his/her first and most important teacher – LOVE it!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pbs-parents-play-learn-hd/id605542914?mt=8&uo=4

word friends

Learn with WordFriends is a FREE educational game from WordWorld, PBS’s Emmy winning show. Kids build and discover words with Dog, Duck, Sheep, Ant, Bear, Pig and Frog. Animal characters and word objects are formed from the words’ letters – a very cool feature! There are 3 puzzles to play: WordRain – grab letters as they rain from the sky to build the word, WordScramble – rearrange the scrambled letters to form the word, and WordMatch – a tile memory game. There is also a WordFriend Farms where kids can interact with the different animal characters. Dog is included with the app and the other animals are available as in-app purchases. Very cute, happy app!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn-with-wordfriends/id580328460?mt=8&uo=4

caillouKids learn about going to the doctor’s office with Caillou Check Up – Doctor’s Office, an adorable app for toddlers/preschoolers. This educational app has 11 mini-games that will teach your child about his/her next check-up. Four of the activities (check height & weight, tonsil check, follow the stick, & eye check) are included for FREE. The other 7 activities (thermometer, ear check, stethoscope, blood pressure, reflex check, medicine shot, & applying ointment) are available as in-app purchases. The app utilizes a variety of mechanics as kids tap and drag their way through the interactive mini-games. After completing each task, kids are rewarded with a colorful celebration. The app is sure to take the stress out of your child’s next visit to the doctor. No wonder it’s featured by Apple as one of the “Best New Apps & Games.” 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/caillou-check-up-doctors-office/id772369925?mt=8&uo=4

 

care bearsFrom American Greetings comes Care Bears Love to Learn, a FREE educational app for preschoolers. Kids join 7 of their favorite Care Bears to play a variety of games that are designed to help children count, build shapes, identify colors, learn beginning sounds, and more. After completing each activity, kids earn Care Bears stickers. These stickers can be saved and played with later. If you have a Care Bear fan in your house, check out this cute app!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/care-bears-love-to-learn/id884245655?mt=8&uo=