Tag Archives: educational apps for kids

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ClickyySticky Superheroes

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ClickySticky Superheroes

Free for a limited time – ClickySticky™ Superheroes, an animated sticker app. The app has 4 great scenes: Save the Day, Create a Super-Car, Super Power, and Superhero Dress-up. Kids use an assortment of stickers to create a scene. Many of the stickers are animated and/or include sound effects – a twisting tornado, flashing lightning, crashing cars, etc. Please note that this app includes a few stickers that some parents/teachers may find objectionable (a character with a laser gun, fireballs, etc.) and I did not see an option to remove individual stickers in the settings. Once the scene is finished, kids can make it come to life by tapping the play button – VERY fun technology!! Scenes can be saved to your photo library or emailed. So… you can pull the scenes into a story creating app and write a superhero adventure. How fun (and educational) is that!!

ClickySticky Superheroes - Merge Mobile

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Kids Zoo

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FREE again – Kids Zoo, an educational app that introduces your child to 45 different animals from 4 different categories: wild, farm, birds, and water. It is very easy to use – just tap. First tap the category you want to explore, then tap an animal. A photo of the animal appears. You can tap the photo for another photo of the same animal. Tap the speaker next to the animal’s name and it is pronounced. Tap the sound icons to hear the sound that the animal makes. There are two sound icons for each animal (one blue and one pink) but no explanation of the difference. The most interesting thing about this app is that there are connections to 30 LIVE  webcams at zoos all around the world. You can see the polar bear at the San Diego Zoo, the tiger at the London Zoo, etc. if you connect at the right time. Since these zoos are all over the world, the animals may be sleeping, the time zones may not match up, etc. Another potential issue is the speed/quality of your connection. I was able to connect to several webcams but was not fortunate enough to see any real action. Interesting to explore – if you have a great connection!

This app for the iPhone/iPad is FREE for a limited time.

Kids Zoo - Zhan Tian

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PBS KIDS Photo Factory

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Very cute FREE educational app for the iPhone/iPad from PBS KIDS. Add your favorite PBS character to your child’s picture in 3 easy steps. First take a picture or choose one from your photo library. The edit it as needed – zoom, rotate, or resize. Lastly frame it and decorate it by adding your favorite PBS characters. You can share the results on Facebook, Twitter, via email or save them into your photo library.

There are lots of fun ways to use this app. Take pictures of kids with the characters at a themed party based on one of the shows. Take pictures of students with Curious George, Arthur, or Clifford after reading books featuring those characters. Pull those pictures into a story writing app to create a new adventure of the PBS character and the student. Add the characters to settings – pictures of the school playground, pictures of the classroom etc. – use your pictorial creations as  springboards to creative writing. Pull your pictures into TellPic (see review July 31) and have the child explain. Fun!!

Recommended!

PBS KIDS Photo Factory - PBS KIDS

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Walter’s Flying Bus

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Walter's Flying Bus

This book was FREE for a limited time. It is now regular price – $6.99. Walter’s Flying Bus (an educational app) is a story inspired by the real-life dreams of Walter and his friends who are orphaned, special needs children in Uganda. This e-book is inspirational – a celebration of the talents & beauty of every child. It is narrated in English, Spanish and Luganda (a primary language of Uganda). The app also includes mini-documentaries of the real-life children featured in the book. According to the developer  – “ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of after-tax profits from App sales go to efforts helping orphans with special needs, including advocacy, care, and adoption assistance grants.”

Walter's Flying Bus - Chosen and Dearly Loved, LLC

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Penguin Leveled Readers

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Penguin Leveled Readers

Just updated on June 6, named New & Noteworthy, and FREE for the iPhone/iPad – Penguin Leveled Readers. This educational app opens with a great introduction video that explains how it works. 4 books are included – one for each of the app’s reading levels.  The levels respond to the following guided reading levels: level 1 = levels A-D, level 2 = levels E-I, level 3 = levels J-M (about second grade), level 4 = levels N-P (about third grade). If you want to add to your collection, 75 additional titles are available as in-app purchases for $3.99 each. The majority of the additional titles are either level 2 or 3 so this app is best suited for first/second grade readers. The app permits you to record and store your child reading the story  – a GREAT feature for improving fluency.  If you have an early reader in your family, this app could be a wonderful resource!

Penguin Leveled Readers - Penguin Group USA

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Lullabytes

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Lullabytes

FREE for a limited time – Lullabytes, an app to soothe your baby to sleep. The app contains 12 classical lullabies. The 25 minute concert begins with Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11 and gradually winds down to end with Brahms’ Lullaby. The app has a special feature called the Sleep Keeper™  which detects crying then replays the softest music tracks to help your baby drift back to sleep. The app also features a Sleep Diary™ which works like a stopwatch. It records the length of overnight sleeps and/or naps and logs the times. Parents can tag sleep sessions to indicate teething or illness. The diary also compares your baby’s sleep with the suggested amounts of sleep for babies of the same age. The app works with AirPlay for transmission to wireless speakers or Apple TV. What a great app for the nursery!!

Lullabytes - MOMMYMADE, LLC

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Bill Nye The Science Guy

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Bill Nye The Science Guy

Just released (July 13) and FREE – Bill Nye The Science Guy. It’s Bill Nye’s 20th Anniversary and Disney is celebrating with the release of this educational app! Kids scan their thumbs to gain entrance to Nye Labs – a scientifically fascinating place. There they can play games, watch clips from their favorite shows, try some experiments, and more. This app is a place where science rules!!

Bill Nye The Science Guy - Disney

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Tiny Dentist

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Tiny Dentist

FREE for a limited time – 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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Toontastic Jr. Pirates

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Toontastic Jr. Pirates

Toontastic Jr. 2

Ahoy Matey…. Toontastic Jr. Pirates is FREE for a limited time. This storytelling app, from the creators of Toontastic, has kids creating their own pirate cartoons. They start by choosing a beginning, middle, and ending. Then they animate the story by moving the characters and recording their voices at the same time. This educational app features 12 story starter videos and a cast of characters to get kids started. If kids would like to create a story with friends or family, they can utilize StoryShare, a new feature in Toontastic Jr. which is very cool! It enables kids to talk & create stories with friends or family anywhere in the world! Yo ho ho – how fun is that??

Toontastic Jr. Pirates - for iPad - Launchpad Toys

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Monster’s Socks

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Monster's SocksFREE for the weekend – Monster’s Socks, a darling interactive tale about a little monster who goes in search of his lost socks. Kids join Monster on his journey and help him cross streams, sail across the sea, and blast into outer space to find the lost socks. The story advances in a unique way – as Monster travels page by page through the book, he stops on the yellow dots and the text appears. The animation and interactivity are done in a meaningful way that enhances the story. This educational app is a great example of what an interactive book should be – don’t miss it!!

Monster's Socks - Martin Hughes