Available in both free and “Pro” ($.99) versions, TonePad lets you compose rhythmic simple songs by arranging dots (or notes) on a 16×16 grid. Like the pins on a music box, each dot activates a tone, making it easy to make rhythmic and melodic patterns. The Pro version lets you compose your own ringtones. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Singing Fingers starts with a blank white screen, then you drag your finger slowly across the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad’s screen. A microphone is required. As you move your fingertip, you notice that your “ink” is powered by sound. The louder you sing, the fatter your line. And the color is associated with the pitch. So if you sing a scale, you make a rainbow pattern. After you’ve made a doodle, trace your finger back over your drawing, to hear your captured audio. If you drag quickly, you make a drawing, to play your sound back. If you trace your finger quickly, the sound plays back quickly, like fast-forwarding through a file. The app was created by doctoral students Eric Rosenbaum (who spoke at Dust or Magic 2009) and Jay Silver of the MIT Lifelong Kindergarten Group. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Road Trip Bingo turns your iPhone or iPad into a bingo board. Instead of numerals, the 5 x 5 grid contains a random assortment of items you might see passing by your window, ranging from common things — a cloud, tree or exit sign, to the more unusual — a horse, sailboat or a police car (may your sightings be rare). Once you spot an item on the board, you give it a tap to mark it with a virtual marker. Five in a row in any direction wins, an event marked by a chime and a sticker. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Turn your iPad or iPod Touch into a balance beam scale with this math app. There are three modes of play, each with three challenge levels, and it is possible to alternate between ounces and grams. The challenge is the same — to see if you can pile on just the right amount of weight on one side of the scale, to balance it with fruit on the other side of the scale. There are 9 types of fruit, from the 10g cherries to the 490g melon. The weights come in six sizes. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This time-telling app offers four activities from the main menu. The first lets you freely move the hands of an analog clock with your finger, to see if you can make the time match a digital am/pm clock below. The background provides clues about if it is day or night. Correct answers provide a round of applause. The second lets you change the numbers in the digital display at the bottom to match the time displayed by the clock hands. The third is a free mode, where you can move the clock hands or the change the numbers at the bottom to see the time instantly change. The fourth turns the clock into a real, functioning clock, in a clever twist. Part of the “Learning is fun” collection. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This maze game app is part of the “Learning is fun” game collection. Your goal is to help the UFO find the exit by following a predetermined path with your finger while avoiding being electrocuted during your trip. It features 60 levels divided into easy, medium and hard. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Like the other Oceanhouse Media Dr. Seuss titles, Green Eggs & Ham follows the same formula of pulling the text and illustrations from the original Dr. Seuss story, and presenting it, one page at a time. The story can be presented in three modes: Read to Me (each page is presented, one at a time), Read it Myself (touch the words or pictures to see them labeled) and Auto Play (which presents the story, slide show style). To turn the page, you swipe the screen, which either presents a new page, or zooms in to highlight one of the features. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Five activities — each previously released as separate apps — have been combined into one $4.99 universal app. See the individual reviews of each app, with ratings. Sound Shaker is a sound making game that uses the accelerometer, so you move the screen to make musical patterns (see the full review). Field Flier lets children control a flying bird. They touch spots on the screen to hear activities like sleeping, resting or hiding labeled. Count Caddy lets children count by 1s, 2s or 3s, by dragging and dropping items into a large circle. Sort Slider shows two objects, and asks children “which one matches.” To make a match, you can either swipe with your finger (left or right) or tilt the screen. In Pattern Painter, children are asked “which shape comes next” and are then presented with three options, multiple choice style. They are then asked to trace the shape on a template. If they have trouble, a short tutorial automatically starts. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Part of the “Learning is Fun” line, this $1.99 app includes 36 tangram puzzles. The idea is that you drag-and-drop the puzzle pieces, scattered on the bottom of the screen, onto the outline. Incorrect matches self-correct by dropping to the bottom of the screen. Correct matches snap into place, as if by some magnetic force, to the sound of a crisp bell. When all the parts are put together, you hear a round of quiet applause. You can then return to the menu to select another puzzle. We reviewed version 1.4. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Five bite-sized games feature a chatty, quirky little monkey, who serves as the coach and instruction giver. Content includes concentration, color matching (touch all the green fruit), jigsaw puzzles (drag-and-drop puzzles), odd one out (which fruit is not the same), find the fruit that starts with the letter B. Every three activities earns you a sticker,which can be saved on a flannel board. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This gimmick-free app offers free-form letter and numeral tracing, with narration in English or Spanish. Content includes upper and lower case letters, and numerals 1 through 100. Other features include the ability to set the size of the line, and a “shake to erase” feature. The menu that controls the features is shown on the main screen, but it can be hidden. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Featuring Diego, this musical app includes six simple songs like Jingle Bells and Mary Had a Little Lamb, each set in a different environment (e.g., the Savannah or the Arctic). Made for Nickelodeon by Chewy Software LLC. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a drag and drop creativity space for collages. After you choose a background color and a head shape using as set of slide-open menus, you can freely drag and drop different items into place to try out different looks. Finished products can be saved or shared on social networks. The program look and runs fine on the iPad although the version we reviewed was not universal. The clip art library was developed by illustrator Hanoch Piven. Content includes 20 face outlines and 100 objects. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Duck Duck Moose’s fourth app contains two nursery rhymes woven into one app: Baa Baa Black Sheep and Row Your Boat. There are three ways your child can navigate from scene to scene: manually, by swiping or touching; using an arrow button; or selecting autoplay in the preferences to automatically change the scenes. As children explore, they can hunt for four hidden outlines in the pictures. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
“Up With A Fish” is a fast-paced stacking game, not unlike “Scoops” (both are made by Nimblebit), where you lean your iPhone or iPad left or right to collect falling objects, which are balanced on the Cat in the Hat’s head. Catching fish bowls increases your life. Dodging trouble-making kids will also increase your score. You can pause the game at any time by tapping the screen. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Lean the iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone left or right, to steer a single balloon through a maze of tree branches or clouds that gradually get harder. The higher you go, the more points you score,and high scores can be posted on a leader board. The free version has less content. The $.99 version contains more mazes and balloon options. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
The Princess and the Frog comes to your iPad with this 23 page/screen adaptation that mixes highlights of the movie with two games, two songs, three coloring activities, the ability to record your own narration and a new feature for the read-along series, three jigsaw puzzles. Features include the ability to have the story read automatically, or to let the child flip through the book, one screen at a time. A pair of mouse ears at the screen bottom lead to a tray of options that include a microphone for recording your own narration, the coloring activities, and a scrolling set of pages, that makes it easy to jump directly to any page. There are two games: Facilier’s Fortune and Firefly Chase. Both games are active, and have three challenge levels. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
If you’ve played any of the other Oceanhouse Media Dr. Seuss titles, you’ll find no surprises with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, a $3.99 app from Oceanhouse Media. The story can be presented in three modes: Read to Me (each page is presented, one at a time), Read it Myself (touch the words or pictures to see them labeled) and Auto Play (which presents the story, slide show style). To turn the page, you swipe the screen, which either presents a new page, or zooms in to highlight one of the features. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
The electronic edition of Dr. Seuss’ classic graduation story features three modes: Read to Me (the narration starts automatically when a page is swiped), Read it Myself (touch pictures or the text to hear it read or described) and Auto Play (the story is presented, slide-show-style). Each page is turned with the swipe of a finger, and illustrated with swooping animation, using a Ken Burns effect, to highlight specific scenes. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Inspired by the Mandala patterns of the Buddhist monks, this app makes it possible to convert your finger drawings into snowflake-like symmetrical art, set to zen-like music. There are two drawing modes, normal and blend. The palette contains 35 colors and three types of brushes. Content includes ten songs. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Magic Piano leverages the power of the iPad’s multi-touch screen to give a child their own 3 1/2 octave long piano keyboard. There are five modes of play. In the default mode (solo) you can configure the keyboard in a spiral, circle or traditional horizontal format. While the keys are small, the multi-touch screen makes it possible to play chords — just like a real piano. The Songbook lets you choose one of 20 classic songs, and play along, in a paint-by-number fashion. Selections start easy, with Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and get as hard as the Nutcracker March and Flight of the Bumblebee. A settings control panel lets you control such things as auto-sustain, pitch mapping and toggle on a “no-fail” mode for the song book. According to the credits, this app was inspired by Lang Lang. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Toy Story comes to your iPad with this 23 page/screen adaptation that mixes highlights of the second movie (Toy Story 2) with two games, two songs, three coloring activities and the ability to record your own narration. Features include the ability to have the story read automatically, or to let the child flip through the book, one screen at a time (the pages curl, like paper). A pair of mouse ears at the screen bottom lead to a tray of options that include a microphone for recording your own narration, the coloring activities, and scrolling set of pages, that makes it easy to jump directly to any page. This includes two games: Parachute Drop (tilt the screen to steer a soldier through a maze of obstacles) and Toy Barn Maze (swipe to move Buzz through a maze, collecting toys). Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Previously available as a download for Mac and Windows, this game is now available for the iPhone or iPad. Similar in design to the computer version, the game has you battling legions of zombies that are invading your yard, trying to reach your front door. To defeat them, you purchase and plant a variety of mutant flowers, vines, trees, and other foliage that have zombie combating powers (for example, cherry bombs and peashooters). These zombie battling plants can slow down, confuse, weaken and eventually destroy the vegetation zombies, before they get to your door. Your selection of plants, along with their placement, is the key to winning. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
The classic storybook, about a spider in search of friendship, comes to the iPad. When a page is turned, you see a preview of where the hotspots are on the page. You can also touch images for surprises, paint pictures, solve jigsaw puzzles and play games. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Like a recipe book for exercise, this reference for iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad consists of a database of 150 exercises. You start by touching a region of the body (e.g,. back, legs or shoulder) and then see a list of exercises, presented in step-by-step fashion. For each exercise, you can download a short 10 second video showing what to do. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This finger painting experience for iPod Touch and iPhone, with a new version for the iPad, has a clean visual design, a manageable 10 color palette and resizable stickers. You start by choosing from three themes (ocean, school or farm). Next, you see a well designed creativity space, offering colors, a single, one size paint brush, an eraser and a row of stickers. There are also icons for saving your picture to your photo library, or alternating between 12 backgrounds per theme, including a blank white or black canvas. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Turn your iPad into a beautifully illustrated story book, with this 37 page (screen) iPad version of How To Train Your Dragon (called merely “Dragon Book” in the App Store). If your child liked the movie, he or she will also like this storybook. That’s because the illustrations are taken directly from the movie, pixel per pixel. Children can swipe their way through the book, one page at a time, front or back, listening to the text read aloud. The book follows the movie, highlighting each key moment, and the narration sounds like it came from the movie as well. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Children explore with their fingertips, in this colorful underwater playground, where a school of quick swimming fish illustrate numerals (up to 20), the alphabet song, and a set of shapes. In the alphabet song, children can swipe forward or backward, hearing the alphabet backwards if they like. If they stop at a letter, such as U, they hear “U is for Umbrella.” The number line works the same way, only the quantity is presented along with the numeral, in the form of a line of small eggs on the bottom of the screen. The “Playtime” activity fills the screen with dozens of differently colored fish, of every shape, size and pattern. Other more structured activities include a game of concentration, and a discrimination game, that asks children to find the fish that doesn’t belong. The iPhone and iPod touch versions are available for $.99 at http://tinyurl.com/fishiphone; the iPad vesion is $1.99: http://tinyurl.com/fishipad. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Available in both free and full versions for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, Drawing Den is a coloring program that offers eight pictures that you can color, and there are no stamps or undo options. Other features include the ability to quickly share a photo and a “stay within the lines” option that you can toggle off, in case you want to make a mess. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This touch screen coloring book looks good at first, but has some primitive features you should know about before spending the $5 for your young Dora fan. Children first choose one of five backgrounds, and can then rotate between three sets of tools: Crayons (seven colors, plus a magic “rainbow” crayon which paints the screen automatically); Stickers (about 60, featuring mostly Dora-themed items); and Backgrounds (representing each season). When each crayon is touched, you hear the word in Spanish. Other features include three levels of zoom, either on the background, or on a specific sticker, which is nice for getting into the crevices. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
It used to be when you wanted to sketch out the plans for an invention, you grabbed a napkin. The iPad equivalent is Doodle Buddy, a multi-touch sketching utility. Content includes 24 backgrounds, including white, black and several for word games like dots and tic-tac-toe; four drawing tools and an infinite color selector. There are also 80 tiny stamps, and the ability to import a photo from your photo library. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
ColorPlay for the iPad is a ten page coloring book featuring farm animals and looping banjo music. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This open-ended drawing program gives you the best of both worlds — free one finger scribbling on a blank screen, or coloring on one of 50 traditional-looking coloring book pages. There is a color palette with 20 common colors,12 stickers and eight pen sizes. You can also toggle on/off voice instructions, and it is easy to save work, continue works in progress which are presented in the startup menu, or import pictures from your photo library. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This is an electronic flannel board app. Content in version 1.0 for the iPad includes three themed sticker sets (Africa, Military Aircraft, and Underwater), each with a set of approximately 20 stickers. There are two types of sounds: Sticker Sounds and looping Ambient Sounds. Other options make it possible to share a picture via email (if your device is setup), and one touch saving to your photo album. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This app feaures one slate background, five colors, one line size and two erasers. A disk icon makes it easy to save your picture to your photos application. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
If there were such a thing as a “coffee-table book” for the iPad, it would be this one. It’s the kind of book you pick up once in a while to admire the aesthetics, but then forget about it, for possibly a very long time. Featuring 50 beautiful color prints (or pages) with creative fonts, Alice for iPad (short for “Alice in Wonderland” on the iPad) is a beautifully crafted, abridged version of the story of Alice in Wonderland, with the words take directly from the Lewis Carroll book. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
If you’ve ever done a paint-by-number puzzle, you get the idea of “123 Color HD Talking Coloring Book for iPad” (the long name). This is the third update of this title, the first for iPad. You start by choosing from three sets of 17 black-line coloring sheets, one for numerals, upper case letters and lower case letters. There’s also a free coloring option. Each part of the picture is labeled, and a key is shown on the bottom of the screen. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Children’s Technology Review, May 2010
CTR No 122
Volume 18, No. 5, Issue 122
This is a free editorial by Warren Buckleitner. For full access, please subscribe.
Since Hermann Rorschach created his famous personality screening test back in 1921, many have used it to try to figure a person’s state of mind. Giving you the
Rorschach test is simple: I show you something unique (such as an inkblot), and then ask you to describe what you think you see. I then crank your answers through a set of instruments, and “DING,” I know if you’re mentally sound (or not). Now swap the inkblot for something else unique and open ended. An iPad. What do you see? More importantly, how does it make you feel?
Because this is an interactive column, I’ll allow you to sit quietly for a while as you study the photo on this month’s cover, and jot down your thoughts. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday I learned that Apple had removed an App called “Scratch Viewer 1.4″ from the App store (by way of a Facebook post by Scott Traylor). This decision has ruffled some feathers (see http://computinged.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/apple-removes-scratch-from-ipadiphoneitouch/ for a taste of the comments, including one by Alan Kay).
So I decided to dig a bit deeper into this issue. 
WHAT DOESN’T THIS APP DO?
This app is not Scratch. This might be misleading because it appears the Icon for the App is labeled merely as “Scratch.” The true name is “Scratch Viewer.” So let’s be clear — this is not the free, NSF funded, full-fledged version of programming toolkit called Scratch that we’ve all come to know and love. It’s an $4 App that lets you do something you can currently do for free on your computer.
You begin by plugging in your iPad into a Windows or Macintosh computer (required), and starting iTunes (also required). This starts the standard registration process, and some free trial offers to subscription-based data services; all easily skippable. Next, you log into your favorite Wi-Fi zones (also required). The next parts are familiar to anyone who has ever synced an iPod Touch or an iPhone with a computer. You can decide which apps you want to transfer, from the huge selection of free choices, along with your movies, podcasts and photos. Or you can give Apple your credit card and download some of the new iPad native apps already on the market. These titles, in the $5 – $10 range, have markedly better graphics and sounds. Regular iPod Touch apps appear in a regular sized window on the iPad’s larger screen, with a “2x button” in the lower corner, making it easy to quickly fill the screen. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.