Slip your iPhone or iPod Touch inside this plush holder, and download a free app called Beary Happi. The result? You can turn your iPod Touch or iPhone into a teddy bear. There are ten modes hidden behind the parent options: HappiTaps, Toddler, Nighty Night, Story Time, Sing Along, Peek-a-Boo!, Feeding Time, Rattle & Fun, Sleep and Expressions. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
The Bob Books app is based on the print editions of a popular workbook series (learn more at www.bobbooks.com). The app presents a step-by-step word-building experience, where the more letters you match, the more the picture fills in. Reading Magic 1 contains twelve scenes for 32 words, presented in four levels to provide increasing challenges to children as they play. Also available is Reading Magic 2, with 12 new scenes, different animations and 50 words. 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.
As with other editions of Scribblenauts, children use language to unlock puzzles, by typing in the items they need. Need to kill a shark? Type “hair dryer” and drop it in the water, to electrocute it. Want to get through a gate? Type “shovel” and dig under it. Content includes 10 original levels designed specifically for Apple devices, along with 40 fan favorite levels from Scribblenauts and Super Scribblenauts. The more levels you solve, the more Starites you earn, and these unlock in-game achievements. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This app features two puzzle sets, each with nine puzzles that start easy (with six large pieces) and become more difficult. A hint system makes trial and error possible. The pirate is playful and it is hard to not complete a puzzle to see the ending. Preferences let you turn off the background music. 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.
Mix-and-match different heads, bodies and legs of animals, in order to make a match. To change a part, you swipe. As more characters are created, more surprises are revealed: kids can poke animals to hear them roar, chirp or tweet; balls bounce; and a lion helps keep count of his steaks. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This app is designed to introduce children to parts of the body. There are three screens: Learn, Match and Compose. Learn lets children watch and listen; Match lets them listen to the song and choose the image that corresponds to the music; and Compose lets children compose their own song by selecting the pictures they would like to include in the song. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Here’s a fun way to put yourself into a book, and create a funny language experience. Note, that you’ll need a camera on your iPad (e.g., the iPad 2). Also note that there are both free and paid version pathways to these stories. This first title, called “The Biggest Pizza Ever,” tells the story of a kid who wreaks havoc on his town with a gigantic pizza pie. The book features simple character animations. Additional titles cost $8 each, or you can subscribe for $4/month. 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.
Dressed in bright orange and white colors (to make sure it doesn’t get confused with a real gun), this is a plastic gun that houses your camera-equipped iPod Touch, iPhone 3 or greater in a plastic case that snaps onto a gun barrel, about where the sight would be. So instead of looking down the barrel, you look into your iPhone screen. The first step is to download one of the apps. We tried AlienAttack, a game that plays exactly like many Nintendo DSi and 3DS games, where you see creatures floating around your room as seen through the camera on your device. A radar screen clues you into the creature location — the more you shoot, the harder the challenge. There are just two buttons on the app, one for each trigger. When you pull the trigger, the capacitive energy from your finger is passed to the screen, through a little plastic pad that presses against your screen. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
The idea behind this alphabet app is to teach children to read and write the alphabet, one letter at a time. Activities include picking the right letter to fill in the blank to complete a word, singing along with the alphabet song as they pop each bubble to reveal a hidden creature, and tracing letters. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This is a peaceful story set to the theme of the night, stars (that twinkle) and owls. There are three modes: Read to me, Read myself, and Auto play. You can touch the screen to launch animated events, such as making the owl’s wings flap, or making the owl blink. There is also a counting game where you touch stars (up to 20) to hear them labeled. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Mercer Mayer’s rendition of the classic folk tale comes to your iPad. As you know, this fairy tale has a dark theme. Mayer deals with that by turning the wolf into a frustrated Shakespearian actor who simply ties up Grandma instead of eating her. When it comes time to eat Little Red Riding Hood, she’s able to hide while the woodcutter chases the wolf away. There are two word search games. The more you read or play, the more coins you collect, although there’s no real connection between the coins and the story. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This farm-related interactive sticker book lets you touch and hear items and add your own stickers, which can be arranged on the screen. Content includes 500 pieces of art on 20 pages, including a sticker drawer that lets you drag and drop different items on the page. Each scene can be toggled between day and night (just touch the sun or the moon). Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Disney’s virtual world for kids, Club Penguin, is reaching into your mobile device with this game built around a series of cannons that float in the air. The cannons shoot a ball-shaped Puffle (the furry pets from the Club Penguin virtual worlds) through a course full of moving hazards. To make it through, you steer your puffles from cannon to cannon by touching the screen. As the Puffles float, they bounce off balloons. The better you do, the more levels you unlock. The challenges are arranged in 24 levels that can be unlocked. 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.
This animated stickerbook app features four scenes: Drag Race, Classic Roadster, Monster Car, and Junkyard Car builder. You tap and hold a sticker of a car-related item, such as a tire, then drag it into the scene. You can then resize it. To remove a sticker, just drag it off the screen. At any point, you can select a “play” button to animate the stickers, e.g., to make the cars start moving across the screen. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This app designed for preschoolers mixes limited creativity with a maze type of flying game. You start by making a robot by selecting legs, a body, a head and arms using multiple-choice style menus. Next, you are taken to the testing area, which consists of a maze with hidden stars. The goal is to fly your robot to a magnet by touching the screen to activate the foot rockets. The longer you press, the greater the power. You steer by moving your finger on 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.
In this app, you begin by choosing a customer from six possible human and animal options, then start combing, coloring and blow drying with your finger driving the action. Content includes 12 hair colors and five tools. The app features four characters, including animals, who make funny faces and sounds as you work on their hair cut.You can also take pictures of your creations and save them. 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.
Turn your iPad screen into a musical busy box. There are two types of keyboards — one with eight large, colored keys. As a child explores, there are four roller balls that serve as controls to change the pitch or color of the keys. The colors and instrument sounds are spoken (e.g., xylophone, piano, drum set, and saxophone) and a Rainbow Ball changes the colors of the keys. A follow the bouncing ball (in this case floating little stars) mode leads children through simple nursery rhymes. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Your goal in this app is to shoot math answers from the sky. You aim by leaning left or right. To fire, you must choose from three triggers (each with a different number). If the number matches the math equation displayed on the alien spaceship, your bullets will cause damage. If you shoot with the wrong answer, the ship gets stronger. As you increase in levels you can get more lives, ship shields and machine guns. 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.
This 70 page/screen book contains embedded spelling games. In the story, Chuck and friends are playing a game of chase when they encounter Flip, a new vehicle in the scrap yard. Chuck is not so sure about Flip and challenges him to a stunt contest. In the process, the two realize they can work together and become fast friends. Features include 70 pages of read-aloud content with narrative-driven matching, touch and reveal graphics and spelling activities that teach letter recognition, picture/word association and basic problem solving. 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.
This app contains 32 high quality, transportation-related photos. Each contains a printed label (e.g., “race car”), simple animation with sound, and pronunciation. To change between the pictures, you swipe. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
There are six games that can be played through as a game show, or individually for practice: Saving Choices (sort items according to four categories — saving, spending, donating or investing): Earn It! (decorate cup cakes to earn money); Rainy Day Fund (a confusing but fun fortune cookie game); Spend Avoidance (a maze game where you try to avoid wasting money in the mall); Wealthy Habits (decide whether to buy a new book, or visit the library by tilting the screen left or right); and Kids Earn (make cups of lemonade). It is easy to jump right to a game or play through each activity in sequence to see how much money you can make. Created by award winning designer Daren Carstens for Susan Beacham of Money Savvy Generation. 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.
Designed to help you memorize names and facts about the 44 US Presidents? Combining flashcard-like facts with a “break-out” game mechanic, the app doles out multiple-choice questions like “Which President succeeded Thomas Jefferson.” To answer the question, you touch one of four labeled portraits. Correct answers give you a chance to fling a President, in ball form, at a set of aliens, until no more are remaining. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Good facts and illustrations are combined with Oceanhouse Media’s excellent labeling techniques to create an excellent early literacy experience that can enhance a child’s emerging reading abilities. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This talking story construction activity is designed to let young children experiment with sentence construction. There are two modes: Edit and Write. In Edit, you see a page of print, from the Three Little Pigs. It is possible to touch select words, marked with an underline, to toggle between different options. So, for example, you can change “there were three little pigs” to “there were three smelly hippos.” In Write, there are 10 blank pages with “word drop” zones. Made with GameSalad. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This collection of 42 dot-to-dot puzzles can be used to practice counting, the alphabet, or times tables. For example, to connect the dots, you might be asked to follow a number pattern that increased by 1 at the easy level, to 8s or 12s at the harder levels. Other options include the ability to keep records for one child at a time, and a leaderboard feature. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This set of personalized stories for small screen (no iPad) lets you put your child’s name and favorite color into three different stories. You can also record the narration for each page. Content includes two stories: Book of Goodnight deals with the bedtime routine. A child can choose to explore space as an astronaut or protect the city as a superhero during the night. Book of Food covers four food groups. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Blue Hat, Green Hat is another interactive adaptation of a toddler board book, by author Sandra Boynton. Each page lets children combine colored hats, shirts, shorts or shoes on fun animal characters, using art directly from the book. There’s an “oops” button on several pages, that causes something to go wrong. For example, it might make a rain cloud fill up a page with water, or flip a character upside down. This successfully creates a hidden surprise on each page. 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.
While light on “fun” (the “game” consists of a multiple-choice letter matching activity), the most valuable part of this app is the ability to trace a letter and get real-time feedback. A free Lite version is available that features only the first six letter sounds. 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.
Shape Builder turns your iPod Touch or iPhone into a self-correcting set of 146 jigsaw puzzles.Now available in both English or Spanish and also for Android devices, the app makes it easy to drag-and-drop pieces into place to make common objects, like musical instruments, dishes, animals, and vehicles. Narration is provided by speech therapist Jill Dews. Content includes 30 Musical instruments with sound effects, 17 Fruits & Vegetables, 37 Animals with sounds, 26 Letters that are sounded out, 20 Numbers and others. Made by Darren Murtha and Chris Lott. 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.
Turn your iPad screen into a musical busy box. There are two types of keyboards — one with eight large, colored keys. As a child explores, there are four roller balls that serve as controls to change the pitch or color of the keys. The colors and instrument sounds are spoken (e.g., xylophone, piano, drum set, and saxophone) and a Rainbow Ball changes the colors of the keys. A follow the bouncing ball (in this case floating little stars) mode leads children through simple nursery rhymes. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This ebook consists of twenty eight watercolor screens set to classical music. The story, at a glance, is of Hildegard Rhineheffer, a hippo/waitress by day and a backup singer by night. In the story, opera star Frau Hoopenholler has fallen ill, Hildegard has her big break, but suddenly loses her voice. Your job is to help Hildegard overcome her stage fright by feeding her, helping her try on silly hats, or popping bubbles in her bath. 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.
Girls, are you tired of coloring in princesses and puppies? Here’s a new twist: this app lets you color in three dimensional outlines of exotic girl characters that include angels, peasants, warriors or other “strong” characters. As you touch areas of each character, you fill it in with color. You can also add stickers, such as floating balloons. Hues and shading effects are automatically added to create a 3D appearance, and your model can be turned for a 360 degree view. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Want to give children a highly successful symmetry experience? Paint My Wings starts with a butterfly who says “paint my wings!” Using a palette of colors, you finger paint lines or dots on one of the wings, and can see it mirrored on the other wing, in real time. It is easy to save art as a picture, or clear the screen to start over. Note that there is no “undo” or options like fill, textures or layers. This is a very simple experience. Teaches: art, creativity, symmetry. Toca Boca. http://tocaboca.com/, $0.99. Best for ages 2-6.
Editor’s Choice Award.
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This app features Olivia, a talking pig who is also a magician, as featured on the Nickelodeon show. Content includes 16 magic tricks, each performed by gliding your finger over the screen, copying a pattern. You start by finding a hidden object in a scene, and then trace a pattern over the screen. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This is a collection of interactive pictures done by Charley Harper, a mid-century modern illustrator, designed to let your child explore the forest and discover animals hiding behind tree stumps and foliage. When they see something moving they can tap it to see what it is, learn the names of the animals, and hear the real sounds they make in the wild. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
A fictional letter by Warren Buckleitner from Daniel Terry and Harlan Crystal, who published Tap Zoo, currently one of the top Grossing Apps in iTunes. This letter originally appears in the May 2011 issue of Children’s Technology Review.
Psssst. Hey you. Wanna make some ca$h? A LOT of cash (like $millions?). Here’s what you do, and we promise, no laws or bones will be broken. First, find yourself an innocent slightly bored 5 to 7 year old kid with an iPad or iPod touch. Now come up with an item that kids can’t resist. We’ve had good luck with cute looking animals— stuff that makes a kid say “awwww!” Now make a free app with an icon that has kid appeal. That’s your lure; design it carefully. It needs to shout “come play with me!” You can copy a game (we used the Zoo Tycoon and FarmVille) and offer up a pair of free gorillas. Make it a snap to download and get started. You need to get the little kids invested and feeling like they own the zoo at the beginning. This is very important. If you want ideas for roping in a child, visit a casino and watch some compulsive gamblers. You can learn how to trick a little kid into wanting to keep playing. For example, every four minutes or so, we deliver a little bit of pretend money, making them think they can buy more animals if they stay with their zoo. It’s like a digital M&M, and those little suckers fall for it!
After they are lovey dovey with their gorillas, it’s time for the big tease. Show them other peoples zoos, teaming with tigers, penguins, sea turtles, monkeys — or perhaps even “the Big Castle!” It’s mean but it works. You can’t have supply unless you have demand, right? Associate the cool stuff with an order form, so those penguin-loving kids start getting on their parents. You see, a six or seven year old kid is too young to understand abstract things like passwords and credit cards. To them, its just part of the “get mom to give me stuff” game that every child is born with. And stop thinking of this kid as a person. She’s your mule to get to mommy’s bank account. The best part of this whole robbery is that you’re going to have Apple driving your getaway car! They keep a cut, but they also cut the checks. Apple is like is your Swiss bank account.
Make sure you use a currency system that sounds fake and harmless. Don’t call it “dollars” because that could tip off mom or dad. We use “stars” and one of our competitors, CapCom’s The Smurfs’ Village, uses “Smurfberries.” Another thing you don’t want to do is to tell the parents that a simple, functional zoo might cost well over $400, about the cost of a dish washer. Keep these dirty little secrets as hidden and cryptic as possible. Also, sell a lot of starter items for just $.99, to numb them up, so a parent will think, “well, that isn’t much, OK, squirt, here’s my iTunes password, now keep quiet.” Believe me, kids are great at getting that password. We’ve seen four year olds do it.
The buying part needs to be really thought out carefully. Make it so that when the kid touches the “Buy Stars” you tease ‘em with a model zoo, teaming with animals and then deliver them to iTunes as quickly and as frequently as possible. Sure, they’ll see the “Do you want to buy one Vial of Stars for $0.99?”warning, and they might hit “cancel” but non-readers have fair chance of hitting “OK.” Here’s another great trick. Sell stars by the barrel for $99.99! To a kid, a barrel sounds like more fun. Finally, make sure all sales are final. No refunds. How much money can you make? We’re over a $million bucks A MONTH! Dude, it’s so easy, it’s like stealing candy from a baby!
Sincerely,
Daniel Terry and Harlan Crystal, Co-Founders of Pocket Gems (www.pocketgems.com)
*Note: This is a pretend letter (by Warren Buckleitner) based on existing practices. Learn more about Daniel and Harlan at http://pocketgems.com/about/the-team.php. We appreciate the fact that they didn’t attempt to hide their identity, and welcome their response to this letter.
This app is designed to help you learn the names, locations, major cities and sizes of the world’s 192 countries. You start by seeing four flashcards, along with a question like “Spanish is the official language of which country.” Wrong answers disappear along with an explanation, but correct answers (in this case the Dominican Republic), give the the ability to drop the country onto a platform. The goal is to earn enough countries to build a stack that reaches a high water mark. Content includes 1,000 questions, 192 flash cards, and an interactive map of the continents. 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.
See your voice coming out of a Chihuahua with Smack Talk ($1, 2-up), a sound morphing app that turns your iPad into an echo chamber. You say a short phrase, like “have a nice day” and see your voice coming out of an animal, nearly perfectly lip-synced. Once your voice is recorded, you can modify the pitch, pacing, and so on. 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.
Now you can turn your iPhone into a … pretend phone, for your toddler. It also runs just fine on an iPod Touch or iPad. It to help a child memorize important phone numbers such as yours or Grandma’s. A child can also press an “animals” icon to convert each number key into an animal that makes a sound when touched. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Word Wagon is a letter and word recognition activity that provides structured practice with letters and letter sounds in the context of common words. The app gets right to business, asking children to spell a word like “dog” or “rocket,” one letter at a time. Letters are presented on letter tiles, which are pronounced when tapped. Content includes 103 words (including 44 Dolch sight words), organized into seven categories: Animals, Food, Vehicles, Numbers and Colors, Around the House, Mozzarella and Coco’s Favorites, and All Words. There are 4 Levels, ranged from basic letter recognition to spelling words up to six letters long. 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.