Part of the Brainy Fables series of storybook apps, Uxmal is an English/Spanish story about a young boy, Uxmal, who is growing up in the Mayan world. The story was written by Franco Soldi, illustrated in blue and white by Pedro Bascon. In the story, a local carnival brought together the county’s strongest men to compete in the famous pyramid challenge, but none of them succeeds in throwing the coconut over the pyramid. But, then a little boy named Uxmal is able to do it, and changes the history of his town. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
The first in a series of Disney Classics storybook apps, this is the story of three children (Wendy, John and Michael) who enter Neverland with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell. Children can touch some of the illustrations to hear them labeled. Some of the pages have typical jigsaw puzzles, games of concentration, or coloring pages. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Learning to write letters and numerals will never be the same after a child tries LetterSchool on an iPad’s slippery screen. Content includes both uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as numbers from 1 to 10. You can toggle between three types of letters/numeral styles — D’Nealian (used in many US schools), HWT (Handwriting Without Tears) and Zaner-Bloser (the “traditional” format). You start with a set of letters (or numerals, if you have it set up in numeral mode). Each letter or numeral comes with three tracing games designed to introduce the name, sound, and the strokes required to learn it. In Tap, children find the “magic dot” at the beginning of the letter, tap it, and watch as the first part of the letter comes to life. (The letters and numbers might be displayed as grass, that you mow as you trace.) You can then tap the next dots shown at the end of each stroke to complete the next line… when finished you earn a star, and unlock the next game. Trace requires children to trace the letter correctly all the way to the end to earn a star and unlock the next challenge, Write. In this activity children must write the letter on their own without a helper line. 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.
Gube is a collection of over 500 pre-screened YouTube videos, each with no ads, and tagged by age. There’s no shortage of science, episodes of existing children’s programing like Sesame Street, and silly animals. Note that you’ll need a live Internet connection. The preferences let you filter the videos by age group (infant, toddler, pre-school, and grade school). 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 arcade-style games in this app are based on the online game available at ZiggityZoom.com. There are three play mechanics, plus a Monster Creator-where you can customize and name up to five monsters, who stay in storage. You can grab and drag food from a conveyor belt, and drop them on your monster’s mouth to feed it. If you overfeed the monster, it will will explode. Other games include a food fight, and a food catching game. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
You can bring the world of Neverland to life, in your choice of language, with this rendition of Peter Pan. Pages can be changed by swiping, plus there is an easy-to-access table of contents. Both the on-screen text and audio narration can be toggled and examined, and children can have the story read to them, or read it on their own. Features of the enhanced HD version include: touch pronunciation, explain to me, show me, and Karaoke reading. Two versions of The Adventures of Peter Pan are available: an enhanced HD version for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch (USD $3.99), and a streamlined, non-interactive version for iPhone and iPod touch ($0.99). Designed by French publisher Chocolapps’ (formerly So Ouat!) this app contains 42 screens/pages of content. 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 iPad edition of the famous Disney theme-park ride lets you touch-and-explore 16 watercolor scenes depicting various parts of a happy, exotic world where everyone seems busy and happy. Each scene contains related hot spots that help the story along. In a refreshing touch, the ever familiar “read to me” and “let me explore” navigation options have sidestepped. Instead, each page advances slowly, automatically, or it can be hurried along either with a bookmark — in case you want to jump directly to a page — or with a swipe, that puts the whole production in the context of a balloon ride. The last page includes the famous song, follow the bouncing ball style, and you can tap on the screen to control the fireworks. One word of caution — make sure you download a current version and use a recent version of the iOS operating system. According to the iTunes reviews, this app can crash. It is also a large download — at 133 MB. 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 introduce young children to Jazz music and it’s instruments, this app follows two children as they explore the Jazz Big Band, where they discover the sounds of each instrument. There’s a full jazz Big Band arrangement that can be mixed and matched. On the last of the 15 pages, children can test their knowledge with an un-timed quiz that asks children to match a phrase (or a lick) played by each instrument, with the correct picture. Instruments include the saxophone, trumpet, trombone, bass, piano, guitar and vibraphone. 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.
Want to see what the home-based math curriculum of the iPad age looks like? Designed by the highly regarded French app developer, GameLoft, Playful Minds is a $3 iPad-based math curriculum that provides a leveled, K-2 math curriculum, mixed with an assessment system along with a set of arcade-like games to reinforce the content. After you login (with an email address) you see a series of islands, each with an animal professor host, along with a game-board. Each stop represents a new set of problems. The problems are mostly multiple choice or correct answer. They’ve been pulled from “Skill Sharpeners Math” — one of many inspired by the NCTM standards for K-2. Content includes 300 exercises and mini-games organized around Algebra, Geometry, Data Analysis, Measurement, and Numbers & Operations. Directions and explanations are displayed in print and by narrator; the app can handle up to five children. Features include the ability to adjust sounds and toggle between US or UK English. 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.
New from BinaryLabs (makers of Dexteria), LetterReflex takes on the common issue of letter reversals. The app features kinesthetic learning techniques to help kids tell the difference between b’s and d’s, as well as other commonly reversed letters and words. While letter reversals are developmentally appropriate and normal for girls until the end of first grade and boys through the beginning of second grade, LetterReflex addresses the topic in a low pressure way. 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.
Once you get past the idea of touching the swarms of realistic roaches, ants, or bees, children quickly fall for this collection of 18 counting and classification activities. There are two modes. You can move through a series of structured challenges progressively (progress for one player is bookmarked), or you can freely explore. Management features include the ability to toggle on/off scores, achievements, visual instructions, extended introduction or the background music. The leveling causes the app to get easier if a child struggles. A “bonus mode” presents the hardest challenge. 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.
New from French publisher So Ouat! (now named Chocolapps), a rendition of Adventures of Robin Hood, in the form of a 25 page/screen retelling of the classic story, complete with pop-up animations, on-screen text and audio narration and a full-screen cartoon video of the story. The HD version includes mini-games. Children might find the hooded Robin in a crowd, compete in an archery tournament, and storm Prince John’s castle to rescue Maid Marian. Other features include: ‘touch pronunciation’ (touch a word to hear it spoken); “explain to me” (a word’s definition and its opposite are given, to provide context for unfamiliar words); “show me” (an illustration displays to represent a word); and “Karaoke reading” (designed to help children learn to read the story themselves). 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.
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.