Cell and Cell Structure By Emantras Inc includes videos, awesome graphics, and very good descriptions of the science being demonstrated. The navigation of the app is outstanding and we love that we can turn off the background music without losing sound for the videos and other audio in the application. If your child is learning about cells or is interested in science, this is an engaging app that can teach them a lot about that one subject.

Not to say that Cell and Cell Structure By Emantras Inc is limited, but rather that the single subject it tackles is rather large in scope. There is a lot to learn about cells! I certainly learned something by playing with the app and my ten year old has returned to it several times and I still think she has some material to cover.

The quizzes are a great addition just to check your knowledge after each section, because again there is a lot of material in Cell and Cell Structure By Emantras Inc!

Attention – 5
Learning – 5
Fun – 2 (this is a learning app, but engaging while not “fun” it is fun as in Mr. Wizard (remember him?) fun!)

Total – 12

Of course my daughter is curled up with her iPad wrapped in the Big Grips Frame for iPad 2 – Pink. The iPad is so much more comfortable to hold in the Big Grips Frame for iPad 2 – Pink. Other than spills, there is little she could do to hurt the iPad in this frame!

My ten year old daughter’s classroom just received 10 iPads and I could see this app being installed on each one. The math isn’t hard, but the timer makes it challenging. You can see in the video my ten year old is making a few mistakes and really wants to get the right answer, but the timer adds some stress.

Can your child learn from Operation Math™ By Spinlight Studio? Sure. It takes your child through addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Your child will need to already know the answers, so Operation Math™ By Spinlight Studio is really a reinforcement tool and not an introductory tool. That is to say you would not use Operation Math™ By Spinlight Studio to teach your child division, but instead use it to reinforce the concepts your child already knows.

The graphics are great, and I mention in the video that this app is really geared towards boys, which is cool because I do not see a lot of that in the stores (I am a boy/dad!).

iPad only.

Attention – 5
Fun – 3
Learning – 5

Total – 13

Of course you will notice that we have our iPad wrapped in the Big Grips iPad Frame. Even my ten year old like the frame. It makes it more comfy to hold in a chair since the iPad can be sort of sharp without the Big Grips iPad Frame on it.

Be sure to check out the video:

For some reason I think boys might enjoy Thomas & Friends: Engine Activities By Callaway Digital Arts, Inc. more than girls just because, well, Thomas is a train I guess, but my daughter still loves the app and game.

Is it typical that Thomas & Friends: Engine Activities By Callaway Digital Arts, Inc. would b so popular? Is it an easy formula to come up with a great activity app? It seems not. The activities in Thomas & Friends: Engine Activities By Callaway Digital Arts, Inc. are similar to those activities you would find in a traditional coloring book, puzzle, and matching game set. Three in one!

Attention – 4
Learning – 3
Fun – 4

Total – 11

If course we love the Big Grips iPad case. Be sure to check it out:

Loud Crow Interactive does an amazing job of bringing stories to life. It is as if the cartoon version of the story is melded with the book and made into an interactive story book movie on the iPad. It really is magical when you see your four year old engaged with Charlie Brown and friends just like you probably were 20, 30, 40? years ago! It is worth it. Believe me.

A Charlie Brown Christmas By Loud Crow Interactive Inc. retains the classic feel of Charlie Brown while taking advantage of the touch screen, gyroscopes, display, and processor power of the iPad. You can read a long with the book or have the volume turned off and read it all by yourself. The characters move, the snowflakes pop, and you can repeat paragraphs or single words if you want.

This is a fun to read book and you could use it as a reading reinforcement book, but it is not something I would consider a learning to read book. The words are just a bit too small. The story and graphics stand out, but it isn’t something I would use to teach my 3-4 year old to read with. That is just fine! I just wanted to point it out.

Attention – 5
Fun – 4
Learning – 3

Total – 12

There is no question you should be downloading this app right as you read this. Here is a link to make it easier:

We all remember the books with flaps as kids. By the time I got a hold of a book with this hidden gems they were all very well worn and easy to notice, some were ripped right off in fact. That is hard to do with the iPad version of these books. The flaps are a fun addition to the story and usually hide something silly and funny.

The Berenstain Bears Trim the Tree By Oceanhouse Media is a neat story of out favorite family of bears getting their tree ready for the holidays!

Fun – 4
Learning – 3
Attention – 4

Total – 11

It looks like the Big Grips iPad Frame is sold out! We love that iPad frame and hope that as you read this you already picked yours up or have one on order for Christmas. Check the other colors if Pink is out of stock. It is a no brainer. Buy the Big Grips iPad Frame.

In the video you can see we struggled to get accustomed to the controls a bit. Getting the review so close to Christmas we rushed to record the video. Over the following weekend my ten year old and four year old picked up the app many more times and really enjoyed the challenge. I was asked to help my four year old a few times, but that is common with a game of this sort.

Elf Rescue By Lapland Studio Ltd isn’t really Christmas over done. Sure there is an elf, who dies a lot, reindeer, presents, and snow, but that is about as far as the theme goes. It seems pretty appropriate to me.

I wonder if Lapland Studio is actually located in the north of Norway or it is just a name themed on Laplanders since early on that is where St. Nick was supposed to have come from I think. In either case the game play is unique and fun and very challenging. The same experience as an Angry birds, where you are challenged and want to come back for more, but the game play is much more interesting in my opinion and those of my children! I played this game much more than I should have I guess!

Attention – 5
Fun – 5
Learning – 1 (some fine motor skills and the Zelda type of learning too)

Total – 11

Of course we have our iPad wrapped in the awesome Big Grips iPad Frame. We love that frame/case and still recommend it. My daughter can play the iPad in the car, at her grandparents, and just about anywhere else! Instead of worrying about her dropping the iPad we just need to ensure the iPad is charged and we are all set!

After you pick your photos the book begins and as you probably guessed, it uses your photos in the book. My four year old was very happy to see her own face in the book. She has seen apps like this before and they are always a big hit. This Christmas twist just makes it that much more fun.

Outside the novelty of picking your own faces the other faces in the book are a cute addition. They book is well done in tradition Oceanhouse Media format. I prefer this narrator to others for some reason and I can tell my four year old does too. I have a feeling Picture Me Christmas Cutie By Oceanhouse Media is an app that will remain on the iPad so that we can revisit it each Christmas. We have already went through the book about five times and will probably do it a few more times as different people come to visit over the holidays.

Fun – 5
Attention – 5
Learning – 1 (my four year old did learn to select the image and rotate it. She is working on her fine motor skills, so this counts!)

Total – 11

Of course we housed our ipad in the Big Grips iPad Frame. We love it and would never leave home without it.

We are pretty sure our ten year old has stopped believing in Santa, but our four year old is still a strong believer. This app sure can help that belief stay alive. As a parent I was able to add both of my children and naughty or nice. I was able to take a photo of my living room and show Santa appearing and delivering some presents! It is amazingly realistic.

Santa’s Big Helper: 9 Christmas Apps in 1 By Wet Nose Design Ltd is a fun app for kids to track Santa too! You can tell where he is at this moment and when he is to arrive. Personally I would skip the elf videos. I was a bit put off by the character, but the kids seemed to think it was funny enough.

Parental settings (to take videos and add children) are password protected, so set your kids free on the Santa’s Big Helper: 9 Christmas Apps in 1 By Wet Nose Design Ltd app!.

Your older child can even write a letter to Santa! My ten year old was not willing to participate, but it looks like a neat way to digitize that wish list!

Attention – 5 (for a few more days!)
Fun – 4
Learning – 0

Total – 9

Of course The Night Before Christmas – Enchanted Tales By Oceanhouse Media has the usual outstanding images, narration, and story of all Oceanhouse books, but this time with an engaging story that I was not familiar with. I suppose I could have chosen the read it myself option and explored the book before I presented it to my four year old, but together we got lost in the story of the toy factory, the orphans, and the few antagonists.

The Night Before Christmas – Enchanted Tales By Oceanhouse Media is another book from Oceanhouse that you can choose to sit down and explore with your child, read it to them, have it read to them while they choose to turn the pages, or in “back seat mode” as I call it, you can have it self play. Together with a nice iPad Frame/case/stand like the Big Grips iPad Frame the “back seat mode” could be used to fall asleep to.

Can your child learn to read with The Night Before Christmas – Enchanted Tales By Oceanhouse Media? Perhaps not. But they can learn to LOVE to read. One of the benefits of reading a book to your child is that they learn the style of reading, the cadence, the pace, the stopping points, and the narration is key. You get all of the various forms of reading styles with this and many of the books from Oceanhouse Media.

Attention – 5
Fun – 3 (it is a book!)
Learning – 3 (there are some lessons in this book that are clearer to me)

Total – 11. A very good book. A must have.

The animations and drawings are done in a typical Dr. Seuss style, but with less color. I almost felt like I had downloaded a copy of the book before it was sent overseas to be colored I bet that is not the case and instead is meant to match the overall style of the original.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas! – Dr. Seuss By Oceanhouse Media is a classic Christmas book, story, movie, and now app. Just having the book to enjoy on a cold winter night makes the purchase worth it. I haven’t given it a try, but showing the app on a flat screen with the whole family via HDMI might make for some new traidtions!

Fun – 2 (it is a book)
Attention – 4
Learning – 3

Total – 9

Of course we watch the whole book in the best frame we have found for the iPad2 – the Big Grips iPad Frame. We love the case. Just yesterday (when the video below was recorded) our four year old was walking into the kitchen with the iPad in her case as it always is. She hit the doggy gate and nearly dropped the iPad! If not for the awesome grip the Frame provides the iPad would have been on the ground. We have a tile floor and without the case it would certainly have dented the iPad at least. I bet with the case it would not have even mattered.