Math Samurai By Edin is a fun and simple math reinforcement app. The game play is mesmerizing to young kids. The swiping and slashing it challenging enough to keep the game interesting while reinforcing what your child is learning in school.
A simple math learning app that is fun to play. Math Samurai By Edin is definitely a download because it offers a different way to learn math. Instead of figuring out the answer you need to figure out the operand. A great take on classic math skills!
The app spans a large age group because you have the change to go to harder levels as you get better at the problems. My ten year old was having some fun/trouble with the hardest setting. It is a challenge. Learning is fun with Math Force Delta By Brian West.
Brian West seems to have a good handle on learning apps. We have reviewed his apps before, and loved those too!
Exploring the idea of money and possessions isn’t something we like to have to talk with our kids about. It’s Not What You’ve Got! – Dr. Wayne W. Dyer By Oceanhouse Media handles the initial conversation and gives us a starting point for the rest of the talk as it pertains to our situation. There are many lessons in this book/app that a parent just might not explore with their child and perhaps some diversions for when the talk gets a little tough.
It might seem silly to have an app about possessions on the iPad of all things, but all kids have concerns about possessions and money. Simple things like not using credit cards and living within your means are great things to learn or at least understand when you are young. I wish I had understood these things back then!
Great graphics, good story, and very well told. Easy to listen to.
Fun – 1 (Purely a learning app)
Attention – 4
Learning – 5
PadRacer By SMHK Funlab is really a game for the whole family. As a young boy I would have found it irresistible, but as an not-so-young man I have been able to enjoy the game with my ten year old. We just now figured out how to link both iPads! (You have to choose the last track – e I believe).
The game is as fun as it is novel. As long as you have an iPad and at least one iPhone hooked to the same WIFI network you are set. You easily setup the game on the iPad then start the app on the iPhone(s) and you are linked. I haven’t seen a case where this didn’t just work. My iPads even connect to a different wireless band then the iPhones 4s so it was cool it worked just fine.
Game play is challenging especially if you are like my ten year old and like to hit boost constantly! The cars handle like 1940′s cars might. Very loose. The tracks are fun to build and you can see in the video we try to make them as crazy as we can before the app tells us NO!
Hooking up two iPads is fun, but not any more fun than one iPad. This is a novelty game that is fun for the whole family and some friends. Definitely worth the download!
Fun – 5
Attention – 4
Learning – 1 (Some games are just fun!)
Total – 10
I am marking PadRacer By SMHK Funlab as an iPad only game since it requires an iPad to play the game.
Time Run by Marc Didillon is a fun and simple app from a great guy and a great uncle. Time Run by Marc Didillon simply has you running (it is called a side scroller) and trying to catch butterflies. There isn’t much more to the app than that other than it is simple and fun. A great distraction while you are waiting for your food to arrive or in line at Disneyland or something.
My four year old likes the app and has played several times. She cannot make it very far unless the vacuum comes out, but still she has fun doing it. Check out the video for more!
Fun – 5
Attention – 3
Learning – 1 (perhaps they learn to count a bit or hand eye coordination)
I asked Avatron is I could review Air Display because I thought it would make a great way for my daughter to play Flash apps on the iPad and I was right! Since my daughter is usually using my iPad in the house (90% of the time) she is connected to the same wifi as my computer.
With Air Display I just load up a browser with Nick Jr and she can tap away! It take a minute or two to configure Air Display the very first time, but after you have the little widget installed on your PC or MAC (we have tried both and they work well!) you can connect over wifi by selecting the iPad running AirDisplay.
I have used it on my iPad as well when I just needed another screen. Actually that is what the app is meant for, but I really wanted my daughter to have a full Firefox web browser experience on the iPad for a few things and this solution works well. You can do the same thing with your iPhone, but for kids this screen seems to be a little small.
(no rating because this is not actually a kids app exactly, but a solution for parents with kids)
Great app. Definitely worth the list price. Next to iTad RDP and VNC which I am also reviewing this one requires almost no configuration at all.
BilingualABC English-Espanol by BilingualABC is a fun app to learn your ABCs in English and in Espanol. My ten year old daughter has a friend who speaks Spanish, so my four year old is familiar with the idea that some people speak different languages. I was not as concerned with her learning the letters in Spanish as I was interested in this app working as a reinforcing app for her English ABCs.
It is a neat app and works well. It has some interesting choices for the objects that represent each letter, and that is a nice touch. The voice is very well done. I can also see my ten year old, or myself, using this app to actually learn the alphabet in Spanish.
Paint My Wings by Toca Boca is an app my four year old absolutely loves. She took to it immediately and has painted probably 40 butterflies in the past few days. She spends a lot of time one each butterfly and of course she takes a picture of each one.
Paint My Wings by Toca Boca is another beautifully simple app. You are presented with a butterfly and asked to paint its wings. On the left you get several colors to choose from but the colors come as blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc. The neat thing is that when you paint the left wing the color is automatically repeated on the right (just like we assume in nature). When my four year old realized this she was very pleased. You could see the recognition in her eyes.
Your child just paints with her finger and can adjust the “brush” in the bottom left. For older kids (or parents) this means we can create some neat butterflies. For the kids it is a change of pace. Great app.
Fun – 5
Attention – 5
Learning – 2 (hand eye coordination, but really this is a fun app not a learning app).
Dolch Words by Tap To Learn is really 6 grades worth of words to learn. It is a simple app where you child learns to recognize words by placing the letters into the right position. The word and letters are repeated along with a picture of the object the word represents. It is a nicely done app that has the potential to teach your child a lot of words.
The words get pretty hard. It lists up to level or grade 5, but really it is the type of word that gets difficult. The words become more abstract. This makes them harder to understand and grasp. The idea being that you learn to spell the word and recognize it by sight. Good idea, common practice.
Attention – 3
Learning – 5
Fun – 0 (It is a learning app)
Some apps are hard to describe. I guess it is good that we make videos of each app.
MemNeon by Alchemista is one of those apps that is hard to describe. It reminds me of a game I would play if I were a tron character. Awesome graphics, a great sound scheme, and an interesting game.
What type of game? Well I suppose it is like Simon says, but much more complex. This is like Simon Says for MENSA members. It is challenging and fun to try and remember the patterns. You get better at it. After playing for about an hour I was much better than when I started. Am I getting smarter? I am not sure I can tell. Perhaps sharper?
The video shows my ten year old playing the game. She was doing well, but you can see how quickly things can go wrong. If you like puzzles that are obvious yet difficult this game is for you. I enjoy it a lot. I think it is appropriate for a challenge competition. Probably ten and up at least.
I played it on my iPhone first and it was enjoyable. Plenty of room. We recorded it on the iPad, but one app fits all (I like it when developers do this).
Attention – 5
Fun – 4
Learning – 3 (I just cannot quantify the learning, but am sure it is at least making my brain work which is good).
