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Picture Me Christmas Cutie By Oceanhouse Media

  • December 21, 2011 7:50 am

Picture Me Christmas Cutie By Oceanhouse Media is a really fun story book that let’s the whole family in on the fun. The idea is that you pick pictures from your media library or take new photos right there on the spot using either camera on the iPad or iPhone. We used a mixture of new photos and photos from our photostream in the app. Some photos worked better than others, but after we recorded the video we had a lot of fun picking some silly faces to use.

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.

Animals Coloring by theColor.com

  • December 5, 2011 7:30 am

Animals Coloring by theColor.com is a very simple and straight forward coloring app that shines in the variety and simplicity of the app. Animals Coloring by theColor.com has the usual features that allow the artist to pick a crayon, save a picture of the artwork, zoom, and stay within the lines very easily.

The choices of things to color is very extensive. I haven’t counted, but there must be over a hundred different pages to color in the app. Of course you can color a single page over and over again, but choosing which page to color is half the fun!

My four year old had no trouble with the app and enjoyed the experience a lot. I think the app is really suited for a younger audience, but it should span all the way up to a 5 year old or so. Sometimes it is more fun to actually swipe your finger to color, but other times you want an app like Animals Coloring by theColor.com that just uses the paint bucket to do the dirty work!

Attention = 5
Learning = 2
Fun = 2

Total = 9

iTunes Link

Be sure to check out the video for the whole experience and as always note the Big Grips iPad Frame. We took that case to a restaurant the other day, to a gymnastics competition, and over to grandma’s house. We love it!

iCount-to-10 – Early Learning Method for iPad

  • September 5, 2011 7:10 am

iCount-to-10 – Teach Your Child to Count to 10 – Early Learning Method for iPad is a versatile learning app for kids learning to count.

iCount-to-10 – Teach Your Child to Count to 10 – Early Learning Method for iPad includes a set of animal cards that allow your child to hear the sound the animal makes. These same animals are used later in the game when your child is learning to count. This makes for a nice correlation between fun and learning in the app.

iCount-to-10 – Teach Your Child to Count to 10 – Early Learning Method for iPad includes several different levels, but ultimately your child is learning to count and recognize numbers with their animal friends. Your child is going to spend some time going through the app and come back to it time and time again. As an educator and parent I appreciated some of the learning tips provided in the details of the app so be sure to check those out when your child lets you play with the iPad!

Learning – 5
Fun – 3
Attention – 4
Total – 12

100 Butterflies By Little Five Games

  • September 2, 2011 7:34 am

100 Butterflies By Little Five Games is a very simple counting app. The graphics in 100 Butterflies By Little Five Games are very well done and well suited for a target audience of young girls learning to count. My four year old loved to click each butterfly and see each fly away as they came out of their cocoon.

What your child is going to learn is number by repetition and I think this is the perfect app for my four year old at this point. She can count to 13, but gets a little mixed up above that number. She has yet to realize that there is a system to the numbers and that is where this app can help. Repetition can drive that idea home.

The other game in the app asks your child to find the numbers in sequence. This gives the app another dimension where your child is quizzed while still learning the numbers. There isn’t a score or a reprimand, but only a suggestion to look for the correct number as it is spoken. Great job on that!

Learning – 5
Attention – 3
Fun – 4
Total – 12

A great number learning app. Stands on its own teaching by repetition in a simple game.

Candy Count – Learn Colors & Numbers

  • September 1, 2011 7:29 am

Candy Count – Learn Colors & Numbers is a fun and simple numbers and counting app. Your child can learn numbers, counting, large and small, and sorting skills in this app. It is a very well presenting numeric learning app. The graphics are very well done and the gameplay works as expected.

The only issue I have with the app is the price. It is free, but in order to unlock the full app it requires an in-app purchase. In this case it does not seem like the purchase could be abused, but I wonder why the app isn’t $2.99 from the start. If the idea is to provide a demo or light version, then do so, but the in app purchase model does not work in this case.

Still the app is a worthy download. Just download the app, do the in-app purchase and have the full app. It is worth it!

Learning – 5
Attention – 5
Fun – 5

Total – 15

iTunes Store

Tappie Colorit By ADUK GmbHZanymation

  • August 29, 2011 7:01 am

Tappie Colorit By ADUK GmbHZanymation is a fun app for youngsters to learn about shapes and colors. Tappie Colorit By ADUK GmbHZanymation is a very simple app with only a few aspects to the learning, but that is the point.

The app opens and tells you that it is appropriate for 1+ and I bet Digital Baby would agree. It is the perfect app for the child who knows how to use an iPad, but hasn’t gotten all the shapes and colors down yet.

My four year old likes the app, but has it mastered. She still has fun playing it for 10 minutes at a time.

Fun – 5
Attention – 4
Learning – 5 (for young kids this is a great learning app).

Total – 14

Leo The Lightening Bug by Eric Drachman

  • August 26, 2011 7:40 am

Leo The Lightening Bug by Eric Drachman is a very nice book made app. The story of Leo the Lightening Bug is a very popular children’s book and it makes for a great app. The story itself is one of triumph and something a lot of kids will be able to associate with. From laughing at the misfortune of others to overcoming your fears and worries.

The graphics are very well done and the animations, although very simple, are appropriately used. The voices of the characters caught the attention of my four year old very quickly and made the book interesting. More interesting than I could have made it dare I say.

Will my four year old read this book more than once? I am confident she will read it many times in the coming years. How long does it last? Perhaps 10-12 minutes at a time, which is the perfect time span for a four to five year old’s attention. If she makes it five minutes into the book, that is fine too.

Attention – 5
Fun – 3
Learning – 3 (it is not a learning book)

Total – 11

Air Display By Avatron Software, Inc.

  • August 23, 2011 7:33 am

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

  • August 15, 2011 7:46 am

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.

Learning – 5
Attention – 3
Fun – 3

Total 11

Baby’s First Monsters: 123 By Three Brothers

  • August 7, 2011 7:11 am

I was a bit confused when I first opened Baby’s First Monsters: 123 By Three Brothers. I thought that it might just be a dictionary app for kids to learn about mythological creatures. I was wrong.

Baby’s First Monsters: 123 By Three Brothers is a fun learning game, in this case numbers is what you will be learning. By visiting the various islands you can count the ears on the monsters, or the feet, or just the monsters themselves. Without realizing it your child is counting by twos and threes and so on. It is a fun app with great artwork that will keep your child engaged.

My four year old really likes the app, but isn’t quite ready to actually get the counting by multiples yet. That is ok she can still experience the app and learn through practice. It is fun to watch and achieve the various levels of the game. She still learns to count by singles and a great re-enforcer for when she starts preschool in a few days.

Fun – 5
Learning – 5
Attention – 3 (she wont play it for hours, but still very engaging)

Total – 13