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:

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!

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

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.

Even my four year old gives it a try, but really it is still a little too hard for her. She can understand that the airplanes are meant to be sorted, that they cannot touch, and that they go away, so it is fun for a four year old, but the game is over so quickly.

My ten year old loves the interactive gameplay. In the video you can see that my wife brings in the other iPad and we start a joined game right there on the “fly” (pun totally intentional). That gives Flight Control HD By Firemint Pty Ltd some legs. Just like another of MY favorite FireMint games: Real Racing 2, when you can have a friend (or even a stranger!) join you in a game, it becomes more interesting.

The gameplay is deceptively simple. You simply land each plan in the matching colored runway or helipad. Do not let the planes crash and you are set. My high score is 44, my ten year old can make it to perhaps 12, and the four year old lands 2-3. Fun!

Attention – 4
Fun – 4
Learning – 2 (some fine motor skills, organization, who cares? It is fun!)

Total – 10

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!

Simply put it is an interesting and fun version of Angry Birds that is appropriate for kids and challenging for everyone. My four year old loves the app and even though she cannot figure out how to pass a level, she loves to watch when I help her out. It puts a bit of thought into the Angry Birds game (I have passed all levels of Angry birds with a 2 star or above and realize some thought must go into getting three stars in that game too).

The point of Where’s My Water? By Disney is to get your poor alligator his water for a bath. Some of the pipes are broken, there is ooze in some places that will contaminate your water, there is moss growing and sometimes many pipes and levers to figure out.

The graphics are very appropriate for a young child and the challenge can go all the way up. It is a puzzle game made fun by the ease in which your chile can start over if they try something that does not work. The game encourages trial and error. We really like Where’s My Water? By Disney in our house and it is a front page, must have app.

Attention – 5
Learning – 2 (it is not a learning app necessarily!)
Fun – 5

Total – 12

iTunes Link!

Remember that we always have our iPad in the Big Grips Frame for iPad2. We love the Big Grips Frame and we are sure you will too. It makes the iPad easy to handle for Dad, Mom, and our four year old.

Check out the video of our four year old getting the water to her alligator.

The game is funny for kids to play because the chicken is so helpless and loses so many feathers. It is easy enough early on for your young child to get the hang of the swiping of the chicken to get the movement going. It gets to be pretty challenging, but my four year old (in the video) and my ten year old both love the app and play whenever the mood strikes them.

I cannot tell you my high score, or how many levels I have made it to myself because to me that isn’t the point. It is a fun time waster that is really addictive for young and old alike. Will your child learn something? Perhaps not, but some games are just really well done, with awesome graphics, simple and effective physics and a lot of fun. Awesome Chicken By Dennis Logan is one of those apps!

Fun – 5
Attention – 4
Learning – 0 (it is not a learning app!)

Total – 9 (totally fun and addictive).

Of course we protected our iPad using the Name Your Link and we love the case/cover. Be sure to click the special offers just below the price to get the stand and case for a discounted price.

iTunes link