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Operation Math™ By Spinlight Studio

  • December 27, 2011 7:34 am

Operation Math™ By Spinlight Studio a very interesting, fun, and I am betting effective math app/game. Operation Math™ By Spinlight Studio allows for more than one player, automatically pulling in the competition that can drive from some constructive competition among peers. Of course this should be monitored, as in any classroom activity, but this idea makes Operation Math™ By Spinlight Studio really appealing.

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:

The Night Before Christmas – Enchanted Tales By Oceanhouse Media

  • December 20, 2011 7:56 am

The Night Before Christmas – Enchanted Tales By Oceanhouse Media is a very interesting offering from Oceanhouse Media. At first I was almost sure it was the story of Scrooge, but I was wrong.

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.

Tacky’s Christmas By Oceanhouse Media

  • December 12, 2011 7:20 am

Tacky’s Christmas By Oceanhouse Media is another great app/book from Oceanhouse Media. Since we are focusing on Christmas apps we are starting off with a couple great books from Oceanhouse and my kids love penguins for some reason.

In typical and awesome Oceanhouse Media fashion, Tacky’s Christmas By Oceanhouse Media is very well written, narrated very pleasantly, and has just enough interactivity to keep my four year old interested. She knows that she can click on each object to hear and see the word it represents. She can hold a paragraph to have it repeated, but rarely does. Swiping the pages is the most fun it seems and she gets really upset if you turn the page early! A sure sign of a good book.

Watch the video for a taste of what Tacky’s Christmas By Oceanhouse Media has to offer. Will your child learn to read in this format? I am not too sure, but I am confident this format will work as a good reinforcement to other reading activities.

Attention – 4
Fun – 3 (it is a book not a game)
Learning – 4

Total – 11

iTunes link

It is great to read/watch/play with these books when you have such a great iPad stand and frame. be sure to check out the Name Your Link. We love ours.

i Learn with Poko: Additions! by Tribal Nova

  • December 9, 2011 7:00 am

i Learn with Poko: Additions! by Tribal Nova is a great additions app for a young child. Poko will teach your young one (ages 3 probably) to count up to 6, then up to 10, then even further. The object of the app is simple and any child that has basic counting skills can begin to have some fun very quickly.

i Learn with Poko: Additions! by Tribal Nova asks your child to “add” by simply counting the objects on the screen. Once they have an idea of how many objects were knocked down, or selected, your child can pick the correct number from the bottom of the screen. Is it easy? Sure. Effective? I bet it is.

Our four year old has no trouble with the game, but does not yet understand that she is adding numbers. Instead she sees it as a counting game, which is ok too. It just might be a bit misleading if you are actually trying to teach your child to add 2+2 and get 4. Instead this app does not provide your child with the numeric representation of the numbers to be added, so traditional addition that they might encounter in kindergarten isn’t accomplished. Still it is a fun learning app for sure.

Attention – 4
Fun – 3
Learning – 5

Total – 12

As always we have our iPad2 covered with the wonderful Big Grips iPad Frame to keep our iPad2 safe. We love this frame!

Website Link

Pinocchio HD By So Ouat

  • December 8, 2011 7:30 am

Pinocchio HD By So Ouat is like the other books we have reviewed by So Ouat, very well animated, well performed, and interesting.

The story of Pinocchio is familiar, but the way the book is performed is a big factor in the success of an app. Pinocchio HD By So Ouat does an outstanding job of telling the traditional story of Pinocchio.

The written word is done really well in this book, but it does not give the option to click on individual words. My daughter rarely uses that feature, so I do not care so much, but it is a nice feature of other apps/books.

The animations and books is where Pinocchio HD By So Ouat really shines. The animations are just great. They make the book seem like a still movie.

My four year old was not excited to read the book again since she had been through it a few times. Once we got the app going and she got into the story she finished the book again. I can see her reading this many times over the coming years.

Attention – 4
Fun – 3
Learning – 2

Total – 9

iTunes Link

Of course we have our ipad covered with the Big Grips iPad2 frame and stand. We love that think!

There’s a Wocket in My Pocket! – Dr. Seuss

  • October 21, 2011 7:40 am

There’s a Wocket in My Pocket! – Dr. Seuss is another fun story book from Oceanhouse Media and Dr. Suess. Your kids are certain to enjoy the funny rhymes from Dr. Suess and in an iPad format it is all the better.

My four year old likes to have the book read to her “by the iPad” and can click on the objects in the story to hear them sounded out and see how they are spelled. The book has a lot of areas to explore and the graphics and color, which are classic Dr. Suess, are perfect on the iPad.

Fun – 3
Attention – 5
Learning – 4

Total – 12

Check out the video below and of course we have our iPad wrapped in the Big Grips Frame for iPad 2 – Pink

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

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

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

The Going To Bed Book Sandra Boynton Loud Crow Interactive

  • May 30, 2011 7:46 am

We have come to love The Going To Bed Book Sandra Boynton Loud Crow Interactive. It is a neat book to read just before bed. Initially I wasn’t impressed with the voice, but realized that it is a very soothing voice for my daughter. She still gets to play with the characters as we have come to be accustomed to.

The book does a great job of getting you ready for bed. The characters all do the normal pre-bed tasks. You interact with them and my favorite part is the screen fogging up. A neat book by a great author narrated in a very appropriate manner.

Attention – 5
Fun – 3
Learning – 4

Total – 12