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.

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

Snowman Scramble By Matthew Demma doesn’t teach you much except that snow melts and snowmen can dance and give each other “‘sup bros”, but that isn’t the point. It is a fun game that is challenging. Your kids are going to have a better score than you and they can rub that in dad’s face!

Fun – 5
Learning – 0
Attention – 4

Total – 9

I am sure we still haven’t figured out all the nuances of each page. Shaking the book does one thing, picking the right frame does another, and there are even drawing games.

I “read” this book with both my four year old and ten year old. The former liked the interactivity and the latter was looking for the information the book provides. Both found it rewarding from what I could see.

I love books like this that are much more immersing than you can get with a “regular” book. The graphics, and audio, and interaction are tough to beat!

Fun – 4
Learning – 4
Attention – 5

Total – 13

The ball is bouncing on a platform which is a whole. The ball becomes a fraction that you need to use to bound on the appropriate portion of the platform (the whole). The neat thing is as you miss the platform gets more defined and you can tell where to bounce more precisely. It is a great spin on fractions learning and a fun game to play.

My ten year old and I were having fun with the voices during the video. Be sure to check it out!

Fun – 5
Learning – 5
Attention – 5

Total – 15 perfect score!

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.

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

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)

Total – 9