For some reason I think boys might enjoy Thomas & Friends: Engine Activities By Callaway Digital Arts, Inc. more than girls just because, well, Thomas is a train I guess, but my daughter still loves the app and game.

Is it typical that Thomas & Friends: Engine Activities By Callaway Digital Arts, Inc. would b so popular? Is it an easy formula to come up with a great activity app? It seems not. The activities in Thomas & Friends: Engine Activities By Callaway Digital Arts, Inc. are similar to those activities you would find in a traditional coloring book, puzzle, and matching game set. Three in one!

Attention – 4
Learning – 3
Fun – 4

Total – 11

If course we love the Big Grips iPad case. Be sure to check it out:

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.

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.

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.

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

My four year old really got into the story even though she had heard me read it before. Given that it had been a few weeks since she last heard the story it could be she had forgotten or that it is just that interesting to her. I hadn’t realized she had found the “sticker” app within the book and that she knew she could draw rainbows too! On the regular reading pages of the book the elements on the page can be moved around too! So while you are reading you can ask your child to interact with each “page” in the book. Awesome.

Princess Rainbow By Victor Bravo is one of those story books that adds just a little more so that your child can spend a little more time in the app and it makes the characters more familiar too.

Princess Rainbow By Victor Bravo doesn’t have the best graphics of any book we have seen, but my four year old didn’t seem to care. The Princess and fairies made the story interesting to her and the decorating game sealed the deal.

Great app for young girls.

Fun – 5
Learning – 3
Attention – 4

Total – 12

Have fun while killing germs, repairing bones, clearing up a red eye, and more. My four year old has played with this app for HOURS so far. In the past few days she has spent more time with this app than any other. Over and over again she fixes the bones, plugs the nose, applies bandages to the scrapes. She is really having fun.

Does it teach anything? Sure it does. Perhaps some responsibility and cleanliness. It also makes the breaks and scrapes seem less scary. It is a fun and engaging app.

Must have this app!

Fun – 5
Attention – 5
Learning – 3

Total – 13

I was afraid that she was not going to get the hang of the panel in the upper left corner but she took to it quickly. This is the second app of this kind and it works well. A simple interface that keeps your child interested for a good period of time. Is your child going to learn numbers or letters from this app? Probably not, but the fun coloring and learning about the different transports is worthwhile.

Fun – 4
Learning – 3
Attention – 4

Total – 11

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).

Total – 12