What fun Apps!   The Trip Little Critter Reading Adventure is based on Mercer Mayer’s classic book of the same title and features his incredible original artwork.  It is a story book app with two options. One is to go on a Reading Adventure, two is to just read the story yourself, which is a great option for this app as the Reading Adventure can take a long time. On this adventure the whole Critter Family needs to get to Lake Wakatookee for… Read more

ABCmouse.com released another free app: 26 A-Z Music Videos.  It is a companion app for their newly released music album The Letter Songs A to Z.  In the album, there are 26 original letter songs helping children learn the names and sounds of the letters, and corresponding vocabulary.  Each letter song is produced and arranged in a different musical style to introduce children to a wide variety of musical genres, including folk, pop, R&B, big band, country, rock, tango, disco… Read more

Last week the Piwi kids and I reviewed the first title in the Human Body Detective (HBD) Series by Dr Heather Manley. The main characters are young sisters, Merinn and Pearl, ie. Human Body Detectives.  They show kids 6-12 year olds how their bodies work, and how they can stay healthy with good choices in nutrition and exercise.  In addition to the app, they also have a website and curriculum go with the apps.  We will have a review of the immune system curriculum posted soon.  Today we are sharing… Read more

The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey from scholastic is a chapter book series geared toward school age boys. This book app is filled with action, thrills, and laughs. Your child can read the book, have the book read to them, or you can read it to your child. The silliness puts a fun spin on reading and a great way to draw in active, adventure seeking kids. The app has three sections: first the chapter book, second an… Read more

Over the next few weeks the Piwi kids and I will be reviewing the Human Body detectives (HBD) series for iPad.  There are 3 titles based on the Award winning (printed) books written and illustrated by Naturopathic Doctor, Heather Manley. Young sisters, Merinn and Pearl are Human Body Detectives. After reading a lot about anatomy they both are able to use their imagination to go on adventures inside the body to solve medical mysteries. The HBD series aims to teach… Read more

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories by Dr Seuss is another app produced by Oceanhouse Media and adds to their mighty cannon of Dr Seuss related products. I have to admit to being a very late latecomer when it comes to Dr Seuss. I was never introduced to it as a child and hadn’t read any of the stories until I had children of my own. I know, I know! My only excuse is that it just never featured… Read more

Traveling with kids can be one of two things…an absolute joy, or a terrifyingly stressful ordeal. The best thing a parent can do to prevent the latter is to BE PREPARED. Enter my secret weapon—the iPad. On long bus, train or plane rides, we do as many non-digital activities as possible. But the inevitable point always comes when the iPad is the best solution. My arsenal of Apps always have a real world component, that means whatever activity we do… Read more

Today’s post focuses on learning activities for kids.  First we are going to introduce an app for toddlers, then we will look at the learning activities shared at last week’s Mom’s library.  There were so many interesting activities shared last week, it was hard to pick which one to feature.  Finally I decided on an article with 35 gross motor activities, bug and butterfly learning, and how to use chalkboard in everyday learning.  The app I want to share today… Read more

Does your child like to play in the kitchen, pretending preparing meal?  You may want to check out Toca Kitchen.  It is from the same developer who made Toca Doctor. Toca Kitchen lets the kids explore food and cooking, without mess in your kitchen. When kids start the app, they will see 4 hungry characters: a boy, a girl, a cat, and a bull.  Kids can pick any one of the 4 characters to cook for.  Then kids can open the… Read more