Pretty soon, kids will start spring break. Some families will travel. I did some search on apps teach geography. I found Stack the States. With this app, kids will learn about capitals, state shapes, and map locations with animated states that stack, drop, tumble, and slide around like puzzle pieces. In the game, the player is asked a question (identification, capital, national landmarks, etc.) and if they choose the correct answer from four multiple-choice options they can use that state… Read more

Khan Academy has become a phenomena in the past couple years. It offers free online classes on subjects like math, physics, or history. The topics include: K-12 math, science (such as biology, chemistry, and physics), finance, history, test prep (GMAT, CAHSEE, SAT math, etc). The level of the courses ranges from elementary school to college. Couple days ago, Khan Academy launched their App. Like their online courses, the app is free. It enables you to view Khan Academy’s complete library… Read more

On my way home, I heard the news that the movie Lorax, based on Dr. Seuss book, was the top film in the U.S. and Canada for a second weekend. In case you are interested in buying the book, I suggest you consider buying the Lorax app instead. It is not just because the App costs $3.99, half the price for the book (just checked on Amazon). The app offers so much more than the paper book. The app is designed… Read more

Everyone in our family had fun with this game. It is a fun brain training game app for people of all ages. It is challenging and fun. The free app has 5 mini-games, and there are 8 more available via In-App Purchase. It is a great game app for kids to training critical thinking and problem solving skills. The description at AppStore says it all: Discover a series of ingenious mini-games especially created to test various cognitive abilities such as… Read more

Here is another FREE book app for you. What I like the most about this app is the option to choose among 7 languages, and each is read and written professionally. The story: A twist of ‘The little Red Riding Hood’ story, Mr.Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes “transports the reader in a whimsical world where all sorts of funky characters cohabit in harmony at the sound of dreamy jazz music”. ‘Red Hood’ went to Grandma’s with Ginger Cupcakes. Mr.Wolf is… Read more

Today is Dr. Seuss’s birthday. This free app is a perfect gift to celebrate the beloved author’s birthday. When you start the app, you can choose the song you want to play, and the way you want to play. There are 10 songs, all are soundtracks of Dr. Seuss, such as Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham. Among the 10, 3 are free. The rest can be unlocked by earning points or in-app purchase. You can choose between… Read more

Jan Berenstain passed away two days ago.  My son loved Berenstain books when he was young.  After reading the news, I can’t help looking up the Berenstain book apps.  I am glad to see 18 Berenstain book apps in the App Store, all made by Oceanhouse Media.  I tried a couple and was quite impressed.  I wish we had these book apps when my son was young, so we could carry many books on a light-weighted iPAD, and he could read in the car even when… Read more

I created a math problem for my son when we played Tiny Tower together.   Hope you can use it for your child as well. The problem: It takes 25 seconds for the elevator to move from first floor to the 5th floor.  How long will it take it to move from first floor to the 9th floor? The correct answer is – 50 seconds.   Did you get it right?  Make sure you get it right before asking your child.  If… Read more

After playing Flight Tycoon for a while, my son is in the mood to build a city. I found Tiny Tower for him. It is not about building a city, instead it is a simulation game building a tower, creating and managing businesses in the tower. You can have apartments, tea shop, photo studio, comedy club, laundromat, … You make money from apartment rents, and from selling the products. When you make enough money, you can build more floors. One… Read more

Learning about US Presidents is easy with this app from Britannica. The app has features, fun facts, and a nice quiz section.  I particularly like the quiz section, which is hidden under the “menu” at the bottom of the starting screen. Below is the description from iTunes: Britannica Kids: U.S. Presidents takes young learners on a fun and educational meet-and-greet with the 44 U.S. presidents. IDEAL FOR HOMEWORK HELP Bring the Oval Office into your living room with detailed profiles… Read more

A couple of weeks ago, my son found out our metronome was not working. He was having trouble with one of the new music pieces. His teacher suggested practice with a metronome. A friend told me about a free iPhone App called Chatternome. I downloaded to my phone. However, when we used it, we realized it is hard to set the tempo. You select the tempo by sliding an oval-shaped dot along a line – moving up leads to slower… Read more

I don’t know much of the video games my son plays. But at least when he mentioned the name, I know what it is about. When the games got on iPad, the situation became worse. All I see is the little icon on the screen, I did not get to watch him play anymore, since it is so portable and so small, he can easily hide in a corner and I would not know where he is. One day, I… Read more