Another Monster at the End of This Book, sequel to The Monster at the End of This Book, is set to FREE today, as a result of sponsorship. Now when you open the app, you will see a sponsored ad at the beginning and the end of the story as a way to support the app. There is no way to stop the ad showing up, but you can turn it off after it appears. If you don’t want your… Read more

While it is getting warm, I start collecting ideas on activities we can do outside.  I found a FREE app called Curiosity School. It has instructions on making a water wheel with egg carton. We did it over the weekend.  It is very easy to make and we all had a good time making it. While running the water wheel, we had opportunity to talk about how energy can change its form, and how we can change the natural energy into… Read more

Oceanhouse Media have pulled out another Dr Seuss app from their creative hats. Everyone’s favourite cat in a hat makes an appearance, along with an astoundingly large extended rhyming family including I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today, King Looie Katz about the king of cats, The Glunk that Got Thunk about a little girl who likes to think, as well as The Big Brag about a couple of show offs, The Zax where we meet two stubborn characters, Too Many Daves-in… Read more

A while ago I discovered a digital kids magazine on iPad called Timbuktu. You access it as an app, and each month you receive a new issue on the app. I like the app a lot, the design is bright and the delivery of the learning is fun and engaging. I invited Francesca Cavallo, Co-founder & Creative Director at Timbuktu Lab give iGameMom readers an introduction about the app magazine.  Here is what Francesca shared with us: Timbuktu Magazine is an interactive educational iPad magazine… Read more

On iGameMom, we have reviewed a couple book reader apps.  You can think a book reader app as a book library or book store, where you can find many books, and pick which one you want to read or purchase.  Recently, Bethany from No Twiddle Twaddle told me about an app from Sylvan Dell.  As soon as I looked at the app, I felt in love with it right away.  In Sylvan Dell, all the books are science and math… Read more

Jake’s Never Land Pirate School App from Disney Jr. is really cute. It offers itself (tongue in cheek I think) as Pirate ‘School’ borrowing from other school themed Apps, it has various leveling games laid out in a school room structure. Your child can take classes in: Sailing: a motion activated game where the iPad is tilted from side to side to navigate a ship’s path. Pixie Dust: a maze game where kids collect little clouds of pixie dust along the… Read more

Montessori Numbers is designed to help build sound mathematical foundations in children aged 3-7 by using a concrete, visually significant material inspired from the Montessori methodology.  I love the visual association they used in the app: for 100, it is a 10×10 square; for ten, it is a rod with 10 units sticked together.  We used a toy called “Big Ten” when my son started learning numbers, it had similar visuals, and it helped him greatly in understanding the real meaning… Read more

Finally, an app ALL of my kids love!  What a joy as a parent to find a place, toy, activity, or game that all of your kids can enjoy together.  Well, I bring you an app the whole family can enjoy.  What makes Toy Story: Story Theater so great is everything your kids bring to it.  It requires you as a parent to be an audience member.  But getting to see the vastly different stories each child created is a happy… Read more

Do you have a lot pictures on your phone? Today I am sharing two collage apps I have been using, plus one I just discovered. All apps are FREE. They are all very easy to use. You can use them yourself, or you can use them with your kids and create some family picture collage together. I am sure the kids will have fun and the collages can easily become mother’s day gifts. There are tons of collage apps out there, if you have one you… Read more

Does your child like games?  Would he/she be interested in make games of his/her own?  Hopscotch is a FREE app allowing kids to create their own games and animations.  Even if the child has not shown much interest in programing, it is still worth a try on this free app.  Why?  Here is the information on App Store Hopscotch introduction: “By the year 2020, there will be a projected 1.4 million computer jobs but only 400,000 Computer science students. Computer… Read more

If you have a child who likes baseball, you have to get these two apps when they are FREE now, for limited time.  Everyday Mathematics Baseball Multiplication 1-12 Facts and Everyday Mathematics Baseball Multiplication 1-6 Facts. They both are multiplication practice apps – as you can tell one is for numbers within 6, one is for numbers 6-12.  Although the app title says 1-12, while I played the game, I only get numbers between 6-12, so you do want to… Read more

Sight words are very important in reading ability development.  According to Patricia Cunningham in Phonics They Use, “In order to read and write fluently with comprehension and meaning, children must be able to automatically read and spell the most frequent words. As the store of words they can automatically read and spell increases, so will their speed and comprehension.” We want our children be able to “read to learn”, but they have to pass the “learn to read” stage first… Read more

Now more and more people are reading on mobile devices.  If you have a favorite website you like to visit frequently, you can make it easy to access on your iPhone, iPod or iPAD with an icon on your home screen.   Today I am going to share with you how to add a website’s icon on your iPhone, iPod and iPAD home screen, just like an app icon. 1. First, go to your web browser and open the website. 2. Tap on… Read more

The Bingo song is a well known classic children’s song. The Bingo Song HD app brings this song to life for kids to interact with, sing along to, as well as fun animal flash cards that helps make learning farm animals fun. This app can help children recognize the names and sounds of animals, various colors and characteristics found in the game, and it lets the child express themselves with a sing-a-long karaoke option to the Bingo Song. This app also encourages clapping and stomping, which… Read more