Toca House is from one of my favorite developer Toca Boca.  It is FREE today only. Like other Toca Boca apps,such as Toca Doctor, Toca Tailor, Toca Kitchen,  it is open-ended play with no winning or losing.  It teaches kids about everyday chores of a household. Once kids open the app, they see this big house.  They can visit different parts of the house by swiping figures around.  Depending on the room or the yard location they stop at, kids can help… Read more

Social and emotional development is a skill children start developing right out of the womb. Whether it is the gaze into a parent’s eyes or being sang to while getting a diaper changed social-emotional development surrounds all of us. As children grow they begin to become aware that their emotions have names. iLearn with Poko: Emotions and Colors is a great tool to help preschoolers through school age recognize certain emotions and how they are used in our day-to-day life… Read more

Today we have a guest reviewer from South Africa.  Nikki Heyman is a speech language therapist with over 22 years of experience.  She also has a qualification in remedial education (cum laude), with a special interest in Autism Spectrum Disorders.  She is married with 2 teenage children.  Today she is sharing her expertise on two apps that help kids on social skills.  Here is Nikki’s review: Social skills are all the things that we should say and do when we… Read more

Britannica Kids: Ancient Rome is such a great app for upper elementary and middle school kids.  It has rich content yet all at the appropriate age level, no matter it is the length of each article or the vocabulary choices.  The games are fun and are tied very well with the main contents.  As an app full of historical facts, it is surprisingly engaging. When kids open the app, they will be at the articles section.  At the bottom of the… Read more

Toca Hair Salon is another app by Toca Boca, who developed Toca Doctors, Toca Kitchen, and Toca Store.  All are recommended by iGameMom.  For limited time, Toca Hair Salon is FREE on App Store. In Toca Hair Salon, kids will be hair dressers or stylists.  They will cut hair for one of the 6 characters: a red-head boy, a pink hair girl, a guy with orange hair, a bear, a lion, and a dog.  Tools and items they can use… Read more

The other day I took my son and his friend to their soccer practice.  During the ride, I overheard the two 4th graders talking about who they will vote for if they can vote.  Their discussion triggered my search of good educational materials about election.  Of course, I started with apps.  I found that quite few news companies have election apps.  They are designed for people to keep track of the poll results and election related news.   I only found… Read more

Real Friends vs. The Other Kind is the 2nd book app in the Middle school confidential series. As the title suggests, this book app addresses friendships among middle school kids. What is a real friend? What do you mean when you call someone friend? What do you do if a friend gets her way all the time? What do you do if a friend ask you do something you don’t want to? … These are all real questions from real… Read more

Does your child know your telephone number? Are you having a hard time helping him/her remember your phone number?  Now there is an app for that.  After playing the Number Monkeys game, your child will be able to sing your telephone number. Before letting the kid play the game, you have to put in a correct phone number you want your child to remember. When kids are playing the game, they interact with a group of silly monkeys who encourage… Read more

The Oregon Trail is an educational simulation game teaching kids what it was like to be a pioneer traveling west in the 1800s.  It is based on the classic PC simulation game The Oregon Trail, which was created in the 1970s. It is a fun app that kids can play games and learn history at the same time. In the game, kids join a historic wagon train traveling west ward from Missouri to Oregon. To start, kids can choose who they want to… Read more

One of the Toca Apps is FREE right now.   All Toca apps I reviewed are good.  I did not review this one, but want to pass on the news.  For Toca Apps I reviewed, please go here and here. Introduction at the App Store:  Have your kids ever played store at home? Now you can turn your iPhone or iPad into a Store Play Set – without any of the cleaning up afterwards! It’s the perfect toy for your… 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

The Monster at the End of This Book is an app version of the classic Sesame Street picture book from the 1970s. In the book, the adorable Muppet Grover tries to stop children from turning the pages so they will never reach the end of the book, where he believes there will be a monster. However, it turns out that at the end of the book there is only Grover himself.  The app enables the interactive activities kids can have… Read more

Feel Electric! is an app that teaches kids emotions and language skills, which are important building blocks for emotional intelligence. I introduced “ABA Flash Card and Games – Emotion”, which is designed for babies and toddlers. Feel Electric is design for kids 6 and older, or kids who have some basic reading and spelling skills. It is a fun app teaching kids emotion expression skills. The app’s characters are from the cast of the PBS show The Electric Company. Through fun games… Read more

This is an app that helps babies and toddlers understand people all have different feelings and emotions.  By showing various pictures of people (mostly kids) with different emotions, it teaches kids to recognize different emotions. It has a play mode – the flash cards will be randomly shown and read to the kids.  You can also choose the game mode – the kids can play some matching games.  As parents, you can decide which card to be shown.  You can also… Read more