Today I want to share another discovery of some free book apps from ABCmouse.com – The Aesop’s Fables Series.  I reviewed a book app The Aesop for Children from Library of Congress.  That one is for older kids, who can read by themselves.  The series from ABCmouse.com are designed for younger kids who have just started learning to read. Currently there are 4 titles in the series: The Tortoise and the Hare: how a tortoise win a race against a hare… Read more

Valentine day is a couple weeks away.  What are you going to do with your kids?  Are you going to give them gifts?  I have two books today that are perfect valentine gifts for the kids and great for reading on Valentine’s Day. Cooper’s Big Bear Hug: A sweet young bear wants to find a way to show his mom how much he loves her. He asks for ideas and finally he found the best way …  This is one… Read more

I reviewed several apps from ABCmouse.com, including the 3 Zoo Sets and Grand Canyon.  Now they have a Beginning Reader Series: Word Families, helping kids learn phonics via word families.  Currently there are 6 titles in the series. All the apps are free. What a great resource of early literacy for kids! This is a series introducing “young learners to the joys of reading through stories that emphasize word families, ie. groups of words with the same ending sound, such as… Read more

After I reviewed Word A Day Visuals and Audios, I found out the developer VocabAhead has some other vocabulary apps.  One of them is SAT Vocabulary Visuals and Audios.  It has over 1000 SAT most common words.  Like Word A Day Visuals and Audios, SAT Vocabulary uses funny pictures and story audios to help kids learn.  I like their full-brain learning approach a lot.  With the combined effect of visuals, audios, and contextual storylines, it makes understanding and mastering tough English… Read more

Puzzingo is a fun puzzle game for toddlers and preschoolers.  There are so many puzzle apps out there, I pick this one out because it is a little different – it incorporates the language learning into the puzzle play.  While playing, kids develop their fine motor skills and learn word recognition at the same time. It is a free app with In-App Purchase options for more theme packages.  Come with the free download, there is one package with 5 themes… Read more

When I reviewed the SplashMath App, I was really in love with the app. Because it provides a comprehensive math exercise for kids at elementary school, with all the contents aligned with school curriculum.  Today I am even more excited to share another app that is also linked with school curriculum, and what is more, it includes Math, Language Art, and Science for Grade 3 to 5, and Health for Grade 5 – this is a total of 10 titles. … Read more

McElligot’s Pool is a new book app from Oceanhouse Media.  It is on promo price $3.99. Note: The promotion price ended, it is $4.99 on App Store. The original print book is one of Dr. Seuss’ earliest work.  It was published in 1947, won 1950 Young Reader’s Choice Award, and was an honor recipient of 1948 Caldecott Medal award. A boy named Marco was fishing in a small pool.  When he was told there were no fish in the pool, his… Read more

Today we have a guest reviewer Jenn.  She is a social media researcher and blogs at SocialMediaPhobe.  Jenn and I got to know each other when we were trading emails about an interview she did on iGameMom.  If you are interested in knowing a little more about iGameMom, you can read her post HERE.  Having young children at home, she is sharing a math app for pre-schoolers today – Lola’s Math Train. Lola’s Math Train reinforces early mathematic skills for the 3-5 year-old kids. Your children will love… Read more

Sofia the First is a TV movie for preschooler on Disney Channel.  Premiered last fall, it received positive reviews.  Now Disney is making it into a TV series on Disney Junior.  In the meantime, Disney Publishing released the first “Sofia the First” storybook app for iOS devices. Sofia is a girl who suddenly became a Princess when her mother married the King. She found there are so much to learn … The story helps young children learn how to adapt… Read more

Did you dissect a frog when you were in school?  How did you like it?  Today I am going to introduce an app Frog Dissection.  It brings the whole dissection process onto iPAD.  It won’t replace the real practice, but it is a wonderful tool to learn about the dissection process, the organs, and frog’s body and life.  For those who can’t enjoy the real dissection, this app offers a great alternative to dissecting on a real frog. The app… Read more

WWF (World Wildlife Fund) launched a new app recently, called WWF Together. The app introduces the amazing animals, such as tiger, elephant, panda, with stunning photographs.  With the short paragraphs and interesting facts about the animals, it is great for after-dinner read aloud with families. I think I am going to read it with my son. There are some interactive activities in the app.  For example, kids can cut the bamboos with their fingers to reveal facts about panda. For each animal, there… Read more

Leo’s Pad Appisode 1 is an interactive animated appisode designed for preschoolers by a team including Stanford University education experts.  It is about the adventures of the 8-year-old boy Leonardo da Vinci and his friends.  If you are not sure what appisode is (like me), you can think of appisode as an episode of a TV series.  Leo’s Pad Appisode 1 is Free, but the following Appisodes are not. What I like the most about this free app is it… Read more

If you followed me for a while, you probably know Toontastic – the creative app that teaches kids about story telling by letting them make their own movies.  It teaches the concept of “story arch”, the 5 steps of storytelling.  It is a great app.  Young kids can create stories using the app, but they may not be able to fully grasp the “5 steps of storytelling”.  To solve this issue, LaunchPad Toy developed a separate app for younger kids called… Read more

Animal SnApp: Farm is another great book app from Nosy Crow.  Some other apps from them are: Rounds: Parker Penguin, Rounds: Franklin Frog, and Bizzy Bear Builds a House. Designed for kids aged 2 to 5, it is filled with endearing characters and interesting stories. When kids start the app, they will see a mis-matched animal picture: the top is from one animal, and the bottom is from a different animal. By sliding either the top or the bottom, kids… Read more