I have seen some apps using augmented reality to turn ordinary coloring pages into 3D pictures on mobile devices. Today I am sharing an app that can do that and more. DreamWorks Color is a free app that brings coloring pages to life into 3D pictures. Additionally, kids can collect the objects they colored, and put them into a 3D setting and interact with their colored animals or other objects in the new 3D settings. When you first start the… Read more

Many studies have shown that taking notes by handwriting helps kids better understand the material, better at connecting the dots of what they know, and memorizing more of the content. However, we also know digitized notes are easier to keep and organize. It will be ideal if you can take handwriting notes on iPad or other tablets then easily digitize the notes. MyScript Smart Notes is just an app letting you do that. It is best to go through the… Read more

We are all familiar with the concept of photo editing thanks to the many photo editing tools and apps like photoshop. We can not only change the lighting and color of the picture, we can also add or take away parts of pictures, or combine several photos into one. You might think these photo editing is relatively new, but as I learned from Faking It, photo editing has been used for long time. Faking It is a free app from… Read more

Do your kids like dinosaurs? How about trucks? and How about combining both into one? Dinotrux is a new Netflix show by DreamWorks for kids age 4 and up. It is based on the picture books of the same title, but the show has expanded the stories from the book tremendously. To accompany the show, DreamWorks also launched a free app of the same title. If you have kids like dinosaurs and trucks, you don’t want to miss Dinotruk. Netflix… Read more

I have heard of SimCity for a long time, and my son has played the game. However I have not really get the chance to really look into the game till now. It is a free app available for both iOS and Android. After spending sometime on it today, I like it. In the game kids will build a city and learn city planning and building. It is another simulation game I don’t mind my child playing. When kids start… Read more

Many kids have free access to internet. As parents and educators, we all know there are many good educational content out there, however, there are also content that are not kids appropriate and we don’t want our children to see. A lot of app developers and educators are working hard to create safe environment for kids, and today’s app WonderBox is a wonderful example. It is a completely free app, where kids can find articles, visual, videos on educational topics… Read more

Can you learn physics through art? Physics In Art is a free app teaching kids physics through art. It is designed by a physics professor at Drexel University. The artworks used in the app are all from Philadelphia Museum of Art, but you don’t have to be at the museum to use the app. The app has pictures of the artworks. Of course, if you are visiting Philadelphia Museum of Art, it will be neat to go to the real… Read more

ABC Galaxy is a new app that for kids to learn words by alphabet. Kids play games and learn letters and words start with that letter. It is a fun app for kids to expand gain and expand vocabulary. It is free to download with all the games for letters A to F free. To access to games for all letters, there is In-App Purchase. When kids start the app, they see the galaxy with planets circling around. They will… Read more

DIY Lake Water is a free hands on science app for kids from UC Berkeley’s The Lawrence Hall of Science. We reviewed their DIY Sun app, which is also free. This new app DIY Lake Science is another fun science app for kids who are interested in natural science. Funded by NSF, it allows families and educators to investigate and learn about lakes and other freshwater ecosystems at home, at school, or anywhere you go. For those who don’t have… Read more

Love of reading is the best gift parents can give to their children. The most important factors that are shown with positive effect of children’s reading ability are the availability of books at home and parents reading with kids. Now children are spending more and more time on digital devices, it is a good idea to have reading apps for kids on your smart phones and tablets. Digital books on mobile devices have many advantages. Mobility is one, carrying many… Read more

LumiKids just launched their 2nd app LumiKids Beach. It is a series of apps from Lumosity designed specially for kids age 5 and younger. I liked their first app LumiKids Park, so once the new app is available, I checked it out right away. It is another wonderful early learning app for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners. It is free right now. As stated by the developer team, the LumiKids series is not intended to be brain training for kids, but… Read more

We have been using OverDrive for a while. I really like it. It saves trips to the library and brings the library books to your mobile devices and computers. You can borrow digital books to read or audio books to listen. You can even borrow videos to watch. It is a free app works on almost all devices: Apple, Android, Windows devices, PC and Mac computers. I have mostly used the app on my iPad and iPhone. But you should… Read more

Four Letters is a free app of fun word games. It is not for young children, but it is a fun one for school age kids who have certain vocabulary already. All words in the games are 4 letter words. Think it will be easy? Try it out. It is fast paced fun vocabulary game that the family can play together. You can even set up a competition among family members. The game play is quite easy. The player is… Read more

Scratch Jr is a free app from the developers of Scratch at MIT. It is designed for younger children to learn coding. Different from other coding apps for young children, it encourages storytelling as well. With the many interactive functions, parents and teachers can use it as a customizable tool to teach kids many other subjects, such as following instructions, counting, coloring. When you first start the app, there is a tutorial video. I highly suggest going through the video… Read more