Special Needs

Special Needs

Recommended educational apps to play with your child on a tablet with Special Needs

The iMums Favorite Reviewed Apps for Autism

Did you know according to the latest report from the CDC a staggering 1 in 68 people are diagnosed with Autism? The iMums wanted to showcase some of the apps that are helpful to people with this complex neuro-developmental disorder.  Many children with Autism respond really well to electronics, and iPads can be a very useful tool for them.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are all unique individuals, so there is no one app that will be suitable for every child with Autism. This list includes some of The iMums favorite apps that we have reviewed that were designed specifically for children with Autism, or that help with skills that children with ASD often have difficulties with. In addition to the apps listed below, we have reviewed many more special needs apps and encourage readers to visit the Special Needs category on our website to find apps suitable for a particular skill you are working on with your child.

 

These Apps are Specifically for Developed for Kids with Autism.

 

TOBY Autism Therapy - On... icon

TOBY (Therapy Outcomes by You) Playpad by Autism West is designed for children under 7, who are not yet receiving specific interventions for Autism, or are in the early stages of therapy.  It is a comprehensive Early Intervention Program designed for home use with children with Autism and includes both on and off iPad activities. Each day, TOBY suggests a list of activities to do, and this changes as the app adapts to the child’s progress. Read our full review here……TOBY Playpad – Autism West

 

 

Go Go Games

Go Go Games by Go Go Games Studio includes 3 games: Build-a-train, Wheels and Roads and Out of this World, each has 6 levels. Children with ASD often have “tunnel vision” honing in on one specific feature of an object, and this app helps them to learn to look at multiple features of an object. It is also useful for  working on pattern recognition, matching and  fine motor skills. It is a great deal at only $3.99. Read our full review here….   Go Go Games

 

 

Autism Core Skills - Academic, Communication, and Social Skills Plus DataCore Skills by Infiniteach Inc is an educational iPad only app built by autism experts who have worked with children on the Autism Spectrum. The app is designed for those with autism or other developmental delays to help them reach their fullest potential. The app offers materials ranging from preschool through first grade level lessons in academics, social and communication domains based on Common Core Learning Standards. Infiniteach is an autism edteach company which is dedicated to developing educational iPad apps for students on the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Christopher Flit, the Founder and Chief Creative Officer was a special education teacher who trained over 12,000 parents and teachers in Illinois and across the United States about best practice autism strategies. Read our full review here……Core Skills by Infiniteach Inc

 

 

Autism Learning Games: Camp Discovery Pro

Autism Learning Games: Camp Discovery Pro by Center for Autism and Related Disorders Camp Discovery is a large and comprehensive collection of learning games specifically designed for those in the Autism spectrum. It is based on a proven curriculum developed over 25 years by the Center for Autism and Related Disorders. Read the full review here
Autism Learning Games: Camp Discovery Pro by Center for Autism and Related Disorders

 

 

See.Touch.Learn Pro

See.Touch.Learn Pro by Brain Parade  is an incredibly flexible learning tool. It contains over 4,000 pictures and over  2,000 pre-prepared lessons. It also allows you to add your own images and easily create your own lessons. It was designed to be used for ABA therapy, but can also be used to teach a huge range of skills.  It is about to have a massive update this month, so now is a great time to buy. The Pro version contains all lessons and libraries, a free version is also available where you can buy specific libraries as in-app purchases. Read our full review here……….See.Touch.Learn Pro

 

 

Kid in Story Book Maker: Create and Share Personalized Photo Storybooks

Kid in Story Book Maker by Enuma, Inc. is designed to make it easy to create your own stories starring your child. For many children with Autism, social stories can be a very powerful tool to help them deal with new situations and experiences. The app includes 12  ready made templates for stories, plus you can add your own. It makes it easy to add photos of your child or other family members into the story. Read our full review here……Kid in Story Book Maker

 

 

Axel's Chain Reaction

Axel’s Chain Reaction is a beautifully illustrated story with captivating voice-overs that put readers in Axel’s shoes as he faces daily social challenges and as he uses his special talent to become the story’s hero. Read our full review here…..Axel’s Chain Reaction

 

 

 

Avokiddo Emotions - Dress, Feed, Play With AnimalsAvokiddo Emotions by Avokiddo is  a delightfully interactive app featuring a giraffe, zebra and a shy and sleepy sheep. Identifying emotions can be difficult for children with Autism and this is a fantastic app to use to explore emotions in a variety of contexts. As children play and explore the app the animals are very clear in their emotions, and like or dislike of specific objects. Read our full review here……………Avokiddo Emotions

 

 

 

Toca Hair Salon

Toca Hair Salon by Toca Boca This is a really fun app and great for imaginative, open-ended, creative play. You can style the characters hair and add accessories and using facial emotion see  they like and dislike!
Toca Hair Salon

 

 

Toca Life: Town icon

Toca Life: Town by Toca Boca You rule this Town, a play world where anything and everyone is welcome! With different locations and many classic Toca Boca characters, the everyday adventures in Town are infinite.
Toca Life Town

 

 

Dr. Panda Bus Driver iconDr. Panda Bus Driver by Dr. Panda is a fun app featuring Dr. Panda driving a bus around either a city, countryside, harbor or a variety of other locations picking up and dropping off his passengers, painting the bus, refilling the gas tank and more! Much like a traditional bus, you have to stop to let passengers and other vehicles go by, stop for trains that will pass as well as clean up the bus after your “route” has been completed. This app is designed for preschoolers through early elementary school similar to other Dr. Panda apps and will provide hours of open ended play for them that uses fine motor skills both from seating passengers and driving the bus either with your finger or by gently moving your device to steer it so it stays in the road. Read our full review……….Dr Panda Bus Driver

 

 

Toca Store iconToca Store by Toca Boca creates a virtual shop where children can choose from a catalog of virtual products to stock and how much to sell them for. It can either be played alone or with two or more players. One can be the storekeeper and ring up sales, while the other is the customer. This is a great app because it facilitates turn-taking skills as well as simple counting. I also really liked the ability to purchase the items, and the magical coin purse coming up with more money as necessary for specific items. It also required individuals to finish their turns by first putting the item on the conveyor, ringing it up, paying for it, and then bagging it up before allowing someone to proceed on to the next step. Read our review………..https://itunes.apple.com/us/toca-store/id442705759?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4Toca Store

 

 

Money Up! - Learn to use... iconMoney Up! by pkclsoft is an app that teaches money skills for those who have a disability that makes it difficult for them to learn how to count change. It uses the dollar up method in which the student is taught to give an amount that is just one whole dollar above the item’s price. For example, if a drink costs $2.50, the student is asked to pay $3.00. This method not only helps students become more independent, but also keeps them from being taken advantage of by getting the wrong change back. Currently on sale for 50% off! Read our full review…………Money Up!

 

 

Injini Child Development Game Suite by NCSoft was developed to help young children with with cognitive, language, and fine motor delays. It features 12 different games, each with many levels. It is best suited for toddlers and preschool aged children and is a very comprehensive app to help them with fine motor and language skills, understanding of cause and effect, spatial awareness, memory and visual processing. Read our full review here……..Injini Child Development Game Suite

 

 

Bugs and Button is the first in a series of unique “Bugs &” apps by Little Bit Studios. It works on many cognitive skills including patterns, sorting, memory, mazes, counting, and letters. It includes 18 engaging games, with fantastic graphics. The games encourage visual tracking (great for reading skills) and incorporate many fine motor movements (e.g. point, pinch, isolated finger patterns, use of both hands). This app is a great brain builder and an even better motor builder – truly an OT’s delight!  At only $2.99 it is a real bargain. Read our full review here…..Bugs and Buttons

 

 

Custom Boards Premium by Smarty Ears
is an app for making your own visuals and activity worksheets using more than 120 easy-to-use templates, a built-in library of over 11 thousands Smarty Symbols and your own images.  The templates are grouped into 6 categories: Activities & Games, Grids & Boards, Schedules & Calendars, Worksheets, Devices & Switches, Read our full review here………Custom Boards- Premium – Smarty Ears

 

 

Articulation Station Pro by Little Bee Speech is a very comprehensive articulation app that provides multiple opportunities for the child to pronounce and practice all the 22 speech sounds in the English language. It offers opportunities to practice at the word, sentence and story level. As well as Flashcards it also includes a matching game; rotating and unique sentences; different story levels and comprehension questions. Read our full review here…………Articulation Station Pro

 

 

Articulation an articulation app that allows you choose your target words by phoneme, phonological process or manner of articulation. It works at both word and phrase level, and includes flashcards and matching game activities. You can work on initial, medial or final position; or any combination of these.  You also have the option to record the child and play it back – which children love to do  Read our full review……..Articulate it! – Smarty Ears

 

 

 

ConversationBuilder Deluxe by Mobile Education Store works on conversational skills, which are hard for many of our kids. It teaches the nuances of conversation, teaches ways to initiate a conversation and how to keep the conversation flowing naturally. Learning how to have a real 2-way conversation with your peers is a really important life-skill, but it can be hard to master, and this app helps in that processRead our full review here………..ConversationBuilder Deluxe

 

 

Language Skill Builder – Central Place for the Special Needs ABA Training by Pawel Maczewski is an app for learning basic and advanced language concepts and improving language comprehension skills. It includes a large question bank (600+), and allows the the quizzes to be customized to meet the users’ needs. Language Skill Builder is a great app for teaching basic language skills with an expanding question bank to meet your child/student’s growing needs……Language Skill Builder

 

 

WHquestions by Smarty Ears is designed to help children acquire the important social skill of answering WH Questions – What, Who, Where, When, Why and How. It is easy to use, has a video tutorial for beginners, and features over 200 questions in both audio and written form. Read our full review here………..WHquestions

 

 

Picture the Sentence by Hamaguchi Apps is used to practice listening skills, using basic pronouns and prepositions, and  to practice processing these parts into a whole sentence. Each part of the phrase is represented by a simple picture, and the child has to visualize putting each of these steps together to create a new picture that represents the whole sentence. The app has 3 levels and a built in reward game. Read our full review here…….Picture the Sentence 

 

 

I Can Have Conversations With You, by Autism Breakthrough Solutions, LLC is an app developed by ASHA certified speech language pathologist Karen Kabaki-Sisto, M.S. CCC-SLP., aims to help verbal children with autism engage in meaningful conversations. It can also be used by children with other speech and language disorders. Read our full review………I Can have Conversations with You

 

 

 

Reading Train Endless Books, Songs & Games – School Readers by The Learning Station is a digital library of over 200+ picture books kids can read and record created by Libby Curran, educator and author of award winning books. The Reading Train is a great concept for children from the get go. Once you have setup your child’s user account, they can get onboard the reading train and start learning! There is a large collection of reading books to choose from, some covering colours, animals, life science, shapes, maths etc all categorised and covered at three different reading levels. Read our full review…..I Can have Conversations with You 

 

 

AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) Apps

No discussion of apps for Autism would be complete without mentioning AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication). Many non-verbal Autistic children have found a way to communicate using AAC apps on the iPad, and it is much cheaper than a dedicated AAC device. This is an area where we strongly recommend consulting with an SLP who specializes in AAC, to decide which is the best choice for the child, as truly there is no “one size fits all.” Here are some AAC apps to consider:

Proloquo2Go by AssistiveWare is an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) App, it is a universal app that can be used on  iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The purpose of the app is to give users a voice and the ability to communicate. I found Proloquo2Go to be an app that surpassed my expectations for performance. I was blown away with the available help on the website and the seemingly endless custom options that were very easy to learn and implement.”  Read our full review here…..Proloquo2Go – AssistiveWare

 

 


Avaz for Autism
is an AAC app brought to the U.S. market from India where it was the first AAC introduced. The creators of Avaz have worked to create an AAC that is tailored to fit the use of people with Autism and their caregivers/therapists in an easy to use and customize way. A nice feature is the ease of social sharing, if you enable this feature, Facebook, Twitter and Email are available and and easy to do .
Avaz – AAC App for Autism (Augmentative Picture Communication Software for Children with Special Needs) – Invention Labs

 

 

So Much 2 Say by Close 2 Home apps is a versatile tool for basic communication. It was created expressly for the highly impacted segment of the special needs population. The app is recommended for individuals who are non verbal and lack an effective means to communicate basic needs and wants. Read our full review……So Much 2 Say – Picture Communication – Close 2 Home Apps, LLC 

 

 


SpeechHero is an Augmentative & Alternative Communication app (AAC) designed for the iPad. The app was designed to be used without any training on AAC devices, and contains a native tutorial and integrated help system to guide users throughout the app with an easy to use interface. The app includes CoreUtterance©, which predicts likely tiles based on the last one entered. The app is loaded with thousands of such utterances generated from common English speech.”  Read our full review here……SpeechHero AAC – The ultimate speech board and communication tool – Andrew McKinney

 

 


Alexicom Elements Child Home App is a AAC solution geared specifically to young children.  It comes with 70 preconfigured pages that include the vocabulary and associated pictures that a child would encounter going through his day. These include eating, dressing, washing, and a wide variety of leisure activity pages. Core words are also included.Read our Full review ….Alexicom Elements Child Home (M) SymbolStix – Alexicom Tech LLC

 

 

These apps were specifically chosen to highlight Autism Awareness Month, but are only a few of the many wonderful apps available to help children on the Autism Spectrum.

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Ages 5-7

Ages 5-7

Recommended educational apps to play with your child on a tablet for Ages 5-7

As a mom of a toddler, who is enamored with cars we are slowly introducing an iPad. With my older son we introduced the iPad around the age of 3 and naturally my younger son has been interested in seeing more.  There are so many apps on the market, it can be hard to decide what is appropriate for a child and what is not.  Below are some of my kids favorites.

Reading is a fun thing for my toddler to do on the iPad.  Usually we pair Hudson Puppy from Bluebee Pals to the iPad and he can either read the story to my son via narration while my son turns the pages and interacts with them or I can sit with him while we read the stories.

 


 

Bluebee Pals App Review by The iMums

Bluebee Pals App by Kayle Concepts LLC – Review

What we love…

Bluebee Pals app is a fun educational app which encourages kids to practice daily routines, using words to narrate what they are doing, sight words and play

 

Summary

Overall, the Bluebee Pals app is a fantastic app which encourages kids to learn as well as have fun. I love seeing all the different ways that my kids interact with the app and try the various activities. The app is gender neutral and allows you to pick your favorite Bluebee Pal to play along OR choose your own Bluebee Pal.

Our Rating

Bluebee Pals app by Kayle Concepts LLC is a universal app for iOS and Android. As many of you know, I have been part of The iMums for a really long time!

 

I’m pleased to note, that I had a chance to help design this app. The app brings BlueBee Pals to life using an app which teaches life skills such as; bathing, tooth brushing, washing hands, bedtime routines, as well as a kitchen which encourages your child to feed Bluebee a variety of meals and snacks. The app uses scaffolded learning, the first mini game is generally easier and for younger children – if you tap the arrow at the bottom you are given a more complex game for example, lining up your ABC’s turns into sight words. In the ice cream mini game, first you find the Bluebee Pals and then you have to match them to the appropriate beach chairs. You can learn more about the app on the Bluebee Pals website.

Upon opening the app, you are able to select your favorite Bluebee Pal – or one that you already have. Then you can view an instructional video where you learn more about Bluebee Pals and how to connect them. From there you can enter your child’s name – and while there touch each of the Bluebees to have them say their name and wave! Choose your favorite color balloon, and a favorite activity. A screen is presented with a variety of things you can do with your Bluebee Pals – did you know that Bluebee works with any Bluetooth enabled device ranging from a smartphone, laptop, smart TV, to a tablet? After that you are brought to the hub of the app where you choose a room for your daily activity – which I will highlight below.

The Bluebee Pal App

The app features narration and a variety of fun games as well. Below I will highlight each – these can be accessed either from the house hub or via the Bluebee Pals library.

  • Kitchen – Enter and exit the kitchen to try a variety of meal options including: breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Be sure to enter and exit the kitchen multiple times so you can see each of the meal options. The recycle bin lets you recycle items as well! There are cups, plates, food and even a cake to put on the table.
  • Living Room – Enter the living room and tap on the various objects including the couch, iPad and laptop to hear their name
  • Bedroom – Enter the bedroom and see how Bluebee cleans his room and puts his sneakers away! He also uses an animated guitar, shoe typing sequence and then a bedtime routine. In this room you can also put Bluebee to bed, change the covers and then turn off the light. After the Bluebee goes to sleep, you can go back to his bedroom and tap on the objects in the room.
  • Bathroom – Enter the bathroom and give your Bluebee a shower. Turn on the water and then tap the sponge to wash Bluebee’s fur. After getting out of the tub Bluebee needs to be dried with a bathtowel or blow drier. Then, brush the fur so it’s soft and clean. After bathtime, it’s time to brush teeth – kids move around the toothbrush to clean their teeth. After 20 seconds, teeth are clean and it’s time to practice washing hands. Then kids can tap on the items in the bathroom to hear their names.
  • Playroom – This room has learning and fun! Kids can practice their ABC’s and sight words, drag Bluebee through the maze, find a Bluebee on the island and match them to chairs, move cars and trucks around the track and hear their horns. Other mini games include a six piece puzzle, voice recorder so kids can record their voice — or parents can record their voice and have the app say it back. There is also a robot game where you assemble robots, dress up and match fruits to the right color balloon.
  • Bluebee Pals Library – Using this library you can select a mini game for the playroom. 
  • Bluebee Resource Section – this parental gated area requires a four digit date of birth where you can access resources including: voice recorder, activities along with app reviews, a letter from founder Laura Jiencke about Bluebee Pals. This parental gated area does contain external links.

My son loves this app – one of his favorite mini games is the cars and trucks around the track. He loves placing all the cars on the track at the same time and seeing them zoom around. As a parent, I love that the app has both an educational and fun component to it. My son will practice zooming cars, learning letters, practicing the names of foods and more! I really liked that we can show a bath routine sequence, and then follow through in real life. I also loved using the app with our Bluebee Pal Parker who speaks the narration and moves his head in time to the app. My son also loved reading with Bluebee – for a full list of items that you can try with Bluebee – look in the resource section accessed from the main hub of the house or try this link. The app contains a parental gated area with resources and external links. I find that my son is repeating words that he learned in the app – especially in the kitchen and I’ve even gotten him to ask for a few foods like banana as a result of seeing them in the app. Above, I have highlighted each of the individual areas and items within the app – my kids have spent hours discovering each section as well as practicing letters, puzzles, creative thinking to solve problems and more.

Overall, the Bluebee Pals app is a fantastic app which encourages kids to learn as well as have fun. I love seeing all the different ways that my kids interact with the app and try the various activities. The app is gender neutral and allows you to pick your favorite Bluebee Pal to play along OR choose your own Bluebee Pal.

iOS

Google Play

This review was originally published at The iMums.

NOTE: I was involved in the design of this app.

Learning Time with a Bluebee Pal

Learning Telling Time with Bluebee Pal

Todo Telling Time is a learning and interactive app for children K-2 that helps facilitate learning of time concepts. This educational app is also very functional because it relates to the everyday concepts and also helps target various aspect of time. With this app, children will learn to tell time to the hour and minute, calendar concepts, digital time, and the parts of a daily schedule. With this app, your child can also practice placing numbers around a clock face, counting by 5s, and learning estimation.

 

Todo Telling Time contains six multi-level mini-games. The games include learning days and weeks in order, putting numbers in order and learning number orientation on a Ferris wheel, learning about the timing and order of a schedule, learning time with a train game, building short-term memory and sequencing skills in a memory game and a quiz that assesses your child’s knowledge of time.

 

  1. Connect your Bluebee Pal. Choose from the six interactive games below. With Day the Weeks game, your child or student will be placing the days, months and numbers in order on a calendar. Let Bluebee reinforce the sequencing by saying the name of the day, month or number on the calendar. With the calendar game, your child or student can learn about time and schedules. It’s 8:00 am, time for school! After your child places the hand on the right location, Bluebee Pal will tell you what time it is!
  2. WIth the train game, your child or student or will learn digital time and Bluebee Pal will reinforce the time by repeating the correct time. With the memory game, the challenge is the find the number that was called out and shown to you briefly. Forget the number? Activate the rewind icon and Bluebee Pal will say it again!
  3. With the timed quiz at the end of the game, your child or student will be challenged with questions asked by Bluebee Pal such as “It’s 7:00 pm. How much time until 12:00 am?”. The time quiz gives you three choices that you can choose from.
  4. Continue having fun with Bluebee Pal and learning time by navigating through different levels and finding various ways to challenge your student or child. This app is so much fun you might run out of time!….https://www.bluebeepals.com

 

Early Academic Learning Apps for ages 5-7

When my older son was in kindergarten, I remember him coming home with a ring and a stack of cards to learn his sight words.  I had been working with him on reading and basic core skills to get ready for school.

 

Below are a few of our favorite apps that we used when he was in kindergarten and first grade.  Each of the apps highlighted focuses on a specific academic skill ranging from spelling, geography, problem solving, reading, word families, sight words, space and more!  I am glad that these apps helped to give my son some of the tools to succeed in school.


Early Academic Learning Apps for ages 5-7

 

Spelling HangmanSpelling Hangman by Emma Mills, is a new, exciting way, to practice the spelling words given each week. I work in an elementary school and “spelling” is no longer the term used; however, a similar concept exists. This app allows a child/student to work on their given words through a more enjoyable mode. Spelling Hangman allows the facilitator to record the words they wish to be practiced through a “Configure Test” option. This option allows the words to be set up under a given name such as “week 1”, or “ar words”, etc. As a speech-language pathologist, I believe this could be utilized within the therapy room as well. When working with a group of students focused on a particular sound (“r”, for example), the therapist could program in those words, allowing the students to try and guess words with “r” in them. Just an SLP’s twist on a general education app!  Read the full review.

 

World Of Liberty “Paintings, Planes and Pioneers”World Of Liberty Paintings, Planes and Pioneers  by World of Liberty.   Each of these interactive storybooks takes you on an adventure which involves the United States and a country connection to another country.  Other apps in the series include It’s Raining Pumpkins in Delaware and Chicago’s Green River Leads to the Emerald Isle!.  These  universal apps for iOS encourage kids to learn about history in a fun way that doesn’t make them realize they are learning.  This adventure features the state of Kansas and a school field trip to the Air and Space Museum where Liberty learns about Amelia Earhart and her red Vega plane.  The characters in the story are: Liberty Lane (the primary character), her toy eagle Georgie, her toy plane Truman and her dog Ellie as they adventure around the world. Her classmates, Tobi and Mei Li are also featured at the beginning of the story during the field trip and help her make the first connection about Amelia and her flight. Each story features “read to me”, “read to myself” and autoplay modes.  The app also features word highlighting as the text is read along with audio narration and background sounds.  Read the full review.

 

Build With GrandpaBuild with Grandpa by Fairlady Media is universal app for iOS designed to help kids with a variety of building as well as teaching them about environmental re-use as kids knock down buildings, drive a construction truck and design a new home to be built. The app includes six mini educational games which require choice of equipment from a field, addition which items add up to x number, painting, decorating, designing a house and more! It appeals to preschool, toddler and elementary school depending on which things your kids like to do with the app. Skills practiced in the app include, math to number 9, literacy through reading and identifying words, design, creativity, landscaping, problem solving, cause and effect. It also teaches skills about construction and how you go through the process of building something.  Read the full review.

 

Professor Astro Cat’s Solar SystemProfessor Astro Cat’s Solar System by Minilab Ltd is a fantastic app to get children excited about the great outer space. It is based on the book Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, by Dr. Dominic Walliman (quantum physicist) and Ben Newman (illustrator). It teaches astronomy in an a way that is interesting and easy to understand. The graphics in the app stays true to Ben Newman’s illustrations and has a beautiful retro look and feel. Professor Astro Cat’s Solar System explores the sun, planets, moon, and space travel. There are four areas of learning. First, on the left side of the screen are what I like to call fast facts. These are bits of trivia that are explained further when you click on the (+) icon beside each fact. Both trivia and detailed explanations contain only a sentence or two, making them easy to learn and remember, never overwhelming. Second, the planet/sun/moon unzips to reveal what it looks like inside For example, the earth unzips to reveal the core, mantle, and crust.  Read our full review.

 

Stack the States® 2Stack the States 2 by  FreeCloud Design’s Dan Russell Pinson.  You learn state capitals, cities, shapes, landmarks, flags and then after you answer a question correctly you can drop the animate state on the screen – but watch out if you are not careful your hard work tumbles away!   After successfully completing each level, you earn a new state.  The app allows you to set up multiple profiles so a parent can have a different profile than kids or multiple kids can play and the app can narrate and be based on what they have completed so far.  The app includes an interactive map with major cities and a 3D visual of each state with 10 different 3D scenes with various locations – we loved New York, Hawaii and Chicago the most especially the dolphins jumping.    Skills targeted include trivia, geography.  Read our full review.

 

The Sounding Out Machine - Assistive Reading DeviceThe Sounding Out Machine – Assistive Reading Device by FizzBrain is an iPad only app that helps kids who are reading to focus in on specific words that they may not know.  The app allows you to take words in three forms and then sound them out.  This app can be used with preschool through elementary school and is great for emerging readers.  By learning how to break a word down, they are more successful and ultimately that leads to more reading because it is fun rather than “something they have to do”.  It presents with a screenshot of the different types of reading modes.  You also create a profile for each child so that you can track the types of “hard” words on a daily, weekly and monthly basis so you can see change over time in reading comprehension. The three modes of the app are: Camera mode – take a picture of the page of the book using your iPad; Library mode –  Take a picture ahead of time, save it on your camera roll and open it when reading; Typing mode – Type in your own word.  A great app to practice word decoding skills in a fun way that doesn’t have the pressure of making a mistake in front of the teacher or let’s kids practice on their own.  I have seen great improvements especially in “hard words” and my son is asking to read now rather than being “forced” to.  Read the full review.

Piiig Forest Explorer: Natural Science for KidsPiiig Forest Explorer: Natural Science for Kids by Piiig Labs, is an app designed to introduce little ones to the few forest animals. It is an early science app, best suited for children up to first grade, and can be played in 8 different languages: English, French, Japanese, German, Swedish, Russian, and Chinese. The game begins with a chipmunk peacefully sleeping inside its burrow. When you tap on the chipmunk it awakens and scampers up, revealing that the opening to its burrow is a hole in a tree stump. Now it’s time to explore the forest to search for food and meet some new friends. Guide the chipmunk by tapping the area on the screen you want it to go to.  Read the full review.

 

Wonster Words - spelling... iconWonster Words by 77 Sparx Studio is an app for iOS which teaches kids words using word families, phonics, vocabulary words and digraphs in a fun interactive way using monsters as the underlying theme.  For example, the word families for “at” include “splat”, “cat”, “rat”, “bat”.  First you make the word with letters then you see a variety of ways it is illustrated “baseball bat” or “bat” the animal.  After completing the word, you move on to see it illustrated and then used in a “real world” setting.  The app is targeted at older preschool and early elementary aged children as it captures a number of sight words and can be used by pre-reading children as well as those working on sight words. I loved when you were making words that the letters are sounded out individually as that helped my son clearly understand each of the words and the sounds that they made as well a describing what the word did.  For example, “hike” showed the word and then a nature hike.   There’s a nice carry over of skills here that encourages kids to engage in a fun way and continue using the app.  I also liked that you could scroll through the app and look for specific word families to practice on – my son in particular struggles with the “th” since it’s silent at times and he did well with this lesson and was able to practice the words in real time.   Read the full review.

Rhyme to Read full - teach beginning reading with phonics and sight words and word families (English Version)Rhyme to Read by Rhyme to Read, LLC is an iPad only app designed to help your preschooler through early elementary aged student learn skills that will help them learn to read.  The program which does include in-app purchases  to purchase up to twenty books individually or via a bundle if you choose to buy them all at once.  The app features word families with similar sounds (cat, sat, pat) and helps children to understand different reading patterns.  Children should be able to recognize letters and understand how sounds go together before beginning the reading process.  Each book builds upon the previous one, so if you enjoy using it you should buy the package via one in-app purchase rather than buying the volumes individually as they build upon each other.  The app was originally a set of print books by Sarah Hines and Lynn Klairman, the cost of the print books was too expensive to maintain so they decided to turn them into an interactive app to help reach a wider audience. The books teach a variety of sight words and practice the previously learned sight word patterns as they progress within the series.  At the end of each “book” you can see a list of sight words listed in the program thus far (which gets longer with each book) and then a list of word families that have been learned.  Read the full review.

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Check out our store and pick from one of our six available Bluebee Pals

Ages 3-5

Ages 3-5

Recommended educational apps to play with your child on a tablet for Ages 3-5

As a tech mom of a toddler, my son was naturally interested in technology. Introducing an iPad to him, via learning apps seemed like an appropriate introduction to technology. He’s seen me with my iPhone or iPad doing work, writing emails since he was very young.  As a parent, I do try to limit #screentime to ensure I can focus on my kids rather than always on my tech.

As my son gets older, I’m starting to introduce him to technology including some of my favorite kids book and educational apps.


 

Bluebee Pals App Review by The iMums

Bluebee Pals App by Kayle Concepts LLC – Review

What we love…

Bluebee Pals app is a fun educational app which encourages kids to practice daily routines, using words to narrate what they are doing, sight words and play

 

Summary

Overall, the Bluebee Pals app is a fantastic app which encourages kids to learn as well as have fun. I love seeing all the different ways that my kids interact with the app and try the various activities. The app is gender neutral and allows you to pick your favorite Bluebee Pal to play along OR choose your own Bluebee Pal.

Our Rating

Bluebee Pals app by Kayle Concepts LLC is a universal app for iOS and Android. As many of you know, I have been part of The iMums for a really long time!

 

I’m pleased to note, that I had a chance to help design this app. The app brings BlueBee Pals to life using an app which teaches life skills such as; bathing, tooth brushing, washing hands, bedtime routines, as well as a kitchen which encourages your child to feed Bluebee a variety of meals and snacks. The app uses scaffolded learning, the first mini game is generally easier and for younger children – if you tap the arrow at the bottom you are given a more complex game for example, lining up your ABC’s turns into sight words. In the ice cream mini game, first you find the Bluebee Pals and then you have to match them to the appropriate beach chairs. You can learn more about the app on the Bluebee Pals website.

Upon opening the app, you are able to select your favorite Bluebee Pal – or one that you already have. Then you can view an instructional video where you learn more about Bluebee Pals and how to connect them. From there you can enter your child’s name – and while there touch each of the Bluebees to have them say their name and wave! Choose your favorite color balloon, and a favorite activity. A screen is presented with a variety of things you can do with your Bluebee Pals – did you know that Bluebee works with any Bluetooth enabled device ranging from a smartphone, laptop, smart TV, to a tablet? After that you are brought to the hub of the app where you choose a room for your daily activity – which I will highlight below.

The Bluebee Pal App

The app features narration and a variety of fun games as well. Below I will highlight each – these can be accessed either from the house hub or via the Bluebee Pals library.

  • Kitchen – Enter and exit the kitchen to try a variety of meal options including: breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Be sure to enter and exit the kitchen multiple times so you can see each of the meal options. The recycle bin lets you recycle items as well! There are cups, plates, food and even a cake to put on the table.
  • Living Room – Enter the living room and tap on the various objects including the couch, iPad and laptop to hear their name
  • Bedroom – Enter the bedroom and see how Bluebee cleans his room and puts his sneakers away! He also uses an animated guitar, shoe typing sequence and then a bedtime routine. In this room you can also put Bluebee to bed, change the covers and then turn off the light. After the Bluebee goes to sleep, you can go back to his bedroom and tap on the objects in the room.
  • Bathroom – Enter the bathroom and give your Bluebee a shower. Turn on the water and then tap the sponge to wash Bluebee’s fur. After getting out of the tub Bluebee needs to be dried with a bathtowel or blow drier. Then, brush the fur so it’s soft and clean. After bathtime, it’s time to brush teeth – kids move around the toothbrush to clean their teeth. After 20 seconds, teeth are clean and it’s time to practice washing hands. Then kids can tap on the items in the bathroom to hear their names.
  • Playroom – This room has learning and fun! Kids can practice their ABC’s and sight words, drag Bluebee through the maze, find a Bluebee on the island and match them to chairs, move cars and trucks around the track and hear their horns. Other mini games include a six piece puzzle, voice recorder so kids can record their voice — or parents can record their voice and have the app say it back. There is also a robot game where you assemble robots, dress up and match fruits to the right color balloon.
  • Bluebee Pals Library – Using this library you can select a mini game for the playroom. 
  • Bluebee Resource Section – this parental gated area requires a four digit date of birth where you can access resources including: voice recorder, activities along with app reviews, a letter from founder Laura Jiencke about Bluebee Pals. This parental gated area does contain external links.

My son loves this app – one of his favorite mini games is the cars and trucks around the track. He loves placing all the cars on the track at the same time and seeing them zoom around. As a parent, I love that the app has both an educational and fun component to it. My son will practice zooming cars, learning letters, practicing the names of foods and more! I really liked that we can show a bath routine sequence, and then follow through in real life. I also loved using the app with our Bluebee Pal Parker who speaks the narration and moves his head in time to the app. My son also loved reading with Bluebee – for a full list of items that you can try with Bluebee – look in the resource section accessed from the main hub of the house or try this link. The app contains a parental gated area with resources and external links. I find that my son is repeating words that he learned in the app – especially in the kitchen and I’ve even gotten him to ask for a few foods like banana as a result of seeing them in the app. Above, I have highlighted each of the individual areas and items within the app – my kids have spent hours discovering each section as well as practicing letters, puzzles, creative thinking to solve problems and more.

Overall, the Bluebee Pals app is a fantastic app which encourages kids to learn as well as have fun. I love seeing all the different ways that my kids interact with the app and try the various activities. The app is gender neutral and allows you to pick your favorite Bluebee Pal to play along OR choose your own Bluebee Pal.

iOS

Google Play

This review was originally published at The iMums.

NOTE: I was involved in the design of this app.

ReadAskChat by ReadAskChat, Ltd. – Review

What we love…

fantastic app that encourages parents and caregivers to read with children featuring a library of curated stories, conversation starters and bright colorful artwork.  I loved that we were able to carry over and do activities after learning about them during our daily lives like stomping, slipping, sliding and being more observant

What we’d love to see…

parental lock of some sort on the cog wheel – there are no external links but my son liked to tap on it.  I would also like to see a bigger parent’s resource section included – there are a number of resources on the web but not integrated within the app.

Summary

Beautifully illustrated app that encourages active reading via the story by asking questions, making observations and learning.  Kids can also tie it to real life and role play the stories.

Our Rating

Art for “Light of Mine” (c) 2012 by Christopher Lyles

ReadAskChat is a curated library of stories designed for children from six months to age 4.  The stories feature bright artwork, text and parental cues to help parents read with their children.  I still remember the first time I sat in the rocker with my then infant son and held a black and white board book to read with him.  I felt unprepared because I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to read with him or help him learn.   You can read our interview with co-founders Alice and Carolyn to learn more about the reasons on why ReadAskChat was created.  You can also read a paper about the science behind ReadAskChatThis app takes it beyond your device or tablet and encourages interactive reading using conversation starters to help kids engage and learn.  Key concepts in the app include rhyming, patterning, early academics like colors, shapes, early sight words along with math and science concepts.

As I have gotten to be a mom of two – reading with my kids has gotten easier.  They both know when it’s bedtime – we have 15-30 minutes depending on the day that we sit, snuggle and look at books.  We practice things like how to hold the book, turning pages from front to back as well as moving with the text via songs, pointing to objects and just handling a book.  In this digital age, it’s also important to consider that books are available on tablets, smartphones and other devices meaning that downtime doesn’t just have to mean that your child “plays” on your phone — you can turn it into educational time.

Here’s a snippet from Carolyn about the idea behind ReadAskChat

 The inspiration for ReadAskChat comes from personal experience. My husband and I are adoptive parents, and when our daughter Jiji came home at 9 months, she was clinically failure to thrive. She couldn’t hold her little head up or babble, or reach for shiny objects—things that 9-month-olds should be doing. But after only one month of reading picture books, singing songs, playing and snuggling, and “chatting” about anything and everything, Jiji was a fully caught up and happy 10-month-old.

When we read using my tablet or smartphone – one of the first things I do is to turn on the “night shift mode” which changes colors to be more easy on your eyes and less stimulating for children.  I also love that the app can change depending on which child I am reading with – meaning I can choose prompts for my toddler or my older son while reading the same story.  When you open the app, there are three free stories that are included in the library.  Additional stories are available for purchase.  Each story includes “conversation starters” – these are based on the developmental level of your child and can range from suggesting you bounce your baby in time with the rhythm of the story or music to questions you can ask your kids to prompt them to engage more with the story.

iPad Screenshot 1

Using your device, you login to the app to access the library.  For purposes of the review I was given access to the full library of stories.  When you use the app for the first time on your device or a new device you are prompted to download the stories.  The Starter Pack includes, “Light of Mine”, “Animal Tails” and “The Old Man in the Tree”.  In the subscription based version other stories are categorized by Big Ideas, Special Friends, Indoor Mischief, On The Move, Action Rhymes, Math Stories, Science Stories.  You also choose the developmental level for the conversation starters.  They range from baby (six to 18 months);  toddler (12-24 months); preschooler (2 -4 years).  As we have gotten more familiar with the stories we have recently changed from toddler to preschooler level to help him continue to follow along and be engaged.

My toddler aged son loves anything to do with cars and trucks and things that go.  We typically let him pick a story and then I choose one.  One of his favorites is Mario’s Trucks – which includes descriptive text like “Raise that Shovel!  Dig that hole”.  I typically read to him and then we talk about what we see in the photo – things like a yellow dump truck, a hard hat that Mario is wearing, a yellow digger and blocks and a crane.  The conversation starters also encourage parents to add the sounds to the story and then the “ask” which encourages kids to think about what the truck does – my toddler answered carries and dumps.    You are also prompted as you read to chat about what Mario might be building – my son said “tower”.  We talked about it being a construction site on the first page.  I also loved using the app to guide off-device play where we re-enacted specific stories that my son identified with.  The illustrations in the app are beautiful and encourage kids to look and pay attention to details.  The stories appeal to children and are not too overwhelming in terms of new information that is shared on a page.  They also gently encourage sleep or relaxation at the end.  At the end of the story you can either slide to the next story or close out of the app.

I loved the wide variety of content that was included in the app and that my son was engaged and learning from stories – which we could look at no matter where we were at a point in time.  I actually found myself reading more with my son because I could pull out my iPhone or tablet while we were waiting for appointments or had short periods of downtime.  He loved tapping on the screen to show me what he was seeing – and I liked hearing what he saw in the photos and engaged.  Both of us became more engaged with stories – rather than him sitting in my lap passively to hear a story.  In addition, I recently read to my son’s classroom and used ReadAskChat along with a software which was able to reflect my screen onto a whiteboard so that the group of kids could participate.  Although the app is designed for more 1:1 or 1:2 use it was fun to use in a class because it encouraged open-ended conversations and allowed kids to really engage with the story.  As kids get bigger you can encourage them to help swipe and actively pick out sight words, look at the images within the stories and pick out specific details or even find an object or color within the image. 

With my son as we read the stories and he’s become more familiar – we now sometimes play “I spy” to see the details that we might have previously missed.  One of the other things that I really enjoyed was the conversation starters to help me encourage my son to better engage with the story.  Another feature I liked was the “swipe lock” which made it so my son couldn’t accidentally move forward beyond pages that I wanted him to be on.   The app also lets you favorite stories using a heart at the bottom – my son quickly learned about this and we picked out his favorites and then we were able to scan for the hearts when picking a bedtime story.  I also really liked the descriptive words used within the app to tell a story which tied to the picture.  Words like  “slip and glide” for my son were new – so we actually practiced them by sliding our feet on the rug.

In terms of enhancements – I would love to see a section for parents to understand more about reading with their children as well as the importance. I found a number of resources on the website for Readaskchat – but they were not referenced when we used the app.  It would also be nice if the cog wheel at the top were parental gated – there are no external links but my son recognized this from other apps and wanted to touch it.

Overall, this is an app that is unique in that it actively encourages parents to teach their children while reading.  My son loved sitting on my lap and engaging – rather than passively listening to a story.  Since then I’ve noticed that when we read board books or bedtime stories he looks at the picture and we read and talk about them more – for example, find the green wall or white bunny rather than just reading the text as a more rote method of learning.

Pricing: Launch sale through December 25, 2017: Only $14.99 for the full library for one year.

LAUNCH SALE through December 25, 2017
$1.99/month
$14.99/year (which comes to $1.25/month)

AFTER DECEMBER 25
$2.99/month
$29.99/year (which comes to $2.50/month)

**Subscribers receive a new story pack (3 selections) bimonthly in 2018.

Note: Bulk rates are available for institutions.

 

NOTE: This app has in-app purchases

Learning Time with a Bluebee Pal

Learning Telling Time with Bluebee Pal

Todo Telling Time is a learning and interactive app for children K-2 that helps facilitate learning of time concepts. This educational app is also very functional because it relates to the everyday concepts and also helps target various aspect of time. With this app, children will learn to tell time to the hour and minute, calendar concepts, digital time, and the parts of a daily schedule. With this app, your child can also practice placing numbers around a clock face, counting by 5s, and learning estimation.

 

Todo Telling Time contains six multi-level mini-games. The games include learning days and weeks in order, putting numbers in order and learning number orientation on a Ferris wheel, learning about the timing and order of a schedule, learning time with a train game, building short-term memory and sequencing skills in a memory game and a quiz that assesses your child’s knowledge of time.

 

  1. Connect your Bluebee Pal. Choose from the six interactive games below. With Day the Weeks game, your child or student will be placing the days, months and numbers in order on a calendar. Let Bluebee reinforce the sequencing by saying the name of the day, month or number on the calendar. With the calendar game, your child or student can learn about time and schedules. It’s 8:00 am, time for school! After your child places the hand on the right location, Bluebee Pal will tell you what time it is!
  2. WIth the train game, your child or student or will learn digital time and Bluebee Pal will reinforce the time by repeating the correct time. With the memory game, the challenge is the find the number that was called out and shown to you briefly. Forget the number? Activate the rewind icon and Bluebee Pal will say it again!
  3. With the timed quiz at the end of the game, your child or student will be challenged with questions asked by Bluebee Pal such as “It’s 7:00 pm. How much time until 12:00 am?”. The time quiz gives you three choices that you can choose from.
  4. Continue having fun with Bluebee Pal and learning time by navigating through different levels and finding various ways to challenge your student or child. This app is so much fun you might run out of time!….https://www.bluebeepals.com

 

At the Zoo With Grandma and Grandpa App by Fairlady Media – Review

 

What we love…

fun zoo themed app which includes 8 educational games including spelling, math, animal sounds and a puzzle

What we’d love to see…

animal facts cards for each of the animals especially ones you haven’t seen before, perhaps a mini game where you draw the spots on a leopard or stripes on a tiger and the ability to feed the animals

Summary

Who doesn’t love spending time with their grandparents?  This fun zoo themed app is sure to delight and had my son learning animal names, spelling and math and he learned about a new animal each time that he played.

Our Rating

At the Zoo With Grandma and GrandpaAt the Zoo With Grandma and Grandpa App by Fairlady Media is not your traditional go to the zoo and see the animals type of app.  In fact it’s much more fun and educational!  The app features 8 mini games which you plan along as you meet new animals – some that my older son had never even seen at the zoo.  You also practice matching, addition, puzzles and more!  This is the 10th app by Fairlady Media and the first that features both Grandma and Grandpa as central characters within the app.  The app features over 50 animals from around the world and is designed for elementary aged children.

Educational games within the app include:

1) Animal Sounds: What animal sound do you hear behind the curtain?  Pick one from an assortment of 3.

2) Fix the sign: Use the letters to fix the sign – it must be in the correct spelling order, you move the letters at the bottom to match the letters on the sign and has a zoo themed twist using types of animals.

3) Spot the Difference: Which fish in the aquarium is different?  Tap to choose the right one and see what might be different about it as well as the name.

4) Tram Math: How many people are on the tram.  You can either finger tap count or see that each car has a certain number in it to solve the problem.

5) Jigsaw Puzzle: Put together the pieces of an animal and learn about them.  Does the animal live on the ground or in a tree?  What is it called?

6) Fossil Dig: Who doesn’t love getting dirty?!?  Use your finger to help find the fossil and don’t get dirty in real life!

7) Match the sign to the animal: Using your eagle eyes, determine which sign goes with each animal type.  I loved that the animals in this game were both ones we knew like alligator and other times a Tasmanian devil!

8) Feed the Penguins: Move the penguins to find the fish and feed them.

Other mini games/interactions:

1) Draw the stripes on the animals using your favorite crayon color

2) Having a snack with Grandpa is just the best because you never quite know what to expect 😉

3) Move the seal to balance the ball on his nose.  How long can you keep it in the air?

4) What trip to the zoo is complete without picking out a souvenir to store and play with in your toy box?

iPad Screenshot 4

I loved that this app introduced my son to new animals especially ones that were not traditional at the various zoos that we have visited around the country.  Having a variety of animals and games made the app fun and interactive.  We also really liked that both Grandma and Grandpa participated in the app – this was fun because we usually only see one or the other.  The graphics are fantastic and clear and my son learned something about a new animal each time that he played meaning that he kept playing to keep learning – a huge win!

One enhancement I would like to see is “animal facts” – perhaps you could add in cards at the end of the app that you earned with facts about some of the more unusual animals like the Tasmanian devil which would include a photo, animal sound and a fact or two about them.  My son also loved being creative and “drawing the stripes” aka decorating the animals with crayons and asked if there could be a game where you draw the spots on the animal or stripes on a tiger within specific lines.  My son also asked if we could feed the animals to learn more about them as well – we recently learned that a turtle at the aquarium liked brussel sprouts which encouraged my son to at least touch them!

There is no external advertising or in-app purchases beyond Fairlady advertising their own apps.  Internet access is not required to play the app.  External links are protected with a parental gate which requires your year of birth.  You can access the settings and turn on and off the games depending on your child’s ability level which allows you to target specific skills or make it easier for younger kids.  You can also turn on and off the music.

Overall, this is a fun zoo themed app that introduced my son to some exotic animals we had never seen before. My son enjoyed playing the app over and over again and learned something new each time if it was an animal or perhaps how to spell an animal name.  Huge amount of replay value and the app can target younger or older kids depending on the options you choose for the mini games. We paired Riley the Zebra for purposes of this review. Having my toddler play with the app made him laugh since he was a zoo animal!

Buy the app here.

Old MacDonald App by Loeschware

What we love…

wide variety of animals; original music

What we’d love to see…

repeating of Old McDonald song after you place all the animals in the puzzle

Summary

This is a great app to introduce children to a farmyard scene and animals. You may even find yourself singing along to the Old MacDonald song!

Our Rating

Old MacDonald-HDOld MacDonald by Loeschware features an interactive farm where children spin an animal wheel to select various animals to put on the farm. The company was founded by a brother and sister who have designed all of the music and artwork for the apps. If children select the right animal such as a cow, they are rewarded with the cow piece which they then put into the barn. If they select the wrong animal such as a fox or an octopus one of four actions happens to help them remove the wrong animal from the farm. They range from a tractor removing the errant animal to a puff of clouds. The app is primarily designed for toddlers and early preschoolers. It provides audio cues and music designed to engage players throughout the game. The app helps children practice spacial awareness, improve attention span, as well as practice fine motor skills and matching. My toddler loved this app especially when we paired Leo the Lion – he thought it was hilarious to hear him make all the different animal sounds. I found myself singing the catchy song as we played along too!

I liked the various animals that the game included – my son’s personal favorite was the duck. We also really enjoyed spinning the wheel to pick the appropriate animals and liked the fact that as you picked each animal it had a checkmark on it. The musical elements as well as the art in the app are fun and encourage children to sing along. I also thought the fact that the place where the appropriate animal was supposed to be placed was helpful, I can see this being really good for young children who may have trouble matching with the spot on the page.

I wish that the Old MacDonald song would be repeated with the names of all the animals after you have completed the puzzle. After finishing it, I would have also liked the ability to touch each of the animals, it finishes up rather quickly, so prior to dropping the last puzzle piece I usually do this step with my son. In addition, if a wrong animal is picked, I would have liked the action to vary a bit. My son picked the wrong animal twice in a row and the animal was kicked by the donkey each of the times rather than changing to a different action.

This is a great app to introduce children to a farmyard scene and animals. You may even find yourself singing along to the Old MacDonald song! Other apps by this developer include My ABC Train, Five Little Monkeys, and Big Top Circus. This app is currently part of an Apple handpicked selection for the “App Store Essentials: Apps for Toddlers”.

iPhone $0.99

iPad $2.99

Note – prices above were as of article publishing and are subject to change at any time

This post was originally posted at The iMums – it has been slightly edited for content.

Role play and preschool aged children featuring My Playhome

One of the most important things for preschoolers is to learn about the world.  Using apps from My Playhome allows kids to experience every day events that are common in a child’s life and role play with them.  This suite of apps includes a typical home, a series of stores in My Playhome Stores, My Playhome School and MyPlayhome hospital.  Kids can drive an ambulance, shop for clothing or even play school with this fun series of apps that will keep them engaged for hours.  The apps work with one another – so you can buy one or all – and switch within them to the next app.  These apps feature no advertising or in-app purchases.

My PlayHome

My Playhome

Shimon Young is a genius. Shimon is the developer of the universal My PlayHome app and has managed to find a way to keep my iToddler (2.5) entertained for more than just a few minutes. Not an easy task. My PlayHome brings the dollhouse into the digital age by offering an entire virtual home, complete with an adorable family of five that kids can explore and interact with. Also available on the iPhone (Pocket PlayHome!), this app features beautiful hand-drawn illustrations and realistic sounds associated with each interaction. My PlayHome also has a simple user interface very easy for little fingers to control.  This app caters for 2-8 year olds which is appropriate as it’s simple enough for the younger users to play with yet detailed enough to keep the older kids entertained too.” Quite a comprehensive app but still very easy to use by its intended audience. One of the best kids apps I have come across on the App Store!”  This continues to be a top pick of The iMums for kids of all ages.  Read the full review. Buy the app here.

 

My PlayHome Stores

My Playhome Stores

When iMum Amanda reviewed the original My PlayHome back in 2011 she described it’s creator Shimon Young as a genius, and I have to agree. After being  installed on our iPads for 2 1/2 years my kids still play with My PlayHome regularly, and there are very few apps that retain their appeal long term like that. When I told my children there was a new My PlayHome app out, to say they were excited is a definite understatement.  My PlayHome brings the dolls house into the digital age with an entire interactive house and garden to play in, and My PlayHome Stores expands the play by adding four shops to explore and shop in. The app stars the same characters as the original app – there are 3 moms, 3 dads, 3 girls, 3 boys and 3 babies from a variety of ethnicities and you can mix and match them any way you like to create the family in the app. The twist that my children really love (and that I have not seen in any other app) is when the family go shopping in the stores they can walk home with their purchases, and if you own My PlayHome they can take their purchases from the stores back to their home.  Read the full review.

My PlayHome Hospital

My PlayHome Hospital

In the fantastic tradition of the Playhome Software Company, comes the latest My Playhome app, My Playhome Hospital. Fully integrated with the other My Playhome apps (HomeSchool and Store), this new app allows the player to explore all aspects of the hospital experience. When the app is opened, the child is faced with the view of the hospital and an ambulance. No settings tab, no external options, and no parental tab. The only extra button to press is the Tidy the Hospital wheel, which is a great option. It allows the player to actually erase the previous designs created and start fresh. The home page ambulance can be driven to the school, home or store; linking the other apps (one of my favorite features).  An interactive app that familiarizes children with the workings and people in the hospital setting. Multiple different scenes with many opportunities to interact with the objects and characters on each page.  Buy the app here.

 

My PlayHome School

My PlayHome School

One of the best loved toys of all time are doll houses. It brings hours upon hours of enjoyment to boys and girls alike, and it’s only limitation is a child’s imagination. My PlayHome Software Ltd has brought this enjoyment in the most portable form possible in My PlayHome, My PlayHome Stores, and very recently, My PlayHome School.  While my children and I enjoyed My PlayHome and My PlayHome Stores, My PlayHome School far exceeded our expectations. It has almost everything you could find in an elementary school: a receptionist desk, the principal’s office, a cafeteria, boys and girls restrooms, a science lab, an auditorium, a janitor’s closet, lockers, and of course, classrooms.  Read the full review. Buy the app here.

 

My kids love Dr. Panda Apps and we have reviewed so many of them here at The iMums

My kids love Dr. Panda Apps and we have reviewed so many of them here at The iMums.  I thought it would be great to put them all in one post so you can easily find the reviews and links to the apps!  Apps range from cooking, to chores/cleaning, role playing and more.  I love the amount of replay these apps get even years after I bought them and loaded them on our devices.  Dr. Panda started making apps in 2012, originally under the name Tribeplay.  They are based in China and California, and you can learn more about them here.  We recently updated our review of Dr. Panda Town and are currently running a giveaway.  Those that share this post in addition to commenting get 5 entries!

 


 

Dr. Panda TownDr. Panda Town by Dr. Panda Ltd is the first free app with in-app purchases or IAP offered by Dr. Panda games. Dr. Panda was founded in 2012 and has a number of apps available for iOS and Android with great open free play options. This app includes in-app purchases for a park and a supermarket as well as a home setting. For purposes of this review, I will review both the park and supermarket settings contained within the app. The app opens with Dr. Panda pulling up to the town in his yellow car. If you try to open up the park or supermarket and have not purchased them a parental lock pops up before taking you into the iTunes store which requires you to enter your year of birth. Of note, I got the app bundle on one device and had to “restore” my purchase on my second device to be able to access each of the three places. We used language to describe each of the actions which made it great for practicing language.  Read the full review and enter our giveaway!

 


 

Dr. Panda Cafe

Dr. Panda Cafe

Dr. Panda Cafe from Dr. Panda Games  is a new universal app for iOS which has your child making food and drinks in a cafe setting.  As you gain more customers, you have to balance time management, taking orders and making them as well as cleaning up.  As you serve more customers, you earn new recipes and foods to give to the customers. To play the app, first you seat the customer at a table – if the table is empty you can put the customer at it.  Once they are seated, you take their order and go back behind the counter as Dr. Panda to work on the order.  Items are broken into categories, and you tap on the correct category to make or brew the item.  Once you have made all of the items in the order, it’s time to serve it to the customers.  You can take orders from multiple customers at once, and make food the same way although it can bet a bit confusing!  Among the food choices, coffee/tea, cakes, pizza and as you get to know your customers better you can try to imagine what they might order in advance.  It was important to pay attention to the customers in order to keep them happy which in turn unlocked items after you earned stars and gave you more food and drinks to serve.  Read our full review

 


 

Dr. Panda's RestaurantDr. Panda’s Restaurant by Dr. Panda features interactive mini-games which include seating a variety of animals (patrons) and cooking a dish that they have in mind.  Activities’ practiced in the app include fine motor via chopping a variety of foods, peeling, sautéing in a frying pan, pinching and squeezing for making of juice, toasting and preparing bread along with cooking a variety of foods.  There are a variety of different dishes in rotation to be prepared and served to the various animals including soups, decorating cookies, making apple pie, a variety of fruit drinks and his personal favorite pizza.  This app could also be used in speech therapy to describe each of the items as they are prepared and sequencing of them.  This app was fun in that it was two restaurants’ in one, with one downstairs serving American theme and the upstairs decorated in more of a Chinese theme.  It would be great if the foods matched the décor on each of the floors.  The mini-recycling game was a nice way to remind my son what went into each bin and helped us practice our recycling skills at home.  We also enjoyed touching a variety of objects within the dining room to turn on and off the lights, touching the spider and interacting with the plates after the meals were finished.  My son enjoyed making cookies and making the soups best because they required precision in chopping and fine motor practice.  Read the full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Restaurant 2

Dr. Panda Restaurant 2

Dr. Panda Restaurant 2 by Dr. Panda  is a universal app for iOS that puts your little chef in a tropical kitchen and allows them to make food to delight their patrons.  The app includes more than 20 ingredients including fish, eggs, peppers, tomatoes, three types of pasta, seasonings and more.  You can boil, bake, fry and cop ingredients to make the perfect dish for your patrons who arrive in parties of two via a water taxi and place their orders.  As you are making the item, the guest will stand at the window while you pick out the ingredients and make faces depending on what they want on their meal.  Each dish allows you to put different toppings to satisfy their taste.  The app includes a traditional diet as well as a switch for a vegetarian diet.  The app practices attention to detail, fine motor required for chopping, slicing and laying out the ingredients as well as making sure the customers are getting the food that they want.  In addition children follow recipes step by step which include making the pasta, pouring it into the colander, putting it on the plate and then making a sauce.  Other tasks include rolling out the pizza dough before adding additional ingredients.  Read our full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Train

Dr. Panda Train

Dr. Panda Train,  all Aboard this app from Dr. Panda Games this time with a train theme!  In this fun themed train app your kids serve as conductor and they drive the train and tour one of three landscapes which includes jungle, desert and a beautiful countryside scene. Within the app, your child can drive the train either from a first person perspective inside the cab or from a distance.  They also can stop and visit the passengers to give them food, snacks, reading material and more.  My son even found some great tech to give the passengers.  Shovel on some coal to stoke the fire and make the train go faster to it’s next destination or simply blow the horn as the countryside goes by.  I liked that my kids could take turns playing with the app or putting passengers on and handing out items to them.  As you complete more of the game you earn extra items to give to the passengers – my kids favorites were of course the tech!    Read the full review

 


 

Dr. Panda Daycare

Dr. Panda Daycare

Dr. Panda’s Daycare by Dr. Panda  features Dr. Panda in a daycare setting where your child is in a virtual playhouse with five baby animals.  The animals have a playroom where they can rock on a rocking horse, bounce on a ball or play with a train.  In the kitchen they can pretend to have a birthday party, have breakfast or lunch and cook foods.  Upstairs there is a stage and instruments for them to play with and a naptime room.  There is also a backyard where kids can play with a slide, bouncy pit or pool.  The app encourages creative play and helps children understand that their choices can determine how the animals will play. It is best suited for late toddlers and preschoolers who will enjoy the setting while finding new toys to play with and switches to turn on and off. Read the full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Airport

Dr. Panda Airport

Dr. Panda Airport by Dr. Panda is set at an airport adventure featuring ten activities including:  going through security, checking in at the desk, driving the luggage cart, getting your bags via baggage claim, controlling airspace via the control tower, counting money for a payphone and making a phone call, stamping tickets, cleaning the airplane. loading the flight with luggage and going to lost and found.  The app is designed for children in preschool and older through elementary school.  It practices skills such as fine motor, sorting, counting, finding a specific object, expressive language. shape recognition and matching,  and more.  The four main characters in the app are a monkey, elephant, raccoon and a hippopotamus who are all attired in different types of vacation clothing.  Read our full review

 


 

Dr. Panda Bus Driver

Dr. Panda Bus Driver

Dr. Panda Bus Driver by Dr. Panda has Dr. Panda is driving a bus around either a city, countryside, harbor or a variety of other locations picking up and dropping off his passengers, painting the bus, refilling the gas tank and more!  Much like a traditional bus, you have to stop to let passengers and other vehicles go by, stop for trains that will pass as well as clean up the bus after your “route” has been completed.  This app is designed for preschoolers through early elementary school similar to other Dr. Panda apps and will provide hours of open ended play for them that uses fine motor skills both from seating passengers and driving the bus either with your finger or by gently moving your device to steer it from side to side to ensure it stays in the road.  The scenery within the app changes each time you launch it – and can range a harbor complete with a  drawbridge, railroad crossings, tunnels, birds in the road to a countryside.  Dr. Panda must deliver his animal friends safely to their destination while ensuring they are sitting down on the bus and watching out for obstructions.  When an obstruction comes up – a warning “light” comes up inside the bus so you can touch it to stop for it and allow the drawbridge to go up and down, passengers to cross the road as well as watching out for birds and other wildlife that might be on the road.  Read our full review

 


 

Dr. Panda Handyman

Dr. Panda Handyman

Dr. Panda Handyman by Dr. Panda  Games is the latest universal app for iOS featuring Dr. Panda as he fixes of household objects that seem to have mysteriously broken through 14 mini games. The app is designed for toddlers, preschoolers and elementary school children.  The app is a great one for children to practice fine motor skills as well as naming and finding objects and tools. One of our favorite features of the app was fixing all the different objects around the house and the realistic sounds of the tools as they worked. We loved that the tasks varied so you were not always doing the same task over and over again.  My son also loved giving high fives to Dr Panda for a job well done!  The three dimensional graphics  in the app were animated and we saw familiar characters from the other Dr Panda apps and were very engaging for our testers.  Read our full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Home

Dr. Panda Home

Dr. Panda’s Home by Dr. Panda is a universal app for iOS and allows your children to do chores in Dr. Panda’s House while earning an allowance for completing them.  The app is done in 3D and has over 20 mini games and activities to complete.  Your child is assigned a list of three chores which are checked off on a list as they are completed and then after they are completed, are awarded five coins for their piggy bank.  Your child can either spend the coins on small toys or save them to get bigger toys for the toy shelf.  The app is kid friendly and brings all of Dr. Panda’s animal friends to life while they help you do daily chores like emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the toilet and bathroom sink, sorting and doing a load of laundry, mowing the lawn, washing the windows and more. The app also helps with step by step directions, sequencing, following a task to completion as well as fine motor skills.  Read the full review

 


 

Dr. Panda Hospital icon

Dr. Panda Hospital

Dr. Panda’s Hospital by Dr. Panda Games is a universal app which features eight different animals that your child will take to their hospital beds, discover and treat their health problems.  The app features ten mini-games which include: treating an upset stomach,  treating chicken pox, giving an injection, treating eyes, ears, mouth/teeth as well as retrieving mistakenly swallowed items.  TribePlay was founded in 2008 and creates educational games for the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android and is based in Chengdu, Western China.   Dr. Panda and TribePlay are certified by the kidSAFE® Seal Program which certifies child-friendly websites and applications including kid-targeted game sites, web-connected devices and other products.  This app helps practice fine motor, sequencing, speech and discussion skills as well as creative/dramatic play.  This app provides a great rendition of an animal hospital for children to interact with and treat all of the various animals.  Read the full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Racers

Dr. Panda Racers

Dr. Panda Racers by Dr. Panda LTD  features a racing theme that lets you build your own cars and track including jumps and tricks, washing your vehicle, competing against other Dr. Panda characters and more!  As you successfully complete the races – in first place you earn prizes which include race car parts, spray paints, and trophies.  The tracks can either be concrete, dirt or sand and you choose them prior to racing at the event.  To play the app you either choose or build your car, choose or build your track and then head to the pits for a wash before going out to the track for the race.  At the starting line you are prompted to buckle your seat belt and then it’s on to the race and fun stunts!  The track is controlled using a toggle which allows you to go 5 or 10 – and then the stunts require stopping to complete a tracing task.  Read our full review

 


 

Dr. Panda Firefighters

Dr. Panda Firefighters

Dr. Panda Firefighters is a universal app for iOS that lets your child fight fires, drive a fire truck, clear obstacles, explore over 30 rooms and more. This app is designed for toddler age and up and features Dr. Panda and his friends as they drive the firetruck to the scene of the fire, turn on the water and look around for flames to extinguish. It reminded me very much of playing fire engines as a kid, except Dr Panda was able to physically make the rooms rather than me having to imagine them. The app is great for toddler and preschoolers especially. It can be used to practice following directions, expressive language to narrate what they are doing and following along with the animals to rescue them. There is also cause and effect of fighting the fire, handing over the tools and moving on to the next level. Read our full review

 


 

Dr. Panda Toy Cars Free

Dr. Panda Toy Cars Free

Dr. Panda’s Toy Cars by Dr. Panda  allows your children to role-play and use their imaginations in two cities with a variety of vehicles ranging from a fire truck, boat, police car, ambulance, cargo truck, regular cars and more.  The app allows you to “drive” with your finger, turn on and off sirens, put out fires, put up and down barriers for the railroad crossing and more.  The app is designed for children from toddler through preschool although my elementary aged student really enjoyed the activities contained within the app.  My son loved that two of us (or more) could play with the app at the same time as you can drive multiple vehicles simultaneously.

 


 

Dr. Panda Space

Dr. Panda Space

Dr. Panda in Space is a universal app for iOS, Amazon appstore  and Android which allows you to customize your own space ship and blast off and have open ended discovery in space of planets, asteroids, activities such as fixing your space ship, free play in zero gravity and more.  This app is aimed at preschool and early grade school aged children with lots of great free play opportunities for the younger children during the exploration phase.  The app begins with a customization of your spaceship where you then blast off into space and begin your exploration.  Read our full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Mailman

Dr. Panda Mailman

 Dr. Panda’s Mailman is a universal app for iOS that features the post office!  This app features the ability to make and address your own postcards, pick a gift to package up for delivery including wrapping and delivery.  The app features a variety of animals, including a pig, the turtle (Toto)  we saw in Toto’s Treehouse, a monkey, elephant, sheep, hippo, cat, raccoon, elephant and more for a total of 12 animals!  After designing your package, Dr. Panda is off on an adventure to deliver your mail.  The stamp on the package or postcard helps him know where to deliver it and it’s placed into Dr. Panda’s scooter to deliver it.  The world includes rivers, forests, mountains and houses along with jumps, roads, road signs and more!  This app is best suited for preschoolers and early elementary aged children.  Skills practiced can include language, motor skills in coloring and driving the scooter, listening to directions.  Read our full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Swimming Pool

Dr. Panda Swimming Pool

Dr. Panda’s Swimming Pool by Dr. Panda is a universal app designed for iOS that has the animals in a variety of aquatic settings at a pool. You can dress in a variety of bathing suits in the locker room while taking a shower and getting ready for the pool, diving off a pirate ship, playing in a sandbox, going down a water slide or playing in a small wading pool with a variety of lunch items available.  This app is aimed at toddlers and preschoolers.  Skills practiced include language both receptive and expressive, and some fine motor skills. I liked that the app had four different play areas similar to a traditional beach.  The graphics were crisp and they showcased especially well with the animations.   Read our full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda's Ice Cream Truck

Dr. Panda’s Ice Cream Truck

Dr. Panda Ice Cream Truck by Dr. Panda has you making your own ice cream using a variety of colors, mix-in’s such as fruit while whipping it up in a blender to make your favorite combinations.  Once your ice cream is created you then add your toppings like squeeze on caramel or rainbow, sprinkles which include chocolate curls, and traditional sprinkles as well as the ability to top it with candy.  After finishing the ice cream you tap on a bell and you help  the character eat it before paying for the ice cream sundae.  The payment for each sundae depends on the size, complexity and amount of toppings used.  I have seen cones range from four to 31 coins depending on how you put it together.  Read the full review

 


 

Dr. Panda Supermarket

Dr. Panda Supermarket

Dr. Panda Supermarket by Dr. Panda is a universal app for iOS which features Dr. Panda in the supermarket along with many of his friends we have seen in previous apps including the most recent Dr. Panda Daycare.    Dr. Panda is based in Chengdu, China where the national animal is a giant panda!  The app features the animals as they go grocery shopping and a variety of ten themed mini games which vary from shopping using a list, organizing differently shaped boxes, cleaning up spills and more with six different animals and their children.  The app practices fine motor, critical thinking and creative play skills.  It does not contain any language either written or spoken which means it will appeal to toddlers to early preschool age children.  Read the full review

 


 

Dr. Panda’s Veggie Garden Dr. Panda’s Veggie Garden by Dr. Panda allows your child to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables for their customers who are comprised of a variety of animals we have met in previous Dr. Panda games.  The app allows you to plow, plant, water, harvest and of course take care of any insect infestations or critters from harming your crops.  This universal app features sequencing, fine motor, visual skills as well as language to name objects within the app.  The app features a variety of different “steps” which include: digging, planting seeds, watering and harvesting for five animal customers using 12 different fruits and vegetables including corn, wheat, strawberries and apples to name a few.  In addition, there are two bonus mini games which help your child organize the tool shed.  Read our full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Beauty Salon

Dr. Panda Beauty Salon

Dr Panda Beauty Salon by Dr Panda Games allows your child to immerse themselves into a spa experience where they pamper the pets and do a bunch of great mini games.  The app allows for open ended creative play and has some great hidden elements within to unlock.  This universal app had wide appeal with our testers, both boys and girls who enjoyed playing with the virtual spa.  The app features 13 mini games along with three floors of fun!   My son even enjoyed tapping on the pictures on the walls, finding the hidden nail polish which means your next client automatically gets nail polish and a pedicure as well as the smaller features like the vibrating chairs, magazines and variety of tasks needed to play the app.  The waiting room was fun as the customers entered – similar to other Dr. Panda apps and we loved listening to the music, reading magazines and sipping tea.   Read our full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Cafe

Dr. Panda Cafe

Dr. Panda Cafe from Dr. Panda Games  is a new universal app for iOS which has your child making food and drinks in a cafe setting.  As you gain more customers, you have to balance time management, taking orders and making them as well as cleaning up.  As you serve more customers, you earn new recipes and foods to give to the customers. To play the app, first you seat the customer at a table – if the table is empty you can put the customer at it.  Once they are seated, you take their order and go back behind the counter as Dr. Panda to work on the order.  Items are broken into categories, and you tap on the correct category to make or brew the item.  Once you have made all of the items in the order, it’s time to serve it to the customers.  You can take orders from multiple customers at once, and make food the same way although it can bet a bit confusing!  Among the food choices, coffee/tea, cakes, pizza and as you get to know your customers better you can try to imagine what they might order in advance.  It was important to pay attention to the customers in order to keep them happy which in turn unlocked items after you earned stars and gave you more food and drinks to serve.  Read our full review

 


 

Dr. Panda Art Class

Dr. Panda Art Class

Art Class with Dr. Panda  takes kid-art to a whole new level of enjoyment and allows your children to make one of six different art projects with their favorite animals from the Dr. Panda series.  The activities include: making a kite, cutting to make a design, making a pinwheel, making pottery, making a bead design and decorating an object with shapes.  Skills practiced in the app include: fine motor, creative thinking, sequential thinking, creative play and of course FUN! He loved shaping the pottery on the pottery wheel, watching it get fired in the kiln and the painting it with the rainbow colored paintbrush.    I also loved that the art book hanging on the wall allows your child to choose an activity (from the ones available in the app) as well as choosing an animal at the table.  We had fun with all of the activities in the app – and also really enjoyed the cutting one which required you to fold a piece of paper in a specific way and then make cuts with scissors prior to unfolding it to see your design.  Read our full review.

 


 

Dr. Panda Hoopa City 2

Dr. Panda Hoopa City 2

Hoopa City 2 by Dr. Panda Games is the newest app in the collection, this app is universal and features a building theme which encourages speech, creative play and role playing depending on the activity in the city.  The app appeals to kids from preschool through elementary school, and I found myself even enjoying playing with one of my son’s cities. My son really liked all the content in the app.  He enjoyed putting people in the buildings, role playing and switching from day to night.  He liked building his own characters as he progressed within the app.  As a mom, I liked the amount of content that was offered and the variety of options for building, playing or simply interacting with the city.   The 3D graphics are beautiful and my son enjoyed experimenting to create the different buildings and testing out combinations to see what bigger and better buildings he could make.   Read our full review

This post was originally posted at The iMums in August 2017.

iPad to your Toddler – Fun Apps for Encouraging Learning Ages-3-5

 Early learning: Toddler or Early Preschool Focused Apps-Ages 3-5

 

Grandma's Preschool

Grandma’s Preschool by Fairlady Media for iOS reminds me of the preschool I used to attend as a little girl.  There are lots of great activities (more than 20) and opportunities to try out new things like coloring, playing outside, using toys, practicing early academic skills like letters and numbers, having a snack, taking care of a class pet and playing with others.  There are three primary characters in the app and after you get off the school bus you go into the preschool classroom. This is a great app for practicing the routine of school which involves getting off a bus, selecting different activities in a preschool setting such as coloring or painting centers as well as having fun in a bright cheery environment.  Read our full review.  

 


 

MTA AnimalsMTA Animals by My Toddlers App, LLC is a iPad only app that includes over 40 animal photographs designed to teach your toddler or children about animals.  The animals range from cats and dogs to whales and elephants using real photographs.  It is designed for preschool aged children and teaches image recognition as well as early spelling.  Read our full review.

 

 

 


 

Sago Mini Boats iconSago Mini Boats app by Sago Sago is a cute and fun game with a nautical theme, which is perfect for children 2 to 5 years old. Sago Mini apps never disappoint, this one is no different!  Little ones get to choose from five boat adventures, pack their suitcase, choose their boat from eleven choices, and set off on their little adventure! On the high seas, they can pickup some treats, meet some interesting characters, go underwater and cruise along until they meet their best friend.  This app encourages problem solving, creative play, language from your kids to describe what they are doing.  Read our full review

 


 

Puppet Workshop - Creativity App for KidsPuppet Workshop – Creativity App for Kids by Sebastian Bachorzewski from Jump App is a fun and creative iPad only app for kids 3 to 12 years of age.  With Puppet Workshop, kids can create their own sock or glove puppet. With all of the accessories available, the possibilities are endless! You start off by choosing a glove or a sock from the 20 different templates. You can then choose your bling from the accessories such as buttons, strings, zips, material, shapes etc. You finish off by choosing a background (either one of the provided or one you upload yourself), naming your puppet and then taking a snap for your collection.   This app encourages kids creativity as well as language to have kids describe what they are doing with the puppet. Read our full review

 


 

Tiny Farm - Animals, Tractors and Adventures! Tiny Farm – Animals, Tractors and Adventures! by Wonderkind It is designed for kids from age 2-6 years and features 3 interactive farm scenes to explore, one of the scenes can be explored in 2 ways – at night and during the day. The illustrations in this app have a wonderful warm, hand-drawn feel to them. A beautifully illustrated app that encourages young children to explore and find fun hidden interactions, it can also be used to practice storytelling and work on speech and language.  My son loved finding different animals contained within the app. Read our full review

 


 

Raccoon Treehouse: learning games for toddlersTinyHands Raccoon’s Treehouse is a fun, educational app for young children. it is available in 2 versions – a full version and a free lite version. Neither version has any adverts or in-app purchases, the lite version has a child-locked app store link to the full version. The lite version includes 3 mini- games and the full version has 12 mini-games. Overall this is a very well-made, engaging educational app for toddlers and pre-school aged children which works on important skills including: sorting, classifying, memory, visual perception and hand-eye coordination.   Read the full review
 

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Baby to Toddlers (age 2)

Baby to Toddlers (Age 2)

Recommended educational apps to play with your child on a tablet for babies to toddlers

ReadAskChat by ReadAskChat, Ltd. – Review

What we love…

fantastic app that encourages parents and caregivers to read with children featuring a library of curated stories, conversation starters and bright colorful artwork.  I loved that we were able to carry over and do activities after learning about them during our daily lives like stomping, slipping, sliding and being more observant

What we’d love to see…

parental lock of some sort on the cog wheel – there are no external links but my son liked to tap on it.  I would also like to see a bigger parent’s resource section included – there are a number of resources on the web but not integrated within the app.

Summary

Beautifully illustrated app that encourages active reading via the story by asking questions, making observations and learning.  Kids can also tie it to real life and role play the stories.

Our Rating

Art for “Light of Mine” (c) 2012 by Christopher Lyles

ReadAskChat is a curated library of stories designed for children from six months to age 4.  The stories feature bright artwork, text and parental cues to help parents read with their children.  I still remember the first time I sat in the rocker with my then infant son and held a black and white board book to read with him.  I felt unprepared because I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to read with him or help him learn.   You can read our interview with co-founders Alice and Carolyn to learn more about the reasons on why ReadAskChat was created.  You can also read a paper about the science behind ReadAskChatThis app takes it beyond your device or tablet and encourages interactive reading using conversation starters to help kids engage and learn.  Key concepts in the app include rhyming, patterning, early academics like colors, shapes, early sight words along with math and science concepts.

As I have gotten to be a mom of two – reading with my kids has gotten easier.  They both know when it’s bedtime – we have 15-30 minutes depending on the day that we sit, snuggle and look at books.  We practice things like how to hold the book, turning pages from front to back as well as moving with the text via songs, pointing to objects and just handling a book.  In this digital age, it’s also important to consider that books are available on tablets, smartphones and other devices meaning that downtime doesn’t just have to mean that your child “plays” on your phone — you can turn it into educational time.

Here’s a snippet from Carolyn about the idea behind ReadAskChat

 The inspiration for ReadAskChat comes from personal experience. My husband and I are adoptive parents, and when our daughter Jiji came home at 9 months, she was clinically failure to thrive. She couldn’t hold her little head up or babble, or reach for shiny objects—things that 9-month-olds should be doing. But after only one month of reading picture books, singing songs, playing and snuggling, and “chatting” about anything and everything, Jiji was a fully caught up and happy 10-month-old.

When we read using my tablet or smartphone – one of the first things I do is to turn on the “night shift mode” which changes colors to be more easy on your eyes and less stimulating for children.  I also love that the app can change depending on which child I am reading with – meaning I can choose prompts for my toddler or my older son while reading the same story.  When you open the app, there are three free stories that are included in the library.  Additional stories are available for purchase.  Each story includes “conversation starters” – these are based on the developmental level of your child and can range from suggesting you bounce your baby in time with the rhythm of the story or music to questions you can ask your kids to prompt them to engage more with the story.

iPad Screenshot 1

Using your device, you login to the app to access the library.  For purposes of the review I was given access to the full library of stories.  When you use the app for the first time on your device or a new device you are prompted to download the stories.  The Starter Pack includes, “Light of Mine”, “Animal Tails” and “The Old Man in the Tree”.  In the subscription based version other stories are categorized by Big Ideas, Special Friends, Indoor Mischief, On The Move, Action Rhymes, Math Stories, Science Stories.  You also choose the developmental level for the conversation starters.  They range from baby (six to 18 months);  toddler (12-24 months); preschooler (2 -4 years).  As we have gotten more familiar with the stories we have recently changed from toddler to preschooler level to help him continue to follow along and be engaged.

My toddler aged son loves anything to do with cars and trucks and things that go.  We typically let him pick a story and then I choose one.  One of his favorites is Mario’s Trucks – which includes descriptive text like “Raise that Shovel!  Dig that hole”.  I typically read to him and then we talk about what we see in the photo – things like a yellow dump truck, a hard hat that Mario is wearing, a yellow digger and blocks and a crane.  The conversation starters also encourage parents to add the sounds to the story and then the “ask” which encourages kids to think about what the truck does – my toddler answered carries and dumps.    You are also prompted as you read to chat about what Mario might be building – my son said “tower”.  We talked about it being a construction site on the first page.  I also loved using the app to guide off-device play where we re-enacted specific stories that my son identified with.  The illustrations in the app are beautiful and encourage kids to look and pay attention to details.  The stories appeal to children and are not too overwhelming in terms of new information that is shared on a page.  They also gently encourage sleep or relaxation at the end.  At the end of the story you can either slide to the next story or close out of the app.

I loved the wide variety of content that was included in the app and that my son was engaged and learning from stories – which we could look at no matter where we were at a point in time.  I actually found myself reading more with my son because I could pull out my iPhone or tablet while we were waiting for appointments or had short periods of downtime.  He loved tapping on the screen to show me what he was seeing – and I liked hearing what he saw in the photos and engaged.  Both of us became more engaged with stories – rather than him sitting in my lap passively to hear a story.  In addition, I recently read to my son’s classroom and used ReadAskChat along with a software which was able to reflect my screen onto a whiteboard so that the group of kids could participate.  Although the app is designed for more 1:1 or 1:2 use it was fun to use in a class because it encouraged open-ended conversations and allowed kids to really engage with the story.  As kids get bigger you can encourage them to help swipe and actively pick out sight words, look at the images within the stories and pick out specific details or even find an object or color within the image. 

With my son as we read the stories and he’s become more familiar – we now sometimes play “I spy” to see the details that we might have previously missed.  One of the other things that I really enjoyed was the conversation starters to help me encourage my son to better engage with the story.  Another feature I liked was the “swipe lock” which made it so my son couldn’t accidentally move forward beyond pages that I wanted him to be on.   The app also lets you favorite stories using a heart at the bottom – my son quickly learned about this and we picked out his favorites and then we were able to scan for the hearts when picking a bedtime story.  I also really liked the descriptive words used within the app to tell a story which tied to the picture.  Words like  “slip and glide” for my son were new – so we actually practiced them by sliding our feet on the rug.

In terms of enhancements – I would love to see a section for parents to understand more about reading with their children as well as the importance. I found a number of resources on the website for Readaskchat – but they were not referenced when we used the app.  It would also be nice if the cog wheel at the top were parental gated – there are no external links but my son recognized this from other apps and wanted to touch it.

Overall, this is an app that is unique in that it actively encourages parents to teach their children while reading.  My son loved sitting on my lap and engaging – rather than passively listening to a story.  Since then I’ve noticed that when we read board books or bedtime stories he looks at the picture and we read and talk about them more – for example, find the green wall or white bunny rather than just reading the text as a more rote method of learning.

Pricing: Launch sale through December 25, 2017: Only $14.99 for the full library for one year.

LAUNCH SALE through December 25, 2017
$1.99/month
$14.99/year (which comes to $1.25/month)

AFTER DECEMBER 25
$2.99/month
$29.99/year (which comes to $2.50/month)

**Subscribers receive a new story pack (3 selections) bimonthly in 2018.

Note: Bulk rates are available for institutions.

 

NOTE: This app has in-app purchases

Apps for babies and toddlers (age 2) from The iMums

Introducing tech to your baby and toddler can mean different things to different people.  I used several white noise apps with my son before he turned one, or would play music via my device for him.  One he turned one and a half, we started letting him use apps for very short time periods (5-10 minutes) to try out apps on our device.  It is important, especially with younger children to use guided access and to be present while they are using your device.

Guided access allows you to use a fingerprint or a passcode to temporarily restrict your iOS device to a single app, disable selected areas of the screen that are not relevant to what you are doing as well as disable hardware buttons like the sound switch and the home button.

Kid in Story Book Maker: Create and Share Personalized Photo Storybooks

Kid in Story Book Maker by Enuma, Inc. is designed to make it easy to create your own stories starring your child. The app includes 12  ready made templates for stories, plus you can add your own. It makes it easy to add photos of your child or other family members into the story.  This can be a great way to help kids get familiar with new situations (daycare, life changes like a move or new addition to the family).  When I travel, I usually make up a quick book to remind my children that “Mom always comes back”.   Read our full review here……Kid in Story Book Maker

 

 

TOBY Autism Therapy - On... icon

TOBY (Therapy Outcomes by You) Playpad by Autism West is designed for children under 7, who are not yet receiving specific interventions for Autism, or are in the early stages of therapy.  It is a comprehensive Early Intervention Program designed for home use with children with Autism and includes both on and off iPad activities. Each day, TOBY suggests a list of activities to do, and this changes as the app adapts to the child’s progress. Read our full review here……TOBY Playpad – Autism West

 

 

Injini Child Development Game Suite by NCSoft was developed to help young children with with cognitive, language, and fine motor delays. It features 12 different games, each with many levels. It is best suited for toddlers and preschool aged children and is a very comprehensive app to help them with fine motor and language skills, understanding of cause and effect, spatial awareness, memory and visual processing. Read our full review here……..Injini Child Development Game Suite

 

 

Sago Mini Boats iconSago Mini Boats app by Sago Sago is a cute and fun game with a nautical theme, which is perfect for children 2 to 5 years old. Sago Mini apps never disappoint, this one is no different!  Little ones get to choose from five boat adventures, pack their suitcase, choose their boat from eleven choices, and set off on their little adventure! On the high seas, they can pickup some treats, meet some interesting characters, go underwater and cruise along until they meet their best friend.  This app encourages problem solving, creative play, language from your kids to describe what they are doing.  Read our full review

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Lipa Apps

Lipa Learning - Game-based Learning for children that interact with Bluebee Pals

 Introducing Lipa Apps Paired With Bluebee Pals

Bluebee Pals has teamed up with the Game-based Learning App company Lipa. When both Bluebee Pals and Lipa apps combined, your child will be immersed in a amazing learning experience that triggers there imagination all while educating them. We are very happy to present you Lipa apps, and in the near future we have some exciting things to share with our joint partnership. Enjoy the list of apps you can pair with Bluebee Pals today!

Lipa BalloonsLipa Balloons
Lipa Balloons is a playground for the youngest learners where they can explore sound, touch, and fun animations while learning new words and building their vocabulary. Each colorful balloon has its own expression, allowing children to see the differences between faces, and inside each balloon is a new object to discover. Lipa Balloons develops a basic understanding of language and image recognition, as well as fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. See what surprises you can find! Educational Value: Vocabulary, Motor skills

  

 


 

Lipa Bear

Lipa Bear
With Lipa Bear, your child will help our friendly Bella her find lost items by matching words and sounds with their corresponding card. By recognizing words phonetically, kids will learn to spell them out. Bella encourages fun as your child explores multiple subjects including everyday actions and feelings. Educational Value: Pattern recognition, Phonics, Vocabulary

   


 

Lipa Zoo

Lipa Zoo
Lipa Zoo opens up a world of wild animals and exotic habitats for your child to freely explore. As they touch each animal, they’ll discover animated surprises and begin recognizing and memorizing names and species. While playing Lipa Zoo, your little zookeeper will develop roaringly-good motor skills and a wild vocabulary. Educational value: Interactive play, Word recognition, Free exploration

   

 


 

Lipa TheaterLipa Theater
Lipa Theater offers a stage where you can explore the expanse of your imagination. In this active storytelling game, you build the perfect Wild West drama, or an out-of-this-world alien comedy set on Mars, while learning all about design and creativity. Lipa theater boosts narrative and social-emotional skills as you recreate your favorite movie scenes, moments from history, or invent fantastical tales of your own: why not fly on dragons, or wield an enchanted banjo? No element is left behind with dozens of props to choose from, as well as 50 unique characters, music themes, and weather controls such as a blazing sunset or shivering snowflakes. To find the right backdrop, take a snapshot of a scene that best fits your original production. Once the play is set, record the show with personalized voice overs–then play back or share the video for endless fun. Lipa Theater develops skills in creativity, invention, communication, design, and imagination, encouraging cooperative play with family and friends, who by being together can make real life an unforgettable tale. Educational value: Invention, Design, Storytelling

 

 


 

Lipa Pirates RaceLipa Pirates Race
In this speedy pirate race across treacherous seas, kids develop quick reflexes and navigation skills as they compete alongside their friends to reach the finish. Find the familiar colorful animations from Lipa Pirates with the added excitement of timed goals and fun stats to share with friends and family online. Lipa Race is a game that sharpens the mind, shortening reaction time and refining motor skills with its innovative gyroscope ship steering that feels true to life. It’s not just good for kids, but for sailors of any age! Educational value: Navigation, Reflexes, Obstacles and speed boosts, Gyroscope steering, Positive imagery, animation, and sounds, Sharable stats

    


 

Lipa PiratesLipa Pirates
As crew members aboard the Old Captain’s ship, kids embark on a challenging nautical adventure that develops shape recognition and application. Kids test their motor skills by racing their foe through treacherous waters, matching & moving shapes to outwit the Kraken, building bridges with blocks, and tracing the stars. With Lipa Pirates, your child will learn to command every form on their way to finding the prized pirate treasure. Educational value: Object Manipulation, Shape Recognition, Problem Solving

   

 


 

Lipa Frog

Lipa Frog
In Lipa Frog, kids explore the magical Frog Bog by traveling along the lilypads and counting numbers along the way. As they fill up their Frog belly with the correct number of flies, kids move up the levels until they can count to 10. Each time they succeed, they’ll discover a shining piece of their crown from the depths of the Bog. Let your child count their way to kingship in Lipa Frog! 
Educational value: Calculation, Fine motor skills, Counting

   

 


 

Lipa PairsLipa Pairs
Prepare your kids for a brain-teasing mystery. Lipa Pairs takes memory matching to new level by adding the element of sound–when they hear an animal’s name, they’ll have to uncover the corresponding image from the card grid. As they meet wild creatures, kids refine their visual and aural recollection while exploring various outdoor habitats. Your child can become a Lipa Detective and find hidden pairs! 
Educational value:Memory, Recognition, Investigation

   

 


 

Lipa WizardsLipa Wizards
With its innovative two-player tournaments, Lipa Wizards is a spellbinding adventure that not only sharpens focus, attention to detail, pattern detection, and strategy, but strengthens the vital skill of good sportsmanship. Choose a character from a cast of 7 diverse, specialized wizards from around the world, who present the supernatural elements of different cultures. Be the first to detect which Nogs on the field make pairs, while using special spells and enchantments to thwart your opponent’s progress. Learn to create your own logical strategies that combine quick reflexes with opportunistic timing to become the wizard duel champion. Lipa Wizards: Magic Duel develops the skills essential to building a sharp mind that can think effectively, while its unparalleled two-player interface invites families and friends to train and play together. Educational value: Problem Solving, Strategy

   

 


 

Lipa BandLipa Band
From the bayou bluegrass of North America to the desert drum beats of Saharan Africa, Lipa Band takes you on a worldwide adventure as you travel to each sparkling concert stage. As you team up with the humble bug band, you can fly through personalized action levels with adjusted difficulty while enhancing your prediction and reaction skills. Gather up your band members, earn special vehicles, and learn about pitch, beat, and tempo when you score speed boosters. But music is more than just jamming out for a group of adoring fans. Lipa Band includes colorful landscapes designed to reflect diverse cultures: rehearse for your next performance by interacting with the environment, discovering secret animations, adding or subtracting instruments, and tuning the music to fit your style. Lipa Band develops skills in creativity, fine motor reflexes, attention, and motivation, telling the story of the Bug Band who, with passion and hard work, show that any dream is possible to reach. Educational value: Prediction, Motivation

   

 


 

Lipa KnightLipa Knight
In this rescue adventure, kids learn that love is more than just romance–it challenges their minds and brings out their inner scientists. Lipa Knight’s beloved Princess has been kidnapped by the Cyclops, and a valiant steed awaits–while journeying through various beautiful landscapes, your child will hypothesize and experiment with their bridge-building techniques, so that they can gallop with ease toward the Cyclops’ lair. Educational value: Object manipulation, Shape recognition, Experimentation

   

 


 

Lipa EggsLipa Eggs
Each egg needs to hatch, but first they must be decorated–kids will follow Mama Bird’s instructions to paint her eggs by designing fun patterns, mixing and matching colors, and learning about shading and color grading. When the egg cracks, a cute surprise that matches your child’s unique design will emerge! Let your child’s creativity fly high with Lipa Eggs. Educational value: Understanding colors, Recreating designs, Experimentation

   

 


 

Lipa ScrabblisLipa Scrabblis
While playing Lipa Scrabblis, your child will gain the spelling skills needed to be a master scribe. Letters fall from the sky and it’s your child’s job to land them in the correct sequence, building new and useful words step-by-step. Lipa Scrabblis combines spelling with visual recognition, allowing your child to connect their growing vocabulary with fun and colorful images. Educational value: Language skills, Word composition, Visual recognition

   

 


 

Lipa TrainLipa Train
Aboard the Lipa Train, your child becomes a master of navigation. As they graduate to increasingly-complex tracks, kids learn prediction skills by picking the quickest route to the precious fruit cargo. Your child will be challenged to look ahead to future actions and their consequences in order to conduct the train that grows and never stops! Educational value: Navigation, Prediction, Problem solving

   

 


 

Lipa Mole

Lipa Mole
Our notorious Lipa Mole loves to tunnel everywhere and trace letters, numbers, and words in the dirt. With Lipa Mole, your child will develop hand-eye coordination while learning to compose capital and lowercase letters, the numbers 1-20, as well as the everyday words they’ll need to communicate with their world. Educational value: Increased vocabulary, Motor skills, Step-By-Step writing

   

 


 

Lipa Splash

Lipa Splash
In this color-by-number challenge, kids will learn to count while splashing color onto our fun characters who are stuck in black and white. As your child builds math skills through number recognition and matching, they’ll be expanding their creativity. Lipa Splash brings art and math together to create a more interactive and fun learning environment. Educational value: Colour and Number Recognition, Basic math & art skills

   

 


 

Lipa Dots

Lipa Dots
Hand-eye coordination is the key to unlocking your child’s imagination in Lipa Dots. When they select mystery images and draw lines between the dots, your child will bring numerous exciting creatures to life. Interact with fun environments, examine new objects, and build up a strong foundation for language–it’s all possible with Lipa Dots. Educational value: Increased vocabulary, Interactive play, Language Skills

   

 


 

Lipa PlanetsINTERACTIVE BOOKS:

Lipa Planet: The Solar Gods
Lipa Planets mixes basic astronomy with Roman mythology to create a truly unique and exciting story that piques kids’ interest in the cosmos. With interactive animations on each page, the story holds attention while boosting imagination, and teaches new vocabulary relating to space. Kids will meet Neptune with his trident, and say hello to Mars and his satellites. Let’s rocket away with Skipper!

   

 


 

Lipa Frog A Counting Tale

Lipa Frog: A Counting Tale
All the frogs are having fun counting flies in the bog. Except for Fred, who sits up in his hot air balloon and watches, because he never learned to count! One day a gust of wind blows Fred’s balloon into a tree, and the adventure begins; as he meets new quirky characters who need his help counting, Fred realizes he had the ability to be a counting frog after all.

   

 


 

Lipa Band: Reach For The Stars

Lipa Band: Reach For The Stars
Join the Bug Band as this musical group of insects finds the motivation to shoot for the stars! But it’s not so easy, especially with grumpy neighbors and flighty fans. Follow along and find out if they have what it takes to achieve their dreams!

 


 

Lipa Wizards: A Story of True Victory

Lipa Wizards: A Story Of True Victory
This interactive storybook teaches kids about the value of friendship while challenging their comprehension skills with fun multiple-choice quizzes. The theme of wizards and magic invites kids to use their imaginations as they learn about real life situations and how to treat others fairly when playing games. 3 play modes and multiple languages let kids choose how they want to learn. 

   

 

 

 

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Autism Apps

Autism Apps being used with and by people diagnosed with Autism


Avaz-ProAvaz for Autism
is adaptable and easy to use. Younger students can start off using pictures from the Avaz library customizing their folders to fit their needs. Every accommodation a child would need has been taken care of in this app. It even takes into account the future. As the child moves up the app allows you to blend pictures and type to communicate making students feel more independent. The app also has prediction with pictures and words making the transition an easy one.



aacorn-AACaacorn – The Intelligent Solution for Children with Autism, Apraxia, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, MS and Developmentally Delayed Speech. Aacorn is the first AAC App with an artificial Intelligence that LEARNS and adapts to each user’s individual needs. Enabling children of ALL AGES AND ABILITIES  to build and speak clear flowing sentences – at or near the speed of most other children.

 


Personalized-LearningPersonalized learning:  Students are supported with personalized schedules, video models, visual stories and research-based language tools using images from their actual environments to address their unique academic, communication and behavioral needs.
Adapted materials:  Existing academic content and materials can be modified to target all developmental levels and promote inclusion for students during classroom lessons.
Bridging the gap:  Student content is automatically synced on up to 5 devices, improving carryover between every environment and ensuring a consistent set of supports no mater where a student is or what device they’re using.
Promoting independence:  GPS technology reduces the need for prompting by loading student’s visual supports automatically, populating the screen as they transition between physical environments.


autismate_compact

AutisMate365
Connecting everyone on your child’s team.  AutisMate365, an app for autism, seamlessly syncs your child’s profile on up to 5 devices, connecting everyone who cares about your child around a consistent set of supports that extends learning to the home, therapy and the community.
Personalized supports for all ability levels.  AutisMate365, provides you with all the visual tools needed to set your child on a path to independence as they develop fundamental communication, behavior and life skills. With AutisMate365 you can personalize visual scenes, video models, visual schedules, visual stories and research-based language tools with images and videos from your child’s actual environment.
Connect with others around the globe.  AutisMate365, connects parents and professionals from across the world to share their content and ideas on the community library. Save time creating supports by download pre-built visual scenes, schedules, visual stories and video models free of charge and then personalize them to meet the unique needs of your child.


puddingstone_compactPuddingStone
3 Unique Research Based Games in One Platform:

Action Factory:  Watch the PuddingStone characters come to life as you navigate through a variety of scenarios targeting who, what and where actions. This exciting game allows you to establish the building blocks of these difficult concepts and work with your learner through identifying each element in isolation. With each selection your learner makes, the game reinforces the concepts using characters to interactively carry out each action. Once your learner is ready to put their knowledge to the test, you can quiz them on each concept in our action factory quiz. Click here to see PuddingStone in action.
See and do theater:  Join Finn and Skyler as they complete a variety of difficult tasks around their home and community. Choose from a variety of locations to target chores, play skills, self-care routines and much much more! Each video provides research based symbols developed by Boston Children’s Hospital to break down the communication interactions that occur in the video allowing your learner to better comprehend what they are seeing. You can control each element of the video to focus the concepts most important to your learner!Click here to see PuddingStone in action.
Storytorium:  Make comprehension of language elements fun for your learner! Choose from a variety of engaging stories to target reading comprehension and literacy skills. Each story offers character based video modeling that can be used to teach difficult concepts that your learner may struggle with.

For those learners who use sign language, each story can optionally be customized with an interpreter allowing you learner to follow along. Click here to see PuddingStone in action.

 


geekclub_compactGeek Club Books
Our children’s autism social story apps are narrative, entertaining and based on ‘real’ autistic individuals. We produce them as apps to make them an engaging, interactive, and customizable experience.


youtellme_smallYou Tell Me Stories
FREE
picture book apps with a unique interactive reading method that embeds comments and questions (WordWinks®) directly into the text— providing parents the expressive language that stimulates conversation and builds listening, thinking and oral language skills. Our unique Retell, Record and Sharefeature allows kids to retell the story and record in their own voice, play the story back (through their favorite Bluebee Pal), and email to friends and family! Created by You TELL Me Stories Foundation, a non-profit organization of language and learning specialists.


Winky-ThinkWinky Think
Enjoy finger-twisting fun in the awesome game that builds your brain with tons of challenging puzzles. From simple matching to puzzles packed with moving barriers and complex, multi-touch fun, Winky Think Logic Puzzles combines it all in a game that stretches your fingers almost as much as your brain.


Keedogo-PlusKeedogo
Keedogo Plus is an iOS keyboard with word prediction designed for children and young students. The keyboard provides a simplified layout with just the essential keys so early writers can focus on developing their skills rather than being distracted by symbols and functions they don’t yet need.


Lessons-with-MaxLessons with Max
A fun educational app for toddlers and preschoolers that consists of 5 different games: Peek-a-Boo, Colors, Puzzles, Memory, and Match and covers a variety of early learning skills.


Speak-for-YourselfSpeak For Yourself
Speak for Yourself was designed by two ASHA-certified speech-language pathologists (SLPs) with an extensive knowledge of AAC devices and implementation. This application is consistent with motor learning principles, uses a word-based vocabulary of the most frequently used words in communication, and contains features important in developing automaticity and language. Individuals learn to use their communication device with the same principles they use to play an instrument or type on a keyboard.


Magic-SorterMagic Sorter
With 5 fun educational games built in (including puzzles, color, size and shape matching), this app help develop important cognitive and fine motor skills and provide countless hours of fun. Funny animations as a reward will keep your kid occupied for hours!


kindermatica_smallKindermatica
Here at Kindermatica, we create educational and entertaining applications for kids as we believe that new generation touch screen devices are more than a mobile game platform. It is a perfect means to educate and engage little creatures in a totally new interactive way.


Jump apps is a small, independent design studio creating mobile apps for kids. All products are easy to use, colorful, and offer an excellent opportunity for kids and parents to play together. By observing children, their real fun, and needs, these apps entertain as well as educate, helping kids develop different skills.


gotalknowGo Talk Now
Turn your iPad into a GoTalk! Attainment has been making augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools for 20 years! Our experience is front and center in GoTalk NOW — a flexible, yet powerful app for people who have difficulty speaking.


Autism-Language-LearningAutism Language Learning Lite
Student chooses a module (modules are listed in a hierarchy from easiest to most difficult). A short video clip plays with voice output (e.g., “He is eating.”). The user may also choose to mute the voice (more difficult without a model). The student may choose to record their own voice saying the action or sentence. The user then hits the “next” or “previous” arrow to continue.


ChoiceworksThe Choiceworks app is an essential learning tool for helping children complete daily routines (morning, day, & night), understand & control their feelings and improve their waiting skills (taking turns and not interrupting). Created with the support of leading hospitals and child development specialists, this app is designed for caregivers to provide clear and consistent support to foster a child’s independence, positive behavior, and emotional regulation at home and in the community. It can also be customized for teachers in a school setting.


Communicate-EasyCommunicate Easy – Autism App for iPad for Special Needs Communication By Pluja Apps Limited. Communicate Easy – An inexpensive but high quality app with lots of functionality designed to aid communication with non-verbal individuals using customizable visual prompts, picture / sound / video cards for choice making ,schedules and stories. The app is a picture communication system targeted to helping individuals with Autism.


smartspecneeds_smallSmart Apps for Special Needs
Fun and Educational Apps for Special Needs Kids

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