Tag: recommended

Ipad Apps for Kids: Puppet Pals HD

Yet, another fantastic Ipad app recommendation from my mate Danny Nicholson from The Whiteboard Blog.  I absolutely love this app Puppet Pals, it’s also available for iphones but can’t help thinking the screen would be too small and fiddly for little fingers.

Simply choose your characters, a background, resize the images and when you’re ready push the record button, move your characters around and narrate your story.  Within seconds you have an animated story.  My daughter is only four and cracked it right away.  The educational value is limitless (literacy, listening and speaking, drama).

The basic version is free and comes with the Fairytale characters, but I’m tempted to buy the Director’s pass (£1.99), which includes custom content and all the characters, so we can start using our own images; including my daughter so we can plonk her right in the stories.  She’d go crazy!

Here is my daughter’s first attempt.  Do bear in mind she’s only 4 and the concept of a beginning, middle and end to a story is still beyond her.

For more of our app reviews click here

Ipad Apps for Kids: Jellybean Count

I absolutely love this Ipad app, Jellybean Count and to boot, it’s FREE!  It was recommended by my mate Danny Nicholson from The Whiteboard Blog.

Children count the different colour of jellybeans and then use the same number of fingers to input their answers.  For example, if there are 4 green jellybeans, they need to press on the green with four fingers; a very simple introduction to counting.  Plus, when they start to get to larger numbers like 6 they’re introduced to simple number bonds as they have to use 5+1 fingers.  Fantastic!

There is also a mode to have multiple players.

Download it now!

For more of our app reviews click here.

Recommended Iphone App – Time to Roast

When I first saw this app I thought ‘how ridiculous, who on earth would need that?’ but apparently I do. It’s brilliant. I’m forever googling cooking times for different cuts of meat then digging out a calculator to work out cooking times based on the weight.

It’s dead simple, simply choose the type of meat (e.g beef, lamb, chicken, pork), enter the weight, how you would like it cooked (rare, medium or well done) and presto it displays the exact instructions, including time to sear. There’s even an alarm but I didn’t try that.

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Available to download  (.69p) from

Disclosure: I have used my own affiliate code for this post. So, on the off-chance that you purchase it I get a measly couple of pence.

Iphone Apps for Kids – Mindshapes Hickory Dickory Dock

My daughter and I went to an event in Kensington last night for the launch of Mindshapes new kids app, Hickory Dickory Dock (available from iTunes for £1.99). It introduces children to the concept of telling time, accompanied by the familiar nursery rhyme and a mischievous mouse. There are 12 mini games within the app, one for each hour on the clock.

At first, as an ex-teacher, I was a bit concerned that the mini-games distracted my daughter from the skill of telling time, as I didn’t think they were directly linked to the time on the clock and felt a bit random. But, after reading a bit more about the philosophy of the company ‘that learning should be fun’ I came to the conclusion that this was probably intentional.

My daughter is only four and is not really ready for telling time but this gentle, almost subliminal introduction to the clock is just right. Without her even noticing she’s being introduced to both literacy and numeracy.

My daughter’s favourite game is 12 o’clock where you squirt the mouse with soap, shower him of and then blast him with the hairdryer and he turns into a big fluff ball. She howled with laughter.

The animations are amazing. However, I think they were a bit lost on my little iPhone. I can’t help thinking that this app would really come into it’s own on an Ipad.

We also had an opportunity to explore a few of their other apps. I was truly impressed with their interactive version of the Classic Tale – Jack and the Beanstalk. If I don’t manage to blag a copy I’ll definitely be buying that one.

So overall here is what (I) we thought:

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What does your iphone say about you?

My hubby was given a hand me down iphone3, which we were very grateful to receive. However, as usual I was left to sort it out. Bless him, he can barely send emails with attachments.

Long story short after nearly bricking it, we had to have it unlocked and I was told under no circumstance should I update it and guess what I did? Anyhow, I managed to get it sorted. But, what I found interesting was the content of the phone prior.

My mate, who gave us the phone, is a food technologist. The phone was full of food type apps; Waitrose, nutrition calculators, shopping lists etc. It made me wonder what our phones/ipads say about us.

I’m not a huge fan of memes but would love to know what

@dadyougeek

@the_moiderer

@annieqpr

@mattbigg’s

@dannynic

@R2UK

@whitespider1066

phones says about them!  Plus, it’s a great way to share good apps.

According to my phone I’m a social media addict! For Christsake, I have a separate folder for it with 3 twitter apps!

 


I’m a mum! Phone has been a godsend, especially when you want one more sneaky drink in the pub.

Lastly, I’m a Libra, slightly OCD and possibly anal. I have at least 8 folders on the first screen! Check out the categories: travel, entertainment, blogging, social media etc. I do worry myself sometimes.


Even if I haven’t tagged you do join in!  If you’ve never done a meme before, basically you write a post similar to this, link back here and then tag a few friends.