October 2010
The Archives
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10.29.10Toys R Us iPad app lets kids create Christmas wishlistsThis app is going to cost a lot of parents a lot of money, I predict. Toys R Us has released a free iPad app that lets you and your children browse through the retailer's Christmas catalogue in a tablet-friendly format (i.e. lots of pictures and swiping). There are two ways to use the app, depending on whether you're a child or a parent. Kids can create a 'list' and then browse the catalogue, adding toys and games to it using virtual stickers. Switch to 'Parent View', and you get to look at your children's lists, but also see the prices for ...
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10.27.10My Little Vampire dances onto your iPhoneAnd still the Halloween apps keep coming - I stopped counting this week when they went into three figures! Relatively few of them are worth bothering with, but I think My Little Vampire 3D may be one of them. Released by developer Genera Kids, it's a cute 3D vampire character for your child to play with on their iPhone or iPod touch (or YOUR iPhone, obviously). He can dance, sing, spin around and repeat whatever you say to him. It's got a limited shelf-life, for sure, and at $1.99 is a bit pricier than you'd hope - at half that price, it'd ...
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10.27.10NOOKcolor e-reader to offer book-apps for childrenUS retailer Barnes & Noble has unveiled the new version of its Nook e-reader, the NOOKcolor. Its headline feature is a bright colour screen, which means it will be able to run books with colour pictures, animation and even video, going toe-to-toe with Apple's iPad and other tablets. However, there's a big angle for Apps Playground specifically: something called NOOK Kids. It'll offer what B&N claims is "the largest collection of popular children's picture and chapter books in an engaging digital form", blending text and pictures along with voice narration. By the end of the year, more than 260 digital picture ...
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10.26.10iPad gets Luna’s Fun Picture & Sound Word BookWell, the title says it all really. Luna's Fun Picture & Sound Word Book HD has 12 scenes for your child's fingers to explore, with themes including farm, zoo, sea animals, seasons and fruit. Touching the characters triggers animations, and there are simple game-like elements too, where you collect medals as you explore the scenes. It's very simple, but that's why I think it will be very popular among younger children, who won't react well to being blasted with complex scenes or controls that take a while to learn. It reminds me of some of my sons' favourite picture books. Which at its ...
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10.26.10Build a pumpkin on your iPad, or an ice cream on your iPhoneTwo apps caught my eye today that are individually simple but appealing. And since they share a building theme, they sit well together. Build A Pumpkin HD is an iPad app that lets your child make their own virtual pumpkin. It involves dragging and dropping eyes, mouths and other features onto a silhouette. That's purely for fun, but iPhone app Ice Cream Addition takes a more educational angle, albeit through the process of slapping ice cream into cones. It gets your child to create combinations adding up to the same number, again through dragging and dropping elements. It's aimed at pre-schoolers. The main ...
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10.26.10Dear Santa, I want an iPod touch…Every year around this time, the UK newspapers report on a survey of children that lists the most-wanted toys for Christmas. This year, gadgets dominate the Duracell-sponsored list. Check the three most-requested 'toys' for 5-16 year-olds: 14% said they wanted an iPhone 4, 13% an iPod touch, and 12% an iPad. Buzz Lightyear, Lego Harry Potter and Barbie are relegated down the list. 66% of 13-16 year-olds put an Apple product at the top of their list, and 50% of 9-12 year-olds. And even for 5-8 year-olds, 17% of them want an iOS gadget from Santa. It'll certainly provide a dilemma for parents: ...
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10.25.10Peter Rabbit gets a pop-out e-book for iPhone and iPadYou can't move for pop-up book-apps on the App Store nowadays. I've written about the Rumpelstilstkin and Three Little Pigs apps before, but now there's a third developer touting its own pop-up technology for a much-loved story. PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit is the work of Loud Crow Interactive, and gives the Beatrix Potter classic an all-new interactive twist. Your child can touch and drag objects in the pictures to make them spring out, or tilt to slide them around. It has more than 50 pages of text and illustrations, with narration and background music accompanying them. The app is universal, so ...
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10.25.10Two new iPad fairy-tale e-books from Yasmin StudiosAnother day, another Brothers Grimm fairy tale turned into an interactive e-book for iPad. This time, it's Hanset and Gretel getting the tablet treatment. Developer Yasmin Studios has released the app, which currently costs less than a dollar as an 'introductory price'. Alongside full narration, tactile features are to the fore. Children can touch characters to see them animated, and even drag them around the scenes to 'create your own story line'. (Presumably not one that deviates too far from the original, mind). It's one of two such book-apps released by the developer this week: Boy Who Cried Wolf has similar features and graphical ...
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10.25.10Disney launches Mickey Mouse Halloween puzzle app for iPhone and iPadThe flood of spooky Halloween apps for kids will only increase this week, but Disney's effort looks set to be the most high-profile. Mickey's Spooky Night Puzzle Book is a mixture of e-book and puzzle mini-games, starring Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and Goofy among other characters. The story is suitably scary, although within reason for its young audience. The production values are high too, with proper voices for the characters, and signature lush background music. The app takes a leaf out of Toy Story's e-book by letting you record your own voice reading the story, while the puzzles are easy enough for kids ...
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10.22.10Get beastly with Monster Maker HD for iPadIt seems to be Monster Day on the App Store, presumably because of Halloween coming up. Monster Meter lets you prove there are no monsters in your child's bedroom, but Monster Maker HD goes the other way, and lets them create their own. It's quite simple: choose a body, then drag eyes, mouth, tail and hair onto it, before saving the results to your Photo Library. There are eight monster bodies to choose from, along with a decent selection of bits to stick on them. To an adult, it may feel a bit limiting - I was tempted to compare it to ...
recent posts
- Hiiieee-yaaah! Kung Fu Robot kicks his way onto iPad
- Xbox One may see more merging of children’s TV and games
- PetitRocket Mission to Mars app blasts off on iPhone
- Video: Justin Fletcher’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears app
- Little Rooster book-app gets ‘experimental’ on iPad and Android
- Justin Fletcher’s Goldilocks app review (iPhone / iPad)
- Wombi offering free apps for kids all this week
