November 2011
The Archives
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11.21.11Antique ABCs app gives alphabet-learning a 19th Century spinHow familiar are your children with the work of 19th Century German lithographer Joseph Martin Kronheim? Not at all? Shame on you! You'll be shunned at the next NCT meet-up... Okay, it's fair to say that Kronheim isn't up there with Spot the Dog or The Gruffalo in the 'sells lots of books to parents' stakes. But new iPhone and iPad app Antique ABCs could see his work finding a new (and very young) audience. The idea: Kronheim's hand-engraved alphabet prints have been turned into a letter-learning iOS app, with a different illustration for each letter. There's a song to introduce them, ...
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11.21.11There’s No Place Like Space for Dr. Seuss on iPhone and iPadIf your child loves Dr. Seuss books, you're well catered for on iOS, with pretty much every one of the classic books having been turned into an app by Oceanhouse Media. Now it's trying something different, moving the series into more educational fare. There's No Place Like Space! is the first in a new range of 'The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library' book-apps, designed to teach your children about specific topics through the media of rhymes, interaction and mischievous cartoon cats. The subject here is the solar system, with the Cat introducing planets and constellations. Characters from other Dr. Seuss books ...
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11.21.11Tinga Tinga Tales becomes a colourful iPhone and iPad gameWe love Tinga Tinga Tales here at Apps Playground HQ, and so do our children. Aired on CBeebies here in the UK, the series takes the 'how did animal x get y?' structure of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, and presents them as colourful cartoons with humour and music. Now there's an app for that. Available for iPhone and iPad, it's a collection of nine mini-games aimed at 3-6 year-olds published by P2 Games, which is the company behind recent apps for Postman Pat SDS and Peppa Pig. As with the other games, there are three difficulty levels to ensure that younger ...
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11.21.11Create a digital friend with Teddy Bear Maker+ iPhone appThe best thing about a decent teddy bear is, of course, giving it a great big cuddle. That's something that will never be possible with an app, but Orca's Teddy Bear Maker+ is still worth a look if your child is a fan of surprising things found down in the woods. The idea is to make a virtual teddy from 15 colours and shapes, as well as 250 clothes and accessories. That makes for plenty of variety as your children explore the different looks, including some familiar outfits from Darth Vader through to Elvis Presley. Once finished, there's a neat photography feature ...
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11.21.11Sleepy Mole’s Moving Day goes underground for iPadWe were really impressed by developer Ginger Whale's The Greebley Greebley book-app, with its story revolving around a monster created anew each time by your child. Now the company has a new app out that looks equally interesting: Sleepy Mole's Moving Day. This time, it's a tired mole who's the central character. It's part story and part maze-puzzle, as you guide him to one of eight homes, meeting up to 16 animals along the way. The idea is that the story is different every time your child works through it. The educational angle is learning about animals who live in burrows, while ...
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11.21.11Disney Princess characters get festive with Royal Christmas book-appYes, it's nearly Christmas. My Nan sent me a battery-powered singing Santa'n'snowman gadget to sit in the front window, which is the traditional curtain-raiser for the festive season. Disney is also getting in early with a Christmas book-app for iPhone and iPad called Disney Princess: A Royal Christmas. It includes three stories - A Very Merry Mix-Up, The Holiday Treasure Hunt, and A Magical Holiday Feast - each with a different Disney Princess in the starring role. Cinderella, Ariel and Tiana are the trio of royals who spring out of the virtual pages. The app includes a choice of Follow Along and ...
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11.14.11Lego Duplo Jams app blends bricks and beats for kidsLego has an intriguing new iPhone and iPad app for kids out this morning based on its Duplo range. Lego Duplo Jams isn't just about building virtual bricks though: music is very much part of the mix, as its name implies. The app is pitched as an "interactive, musical world" for toddlers and preschoolers. "This app lets children build their imaginations by clicking bricks to explore colorful worlds as they sing along to catchy tunes". Settings include trains, race cars, zoos and oceans, with educational elements thrown in too: alphabet and memory games. Children can record their own sounds too: something we've ...
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11.10.11Doodlecast app turns your child’s drawings into videosMany kids are born commentators, keen to talk their parents and teachers through whatever they're doing at the time. Our eldest son is like that with drawing - possibly because he's used to watching TV presenters like Mister Maker explain his artworks as step-by-step processes. Doodlecast for Kids is a new iPhone and iPad app that taps into this exact behaviour. It gets your children to draw pictures on the touchscreen, while talking about what they're doing (or singing, or shouting at their siblings, or... you get the point). It records what's happening on screen, as well as an audio feed ...
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11.10.11Puss In Boots film gets an iPhone and iPad book-appThe Puss In Boots Movie Storybook follows Puss In Boots, Humpty Dumpty and Kitty Softpaws on their quest to find the Golden Goose. For iPhone and iPad, the storybook features real images, character audio and video from the film, alongside in-story activities. The app is available now (November 2011) at the introductory sale price of £2.49. Useful to know: the file size is on the large side at just under 400MB.
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11.09.11Loopseque Kids iPad app is a musical treat for childrenIt's a wonderful thing to see a child realising that they can make their own music by hitting a drum, hammering a keyboard or blowing hard on a whistle - even if it's often NOT a wonderful thing to actually hear! We'd never want to discourage our kids from playing with physical instruments, but we're nevertheless intrigued by the creative possibilities of iPad music creation apps aimed at children. Loopseque Kids is the latest example. The 69p iPad app is the work of a company called Casual Underground Lab, and promises a stress-free introduction to digital music-making. "You don't need a ...
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- Five iPad apps trying to teach programming skills to kids
- Wubbzy’s ABC Learn & Play app gets alphabetical
