The Archives
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05.20.13Justin Fletcher’s Goldilocks app review (iPhone / iPad)Every year, a new crop of children encounter Justin Fletcher for the first time through his shows on CBeebies: Something Special, Gigglebiz and Justin's House. He's probably the most familiar face on children's TV here in the UK, and now he's making the leap onto iPhones and iPads with a planned series of 'Justin's World' apps. Starting with Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Released last week, it sees Justin telling the famous fairytale through a mixture of video and mini-games, including dressing up as Goldilocks AND the three bears. Continue Reading...
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05.17.13CBeebies star Justin Fletcher launches Goldilocks app for kidsJustin Fletcher is one of the most familiar faces in children's entertainment here in the UK, thanks to his CBeebies shows Something Special, Gigglebiz and Justin's House. Now he's launched his first app: Justin's World – Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Released today for iPhone and iPad, it's a retelling of the famous fairytale with a combination of video, animation and interactivity for pre-schoolers. Justin himself provides the videos, telling the story – including getting into character as Goldilocks herself. The interactivity comes with accessible mini-games testing children's counting, sorting, matching and language skills. Continue Reading...
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04.25.13Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy Crow review (iPhone / iPad)It's been a while since Nosy Crow's last fairytale book-app Cinderella, although the publisher has kept itself busy making excellent apps like Rounds: Parker Penguin, Animal SnApp: Farm and Pip and Posy: Fun and Games (among others). Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy Crow is here, though, and it bears all the company's hallmarks: beautiful production values; canny use of your iPhone or iPad's hardware; and voice narration from children rather than adults. You know the tale: Little Red Riding Hood wandering through the woods to her Grandma's house, only to find a wolf in granny's bed with a set of big ...
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04.25.13Beauty and the Beast review (iPhone / iPad / Android)The problem with pop-up books in the real world is that they don't always cope with rough handling by kids. We had one book about tadpoles whose frogs-bursting-out climax was rather less exciting once the frogs had been literally ripped out, for example. In the apps world, that's not a worry: books that pop up stay popping up for as long as they're installed on your smartphone and tablet. Such is the case with Beauty and the Beast, the latest 3D tale from publisher StoryToys. Continue Reading...
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04.25.13StoryToys’ Beauty and the Beast pops up on iOSIt's a good day for fairytale-lovers, what with Nosy Crow's Little Red Riding Hood and now StoryToys' pop-up retelling of Beauty and the Beast launching on the App Store. We've written about StoryToys' apps regularly: they take the form of virtual pop-up books, with a mixture of interactive scenes, elegantly-presented text and background music. Beauty and the Beast continues this on all fronts. This time round, there are eight scenes to explore, from the prince's transformation into a beast, through leaf-sorting, maze-wandering, escaping from a wolf and even playing ping-pong against the Beast. Continue Reading...
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04.25.13Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy Crow live for iPhone and iPadParents, if your fairytale-loving kids haven't yet played with Nosy Crow's appy retellings of Cinderella and The Three Little Pigs, they're missing out on a treat. And now there's a third for the list. Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy Crow has gone live on the App Store this morning for iPhone and iPad, and from our early playtest, it's a beautiful piece of work. The app tells the familiar tale of Little Red Riding Hood, her Grandma and the Big Bad Wolf, but with some interactive twists. Your kids don't just read and watch the story play out: they collect objects ...
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04.15.13Sneak peek: Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy CrowIf your kids haven't played with Nosy Crow's The Three Little Pigs or Cinderella apps, they're missing out on a treat: beautiful animated, interactive storytelling based on much-loved fairytales. Now the publisher is working on another: Little Red Riding Hood. Due out in the not-too-distant future, it'll have a bit more of a gameplay element as kids collect items as the heroine travels through the woods on her way to save Grandma. Nosy Crow posted this YouTube video a couple of weeks ago (yes, we're slightly late) to show off the app, focusing on the Big Bad Wolf's version of events. See what ...
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03.26.13Yikes! Meet Little Dead Riding Hood and her app…We've seen plenty of app retellings of Little Red Riding Hood, but none where she's a skeleton with a missing eye. That's what you get with Little Dead Riding Hood. It's a new iPad app that comes with an App Store description written entirely in rhyming couplets: "Her face is worse for wear and all but gone / Because now there's no flesh on it, just bone." Yes, this isn't for really young children, it's fair to say. But that's exactly why older kids may love it. Continue Reading...
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02.07.13The Little Mermaid swims onto iPhone and iPad with StoryToysWe've enjoyed the various book-apps from Irish developer StoryToys, with their pop-up scenes and charming takes on famous Brothers Grimm fairytales like Puss in Boots, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Now they're branching out to another famous storyteller: Hans Christian Andersen. The company has just released The Little Mermaid – 3D Interactive Pop-up Book on iOS, with Android following imminently. "Submerge yourself in the Little Mermaid’s underwater world and help her win the Prince’s heart," explains its App Store listing, along with a quick note on the fact that it's "adapted for younger readers". Translation: she doesn't die, and there's a happy ...
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12.20.12Disney’s Cinderella gets a Storybook Deluxe app for iPhone and iPadIf you think Cinderella is just for girls, you haven't seen our five year-old son regaling us with his Ugly Sisters impersonations since going to a pantomime version this week. With that in mind, girls AND boys may be excited about the release of Cinderella: Storybook Deluxe. It's Disney's latest book-app based on one of its classic films. "The Cinderella: Storybook Deluxe app includes a full retelling of the film with fresh illustrations, engaging narration, music and sound effects, as well as whimsical interactivity on every page," explains its App Store listing. Parents may be joining in with the singalong section too: the ...
recent posts
- Justin Fletcher’s Goldilocks app review (iPhone / iPad)
- Wombi offering free apps for kids all this week
- The Jungle Book gets the StoryToys pop-up book-app treatment
- It’s our one thousandth post on Apps Playground!
- Disney’s Where’s My Water? gets a new (female) alligator star
- Bloomsbury launches Pirate and Princess Activity iPad apps
- CBeebies star Justin Fletcher launches Goldilocks app for kids
