The Archives
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05.17.13Bloomsbury launches Pirate and Princess Activity iPad appsBook publisher Bloomsbury has released a pair of new iPad apps for kids that promise piracy and princesses in equal measure. Bloomsbury Pirate Activity and Bloomsbury Princess Activity have similar features: puzzles, digital stickers and colouring, mini-games and animation, designed to appeal to kids with a yen for yo-ho-ho action and/or dressing-up fairytales. (Yes, you could say that the Pirate Activity app is aimed more at boys and Princess Activity at girls, but we know a fair few girls who'd rather play with pirates than princesses, and vice versa for a number of boys.) Continue Reading...
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04.25.13Max’s Pirate Planet ‘board game adventure’ sails onto iOS and AndroidWhen children play pirates, in our experience, it often ends in pointy sticks poked in faces. And tears. Thankfully, Max's Pirate Planet looks a lot more painless. Billed as "a board game adventure" on iPhone and iPad, it's a piratically-themed multiplayer game designed to be played on a single device by up to four "kids of all ages". The game involves hunting for a hoard of gold belonging to a legendary pirate named Barnacle Bill in a turn-based race across the high seas. Duels with swords or cannons are included when friends are playing, and there are monsters to battle too. Continue ...
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03.26.131000 Adventures app plays with pirates, cowboys, dinosaurs and moreWe've seen a number of apps starring pirates, dinosaurs, superheroes and aliens. Rarely one with all of the above though. 1000 Adventures is that app. Released by developer DADA Company, it's a colourful series of scenes starring a young boy with an active imagination. Each scene starts in the real world, but gets your children to tap on different objects and people to change them to a fantasy scene. Continue Reading...
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12.14.12Yarrr! Toontastic Jr. Pirates gets its buckle swashed on iOSPirates appear to be one of the themes of new children's apps this week, what with Playmobil Pirates and now Toontastic Jr. Pirates. While the former is a game, the latter is more of a story-creation tool for kids. The idea: make your own pirate cartoons. "Pick a beginning, middle, and ending - then animate your story just like a puppet show, recording your voice while you move the characters onscreen." We've written about the more general Toontastic app before, which includes a number of themed 'playsets' to create stories with, including pirates. This release focuses on pure swashbuckling though, with 12 ...
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11.27.12Treasure Island gets reimagined for iPhone and iPadGenerations of children have enjoyed Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island in one form or another: books, films, animated TV shows... Now it's been reimagined as an app for iPhone and iPad. Released by Tiger Games, it turns Stevenson's piratical tale into a 65-page cartoon book-app "full of pirates, treasure maps where X mark’s the spot, parrots, peg legs, pirates, schooners, buried treasure and even more pirates". Yarrrrr is, we believe, the obvious response. The developer promises that there is treasure to find, as well as interactive fun in the shape of a pirate xylophone and coconut throwing. Treasure Island – A Classic Tale costs ...
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09.13.12Pirates ahoy for Penguin’s Skullabones Island appPenguin Books and its Ladybird team have been busy on the apps front lately. We were mightily impressed by their Ladybird: I'm Ready for Phonics app earlier this month, but now they've got something new: Skullabones Island: Pirates Ahoy! Based on the Ladybird range of Skullabones Island books, the emphasis here is firmly on piratical play for 3-5 year-olds. There are three mini-games to play, all of which have been designed for pre-schoolers. Treasure Voyage sees your child steering a pirate ship through shark-strewn seas by tilting the iPhone or iPad, while Pirate Pairs is a matching-pairs memory game. Meanwhile, Pirate Dress-Up ...
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04.20.12Aardman film The Pirates! Band of Misfits gets an iOS book-appIt's been a good year so far for 'films that you take your children to see but also laugh like a drain at'. First there was a brand new Muppets movie, and now there's Aardman's The Pirates! Band of Misfits. I'm taking my son along, whether he wants to go or not... Anyway, there's also an official book-app for the animated film, as its hero Pirate Captain sails the High Seas trying to win the Pirate Of The Year award. Expect voice narration, stills from the film, and audio from its star Hugh Grant. Oh, and also a Piratize Yourself feature, where ...
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04.12.12The Wrong Book features farting monsters. We’re sold.Yes, call us juvenile if you like, but there simply aren't enough book-apps with windy beasts in. The Wrong Book should be celebrated on that point alone... No, it looks like a very fun app too, based on a print book of the same name by Nick Bland. The idea: your kids are being told a story, but its narrator is constantly interrupted by "trumpeting elephants shooting peanuts, farting monsters, sneaky pirates, squeaky rats and plenty of other silly characters" who have all wandered into the wrong book. Australian comedian Frank Woodley provides the narration, or your children can replace it with ...
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03.09.12Peter Pan: Disney Classics app lands on iPhone and iPadIt's been a busy month for Disney's apps division, with new apps for The Lion King, Tangled and Toy Story 3, and now Peter Pan: Disney Classics. The £2.49 book-app brings Peter, Tinker Bell and their Neverland friends to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, telling the familiar tale in an interactive new format. If you've played with Disney's previous book-apps, you'll know what to expect: there are mini-games to test your child's memory skills, puzzles, and digital colouring pages. Oh, and a virtual Pan flute to play. There's a choice of Read to Me or Read By Myself modes, and of course the ...
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03.01.12Wubbzy’s Pirate Treasure brings Nick Jr. star to iPadWe bang on about CBeebies quite a lot here on Apps Playground, but there are plenty of parents who are just as impressed by the Nick Jr. TV channel when it comes to children's TV. One of its popular characters is Wubbzy, from the excitably-named Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Now he's got his own iPad book-app from GoodTalkApps called Wubbzy's Pirate Treasure. It promises "tappable story moments, narration, music videos, games and more" starring Wubbzy and his friends Daizy, Widget and Walden. You can use it with or without voice narration, and there are three music videos and four mini-games to keep your ...
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