Happipets

Happipets was created by Happi and is considered a spelling app. But this is no straightforward spelling app - it requires a lot of imagination as the task is to take the letters of an animal, say, lion, and use those letters to form a lion (see pic and video). Can you find the letters in the lion to the left? Price: $1.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.3 or later.


Developmental Appropriateness: OK - first let me say, that as an adult, I think this app is kinda cool. It's amazing to see what people can think of and to see how someone thought to make these animals out of letters. Now that being said, I don't think this app is all that beneficial to learning letters or how to spell animal names. Keep in mind that I rate apps with more of an educational content perspective. Kids have trouble seeing two things at once. You know those pictures that can look like both a duck and a rabbit? Well, kids can't see both. So here, they are suppose to see the letters AND the animal - I'm pretty sure the letters will get lost, especially as they rotate and change the size, etc. I did a study using the Curious George book where the letters are shaped like animals and objects. Super cute. I personally really like the book. But the results were that 3 and 4 year-olds could not recognize these animals and objects as letters even when we pointed it out. Some 5 year-olds could, but it wasn't until 6 that they could consistently recognize them. So same thing here. I guess maybe this is meant for kids who may already know their letters, but are learning to spell. I definitely would not recommend this for teaching preschoolers letters. Still, for older kids, the task is about making the animal shapes, and that's probably what they will focus on. The letters could be anything. I think this app would work better if it wasn't about letters and spelling at all! There are nice little facts about each animal - it doesn't read aloud, so this app would definitely be for a reader. Maybe it should presented as just an app about animals and creativity. But it's not, so.... Rating: 2/5 (aim for around 7 years).

Balance: All the letter manipulation distracts from the letters themselves. The letters are initially presented in order, but once you start moving them around, that's it. So the spelling of the animal name is not very present. Ok - so let's say this isn't even about letters. Making the animal shapes requires a lot of imagination! I didn't even know where to begin. There is a help function that shows you the end result, but maybe some more step by step help would be better. I don't want to know just the end product - some hints to help get me started would be nice too. Rating: 2/5


Sustainability: I think a very small set of kids may like this app. But mostly, I think kids may just get frustrated at not knowing how to make these animals. There's a more free play mode, that some may enjoy more. Rating: 3/5


Parental Involvement: I think this may even be difficult for parents. Ok, I guess there's a little common sense, like a round letter would probably be the head or something like that, but it does take a specific kind of eye to figure out how these letters make the animals. So I'm not sure how much parents can help. But maybe they might enjoy figuring it out along with their child. Rating 3/5


Total: 10 out of 20 - 2 stars


Disclosure - I received this app for free for review purposes.

Sam and Ben

Sam and Ben was created by InteractBooks, LLC. It's a story about twins and celebrates their similarities and differences. So if you have or know of young twins, or even young siblings, this may be a book for you. Price: $2.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.2 or later

Developmental Appropriateness: This is a heart warming story that parents can find useful to read with their child to highlight how everyone has similarities and differences, whether its with twins, siblings, or friends. So it's an appropriate subject matter. The illustrations are watercolors, which may be more appreciated by parents more than children. If your young child is not used to watercolor drawings, it may be more difficult for them to recognize some of the more abstract and smaller objects. Remember that research has shown that young children learn better from books with realistic than cartoon drawings. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 3 years)


Balance: Although this book is meant for parents to read with their child, I'd like to see some more attention given to the text - like bigger font or text highlighting - something. There is sometimes quite a bit of text, so let's make some good use out of it, even if it's just bringing attention to it to improve print concepts for these young kids. There's a lot of hotspots - mostly related to the story. So again, given all the hotspots, the text can really just get lost. Also, there are activities at the end of the book and you can access just the activities from the main menu. I kinda like this, so that the activities are much of a distraction from the book, but add a little more fun for the kids. Rating: 3/5


Sustainability: Kids like stories, and there is even a bit of poop humor in this one. Kids will enjoy the hotspots and the activities may keep them coming back. Rating: 4/5


Parental Involvement: This is really meant for parents to read with their child. So ... Rating: 4/5


Total: 15 out of 20 : 4 stars


Disclosure: I received this app for free for review purposes.

Owl and Cat

Owl and Cat was created by De NitroLab. It is an e-book based off of a poem by Edward Lear. The first three scenes are available for free so you can see what you're getting, but to get the rest of the book is $.99. Price: $0.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: This e-book is a little different - it was designed to promote parent-child book-reading and so does note have a "Read to me" function. Parents or an older person must read this book along with a young child. What it does include is a nifty style of incorporating interactive features. You can move most of the objects/characters around and at the same time. So you can kinda act out the story or whatever else you want to do, creating a different kind of storytelling experience. The text really takes a backseat to the interactive features. While I understand, and like, that the goal is have a more creative joint storytelling experience, this is still a book-reading experience. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 3 years)

Balance: So given all that you can "play" with, and the fact that the text is not straightforward and in more of a poem form, I'm afraid the text will just be lost. The text itself is pretty small on some pages and the font is harder to recognize for little kids. Rating: 3/5

Sustainability: I think the illustrations are cute and kids will like them and want to play with them. Hopefully, with some guidance, they can come up with many different scenarios to act out. Rating: 4/5

Parental Involvement: This is the strength of the app - that it really does require a parent to be involved and to really take part in the whole experience - not just read the text. Rating: 5/5

Total: 16 out of 20: 4 stars

Barefoot World Atlas

Barefoot World Atlas was created by Touch Press and is an interactive 3D globe. This app boasts narration by geographer and BBC TV presenter, Nick Crane and illustrations by artist David Dean and it packs a lot of info in. I'm telling you all this to soften the blow of the price tag - it might be worth it... Price: $7.99


Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: This app is a pretty cool and offers up tons of information about the world. Kids will love the interactive nature of it as it makes it way more interesting than if they were handed an atlas book or books about countries. There's really a "discovery" aspect to this app. I also like that all the text can be read aloud to you so that a beginning reader can also learn some new facts. There are some words that are linked to definitions, which is helpful to learn some new vocabulary. It would be even better if it highlighted the key words that could be repeated to help keep the focus and even reinforce pronunciation (e.g. country names or animal names)  - there's a lot of text, which can be overwhelming for younger kids. The illustrations are kid friendly and the app also includes many photographs as well. As a reference tool, the information here is appropriate for young elementary aged kids and this app is a great way to engage them in a topic they might otherwise find boring. Rating: 4.5/5 (aim for around 8 years)


Balance: There is sooooo much information here. Kids can get lost in it and lose focus or they just might lose interest because they don't really have a purpose and thus don't know what they should be looking at. The app is pretty easy to use and it contains a couple of overall menu's - you can choose what region, country, or feature. It might be more helpful to break it down even further - menus for animals, food, etc., so that kids can focus in on a topic too.  As is, I view this app more as a reference tool, but to take it to that next step of being more of a teaching tool, any features that could help focus or in a way, limit the information they access at a given moment, would help. Rating: 4/5

Sustainability: Again, there is so much information here that kids can keep coming back and discover something new. What I find lacking is a goal or purpose. It'd be great if there were some prompts or activities that could help guide the kids to specific information. Things like, "Where would you like to go on vacation?" Or "Discover five new animals" - just very general prompts for searching. I really think this would help enrich their experience. Rating: 4/5


Parental Involvement: This is an app where I think parents might be more likely to assume that if their child is using it, they must be learning. There is no doubt that this app contains great educational information. But I really caution parents - because there is so much information, so much to click through and see - kids may not actually absorb the information as much as they could be. This is definitely an app where I would encourage parents to take an active part - they might actually learn something too. Rating: 3/5


Total: 15.5 out of 20 = 4 stars


Disclosure - I received this app for free for review purposes.

AR Flashcards

AR Flashcards was developed by Mitchlehan Media, LLC. AR here, stands for augmented reality. Take a look at the pic and video - it's kinda cool. It's like a virtual projected 3-D image. But is it beneficial for learning? Price: $1.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later

Developmental Appropriateness: So the way this works is that you have to download and print out flashcards. Then using the app on your device, you point the camera at the cards and the virtual 3d image will show up on your screen. You can then tap on the image on your screen and it will label the letter and animal. Or, if you so happen to own TWO iOS devices, there is no need to print out the cards - you load the cards on one device and use the other to view. (Warning - This latter method may make you feel like an Apple ad, as it did for me!) Ok -so the technology aspect of this is awesome. I think kids will be fascinated by it and will want to try all the different cards. And of course, alphabet letters is appropriate material for toddlers to be learning. So anyway to engage them in the material is great. BUT - and I think those who are more regular readers of this blog know what's coming.... I don't think these AR cards are the best for learning. They are like pop-up books, actually, they are even more novel and interesting than pop-up books. And research has shown that pop-up features can be distracting to children when it comes to learning the intended material. Do they like it? Yes. Do they learn as much as they would without the pop-up features? No. At this age, they are simply too easily distracted. Rating: 3/5 (aim for around 3 years).

Balance: Please don't get me wrong here - I like pop-up books and I like this whole AR thing. So maybe there are ways to make it less distracting. For example, with this app, when the image pops up, it covers the letter all together. Out of sight, out of mind. And yes, I guess you can look at the cards on their own, but who's really going to do that when it's so cool to look at it with the app? So any way to highlight the to-be-learned material would make this better. In this case, the to-be-learned material are the letters, not the animals - and that does not really come through. Rating: 2/5


Sustainability: I think kids will want to show everyone this app. So in that sense, I see long term use. But again, the focus would be on the AR, not the letters. Rating: 4/5


Parental Involvement: I think there's some potential in this area. If parents have to print out the cards, it makes them have to have at least some initial involvement, which may lead to more overall involvement.  Also, the AR aspect will make this interesting for parents - so there's a something for the kids, and something for the parents too. So hopefully, this app will make parents want  to be involved, which is really needed to help kids see beyond the AR images and focus on the letters too. And I'm also hoping that if the kids are excited about the images, it could lead to more conversations about the letters and animals. Rating: 4/5


Total: 13 out of 20 = 3 stars


Disclosure - I received this app for free for review purposes.

Mathrat

Mathrat was created by boaneo and targets counting and basic math skills. For each problem you get correct, you are awarded a piece of virtual candy. It is called Mathrat because every few problems or so, a rat will comes and steals a piece of candy unless you tap on the rat before he can get to the candy. How unfair! Price: $2.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Developmental appropriateness: There are six levels to this game - starting from counting to simple addition, subtraction, and finally larger and smaller than - all fit for a beginning math learner. I like that the app presents each problem with coins that you can count. So for counting, it would ask for 7, and you would move 7 coins to the purse. It's actually a bit too easy cause the app counts the coins aloud as you put them in the purse so you really just have to keep adding until you hear the right number. Anyway, coins, or in the math world, "manipulatives" (objects used to solve or illustrate math problems/concepts) are often used to help kids with math. However, as the problems get harder, the app doesn't allow you to use them as flexibly as manipulatives are designed to be. For example, to solve 2+3, the app allows you to move 5 coins to the purse, counting them 1 to 5. Often, kids would make a group of 3, then a group of 2, and then count all of them, or better yet, start with the group of 3, and add on the other group, counting, 4, 5. This app does not really highlight the grouping. Sure, you can kinda form groups before putting them into the purse, but overall, the design does not encourage the use of these types of strategies. Also, the app does not allow you to kinda have a "final answer" or to review before submitting. So although I like that the chips are there, which is more than a lot of apps that just present the problem and ask for an answer, I wish it took it a bit farther. Also, for some rounds, instead of chips, you are just presented with numbers - why not put them in order, like a number line, which is often helpful for kids. And for the quantity comparisons, it would ask for something like 2 < ? and all the numbers are at the bottom. So basically almost all the numbers are correct answers, but you are only allowed to put one. That's kinda weird and potentially confusing. Rating: 3.5/5 (aim for around 5 years)

Balance: Now about the rat. OK, I get that this is just a little fun element. Kids don't want their hard earned candy stolen, so the rat keeps them on their toes. It might be funny. On the other hand, it introduces "stealing" and if kids find it funny that the rat is stealing the candy, they might imitate that. That's really a more minor point. What I'm more worried about is that it may be distracting. Instead of concentrating on the problem, kids might be worried about the rat coming to get their candy - which they earned fair and square, or the rat might break their concentration if it sneaks in during a problem. 


Update: There is a setting that allows you to turn off the rat, or just have him appear, without stealing the candy.


Also, most of the graphics are very kid friendly, but then the hand that presents the problems and the voice over seem to not match. Rating: 3.5/5


Sustainability: The plus is that there are 6 levels that get harder with different tasks. You also earn medals for how well you performed on each level. There is also suppose to be a settings and reporting feature - it does not appear on my version. I see now that there is an update for this specific fix. I updated, and still don't see it, maybe the update did not go through? In any case, the goal appears to simply be to unlock all the levels and earn all the top medals. Rating: 4/5


Parental Involvement: Pretty much a one person game. Parents can review the game stats. Rating: 3/5


Total 14 = 3 stars


Disclosure - I received this app for free for review purposes.

iSammy

iSammy was created by Merx Global LLC for 4 to 8 year-olds and is an e-Book about Sammy the Suitcase. This e-Book differs from others in that it leaves a word blank on each page that you and child can fill in and record, taking the involvement with the story to a different place than if just reading a story. It also provides a boy or girl mode, which basically changes whether the boy or girl character in the story becomes a bigger character and more easily identified with. Kinda interesting, right? Price - Free (For now at least)

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 3.2.2 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: The story is about a suitcase that has travelled with a family on many trips but is then left in the attic, passed over for newer suitcases, but then finds a new purpose. So it allows for many opportunities for conversation - traveling, different types of vacations, feelings, etc. The fill in the blank feature really does amplify these opportunities. Parents have to help their child figure out what words are appropriate to finish the sentence and in so doing, could spark conversations of their own experiences. I also like the idea of having the boy or girl option to help your child identify better with the character in the book. Children can learn a little bit about how to take their own perspective - for example, a girl choosing the girl option could think about their own favorite toy or a girl choosing the boy option could learn about taking the perspective of others and think about what a boy's favorite toy would be as opposed to her own. 


But let me point out that this app really does have to be used with a parent. They will need help filling in the blank. More importantly, the app does not read to you, so someone who can read will need to be present. It would be nice if there was the option for it to be read, especially after everything has been filled out so folks can hear the complete story. In terms of usability, again, I think it requires an adult to help record the words and erase if they want to redo. Although I appreciate that this app almost forces a parent to be present, I'm sure parents would also appreciate the option for their child to independently use the app. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 6 years).

Balance: There is a lot going on here. There is a squirrel and a moose on every page that repeats your recordings in a funny voice. Otherwise, they have nothing to do with the story. There are also a lot of hotspots on each page, none of which really forward the story. Some make sense in that they show the functionality of the objects in the room (e.g. tapping on a light and it turns on), and others are purely just for fun (e.g., tapping on the suitcase makes it jump up). Several even just repeat throughout the pages, so it's not even anything new. In fact, there are so many hotspots that they often get in the way of turning the pages. I seriously found it quite frustrating to turn the pages - and maybe this was not just because of the hotspots. Perhaps, luckily, we have a parent present to help focus the child back on the story, but I think that all these other hotspots can take away from the co-reading conversation. Rating: 2/5


Sustainability: I at first thought this would be great in terms of sustainability, because you can erase the recordings and add in new words all the time. But then a closer look at the types of blank words left me thinking that it's really not all that flexible. Some of the blanks require pretty specific answers, and different answers don't really change the story all that much. I feel the story itself was written to help provide prompts for conversation, so as a story on it's own, it may not become a favorite, unless maybe you're a family that travels a lot and has lots of travel stories. Rating: 3.5/5


Parental Involvement: What I like most about this app is its approach to getting parents involved. Recording the words is a fun way to incorporate technology and also serve as prompts for conversation. Rating: 5/5


Total: 14.5 out of 20 - 3 stars


Disclosure - I received this app for free for review purposes.