Toddlers

Teach Kids Shapes, Fruit, and Colors on the iPad

Written by Jason Lykins
Jul 27, 2011
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I'm starting to sound like a broken record I'm sure, but it bears repeating; my twins are my world. As their father it is my responsibility to give them every opportunity to excel that I can. With that in mind, Apps like Odd1Out grab my attention first. There are tons of Apps out there that have pretty graphics and sounds to keep my young kids occupied or entertained but this App not only has those qualities but it also teaches them decision making skills.

How it works

The basic idea is the player is presented with a shape, fruit, or a color and asked to pick the same item out of groupings of similar items crossing the screen. For example, on the screen above you see that I was playing the "fruit" section. My fruit was peaches. For every peach I successfully selected I was awarded a star. For every fruit that I selected that wasn't a peach a star was taken away. Simple principal but effective. The version I was playing was the practice game. It's easier and gets the child accustomed to the game and how to play. The challenge game starts off just like the practice version but quickly becomes harder as you advance levels.

Design

As you know, we here at Best App Site are big on the UI (user interface) and Odd1Out doesn't disappoint. The buttons, controls and hierarchy are really well thought out and easy to understand. The graphics are good quality and seem to have a lot of thought put into them. Whether it's a beetle, bee, or ant carrying your selected item the movement is fluid with no stuttering or pixelation.

That's it!

That's it! There isn't anything else to this App. Even though the App is simplistic at heart, it really keeps my 5 year old's attention and teaches them quality skills at the same time! This is a really good App to help your child learn their Shapes, colors, and fruit in a fun and enjoyable way.

You can get Odd1Out from the iTunes store for $.99 here

Education / Reviews

Word Wall HD for iPad

Written by Jason Lykins
May 4, 2011
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I'll just throw this out there now. Dollar for dollar, this is the best reading and writing learning App that I've ever tried. I'm constantly looking for Apps to improve my 5 year old twin's reading and writing comprehension so I try out a lot of Apps. Word Wall has the best interface and the widest array of learning tools of any App that I've seen yet. All of that for a great low price.

What You Would Expect

There are certain things that you would expect out of an App designed to teach children to read and write. First you would expect that the App would combine a visual representation of the letter or word, with an audible pronunciation. Second you would expect that the App would give an example of where the kids would see the particular letter. A for example would be seen in apple. These are the things that you would expect, and Word Wall doesn't disappoint. It has all of the basics that you would look for in an App of this kind.

The Games

I have found (at least with my kids) if there aren't any good "games", they won't pay attention. There has to be something that entertains them and keeps them interested. Word Wall does games right. There are 4 different games to play. From jigsaw puzzles, to memory games, they have a great selection. Each game keeps a running tally at the top of the screen telling you how many you have left to complete before you "win". They are all very interactive, an very well designed.

What I Didn't Expect

Something that I didn't expect that I found in this App lies within the word spelling section. The child selects the word combination "AM" for example. Word Wall spells it, and shows it, but then it uses it in a sentence and shows an image that depicts that sentence. For AM word wall gives you the sentence "I am happy." and shows a smiley face laughing. My twins found this section particularly exciting and it really kept their attention. I was both surprised and impressed with this.

Conclusion

Word Wall is a really great interactive App to teach children to read and write. at $.99 it's really a no brainer. If you have children learning to read and write, you should definitely get this App.

You can get Word Wall for iPad from the iTunes store for $.99 here:

App Lists

5 Apps That Make My Toddlers Happy :)

Written by Jason Lykins
Nov 3, 2010
6 comments

When I bought my iPad I had all sorts of uses in mind for it. My main “excuse” for buying it was business. I intended to show my portfolio, fill out and sign wedding documents, and run credit cards on the go. I also intended to use it for my own personal stuff; surfing the web, Facebook, Twitter, etc. What I didn’t expect for the iPad to be was a toy. I had no intentions of letting my 4 year old twins play on it. Let’s be honest, 4 year olds tend to be messy, clumsy, and have a general disregard for expensive things so I really didn’t want to turn my new precious over to them. That of course like “no eating in the car” went out the window within 10 minutes of me arriving at home with it. I set out to find apps that would not only keep my kids occupied but would help them learn to read and write. I managed to keep the apps to about half fun and half learning, the kids don’t mind though they love them all anyway.

Letters A to Z for the iPad from True Learning

The first app that came to mind for kids in the 4 year old age range was a letters app. My twins are still learning their ABC’s, so this is something that will benefit them. The app that I found and liked was Letters A to Z for the iPad. This app has the things that I want. It has a basic, easy to use interface that my kids can understand and interact with. The app is simple enough. It gives you 26 squares with a letter and a picture in each square representing something that starts with that letter. When you select a letter the block moves to the middle of the screen and enlarges. While in the middle of the screen you can either press the letter, or the picture. If the letter is pressed the iPad pronounces the letter. If the picture is pressed the iPad says the title of the picture, then that picture does an animation. For example, for the letter S there is a snowman. When the snowman is pressed it says “snowman” and the snowflakes become animated. For kids learning their letters, this is an awesome app.

You can get it from the app store for $.99 here from the

BubblePopper

Remember when you were a kid and your parents got a package in the mail and you couldn’t wait to get a hold of the bubble wrapping? I do. Let’s be honest, I couldn’t wait to get pop the bubbles on my package the UPS driver dropped off this morning. It makes sense then that someone would develop a “bubble popper” app. This simple app is a universal binary which means that it will work across all of the iOS platforms(which is good because when my twins fight over who gets the iPad I hand the other one my iPhone and they’re happy). It comes in two forms. The free version gives you what looks like a sheet of bubble wrap in the traditional blueish tinted color. As soon as you start popping bubbles with your fingers the timer starts. The “popped” bubbles refill themselves and you continue to pop as many as you can within the 60 seconds allotted to you. The $.99 paid version gives you the option of changing bubble size, and color. My kids prefer the paid version because they enjoy the different colors. All in all it’s a simple application but keeps them entertained for hours.

You can get the free version from the iTunes store here from the

You can get the $.99 paid version from the iTunes store here from the

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