Free App Friday: Wildable

Become an animal and take a walk on the wild side!

Wildable is an exciting iPhone and iPad app that invites kids to enter a 3D natural world where they can become any animal they find and explore.

Have you (or your kids) ever wanted to swim like a fish, soar like an eagle, or climb like a squirrel?  Here’s your chance!

Want to try it for free?

How to enter

It’s easy peasy.  Just leave a comment below by Tuesday, January 31th, 2012.  The next day, we’ll choose 5 people at random and gift this app to them via email.

And the winners are…

Congratulations Laurel, Norma, Grace, Helene, Fay!  Check your email.

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Sploosh

Use water to bring a parched and barren world back to life

Grade: B | Age rating: 4+| Price: $0.99

Sploosh for the iPhone and iPad is a unique puzzle game that you solve with water.

Why?  Because evil cacti are hogging all the water in a parched landscape.

You pop them with your finger, then bring dormant flowers and trees back to life with the liberated water by rotating your iPhone or iPad.

Why we like it:

Water can’t be lost, but it can be accidentally left behind in the twists and turns of the maze.  Go slow to avoid this.  The levels are timed, but it’s not obtrusive.  You earn stars for watering all the grass, seeds and trees and can replay each level to improve your score.

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We tested version 1.0 which is compatible with the iPhone and the iPad (OS 4.0 or later).  Developer Spooky Moon Studio Limited.  Read our disclosure policy.

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Free App Friday: Cool Jets

A creative app with a fun game for airplane-crazy kids of all ages

Cool Jets is a arty, aviation-y iPad app that lets kids decorate, collect, de-ice and fly their own fleet of colorful, customized airplanes.

They use their fingers to stamp and paint planes ranging from 8-seater private jets to aircraft that hold 500 passengers.

Then, just when the planes are trying to take off, it starts snowing like crazy.  Kids have to swipe the ice off the wings as the planes speed along the runway with engines running.

Want to try it for free?

How to enter

It’s easy peasy.  Just leave a comment below by Tuesday, January 17th, 2012.  The next day, we’ll choose 5 people at random and gift this app to them via email.

And the winners are…

Kiera, Elena, Janet, Jennifer, and Nichole.  Enjoy the app and please write a review on iTunes for the developer.

Like this?   Get our App of the Week newsletter and you’ll never miss a Free App Friday again.

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Doodlecast for Kids

Record your voice as you draw, then play back your animated sketch

Grade: A- | Age rating: 3+| Price: $1.99

Doodlecast for Kids for the iPad and iPhone lets kids bring their artwork to life.  They narrate as they draw, then play the animated sketch back as a video — it’s ingenious!

The app starts kids with a series of 20 drawing prompts, which include themes (fast, yucky, messy, loud) and elements (water, park, mouth).  Kids draw with their fingers.  Then, things get interesting.

As your child is drawing, she can narrate.  Like this:  “The big…  angry… orange… dinosaur… in the flower hat… ATE MY DAD!”  The app records both the drawing sequence and the child’s voice, and the video playbacks (which can be exported) are priceless.

Why we like it:
It’s creative.  It’s unique.  It’s got the potential to be really, really funny (you should see my 9 and 12-year-old kids dueling with this app.  It’s a wonder they haven’t broken our iPad in their efforts to outdo each other.)

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We tested version 1.2, which is compatible with the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Requires IOS 4.3 or later.  Developer: zinc Roe Inc. Read our disclosure policy.

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Free App Friday: Fat Cat App

An early reading iPad app based on phonics and phonemic awareness

Fat Cat App is an interactive educational app that teaches letter recognition, reading, spelling, and articulation.

Repetition and simplicity make this an effective teaching tool for parents, homeschoolers, teachers, and therapists.

Learning is based on phonemic awareness (the manipulation of sounds and letters) and phonics (sound to letter correspondence).  Children experience chains of words in which only one sound is changed at a time.

Remember the fat cat who sat on a mat?  Like that.

Want to try it for free?

How to enter

It’s easy peasy.  Just leave a comment below by Tuesday, January 10th, 2012.  The next day, we’ll choose 5 people at random and gift this app to them via email.

And the winners are…

Nancy, Missy, Kerry, Sue, and Deb!  Check your email and congratulations.

Like this?   Get our App of the Week newsletter and you’ll never miss a Free App Friday again.

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2011 Readers’ Choice Awards Winners

Our readers weigh in on the best kids’ apps of the year

After three weeks of voting, the polls are closed and the results are in.  While we like and recommend every one of these wonderful apps, only three could win.

If you’re both the lucky recipient of a new iPad this holiday season and a parent looking for good apps for kids, we encourage you to check out our Best Kids Apps of 2011 and this list of the Readers’ Choice Awards finalists.

And now, the winners:

1st Place…

Al Yankovic: When I Grow Up, a digital adaptation of a wacky book for the young and young at heart, handily hooked first place with an overwhelming 27% of the vote.

Tons of interactive touches — like shaving a tarantula and massaging a gorilla — made this a hit with our readers.  Don’t feel like reading aloud yourself?  Not a problem.  Weird Al will do it for you.

2nd Place…

Indie hit, My PlayHome, takes home the silver medal this year.  Haven’t tried it?  You should.  It’s a sweet and simple interactive playhouse that’s good for girls and boys.

Parents like the non-violent, open-ended style of play the app encourages.  Kids enjoy making discoveries in every room (the toilet really flushes!  you can pet the cat!  there’s cold pizza to eat in the fridge!).

3rd Place…

In late voting, Bugs and Buttons surged ahead to narrowly beat out its closest competitor (the very worthy Toca Doctor, which we also love) to capture third place.  Your kids will use fine motor skills while learning to count, sort, and recognize patterns.  They’ll never realize this, of course.  They’ll be too busy picking apples, flying butterflies, and catching fireflies.

Congratulations to all our winners and nominees, and thanks for all you do.  Here’s to another great year of fun, wholesome, and educational apps for kids!

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Best 2011 Christmas Apps for your iPhone and iPad

It’s not too late to load up your iPhone or iPad with Christmas apps. We’ve been testing as many new Christmas apps as possible. At first I thought it was slim pickings, but then we found some gems. Here are some party stoppers whether you want to track Santa and his reindeer throughout the day and night, want a piece of Christmas nostalgia, or simply want some silly Christmas fun. If you’re addicted to apps like we are – don’t miss last year’s list of Best Christmas & Holiday iPhone Apps for Kids.

Toca Hair Salon — Christmas Gift FREE, ages 1+
Hands down, our favorite Christmas App this season. Give Santa or a Christmas tree a hair cut with scissors, a buzzing razor, or simply dye it purple. This great app will have the kids (and adults) laughing with their wacky creations. Totally silly, my 3-year-old loves the blow dryer the best. She blows his hair up in his face and thinks it’s hilarious. Note: This is one of the best free apps I’ve seen in a while, but there is an in-app purchase available for $1.99 if you’d like to have six more characters (kids and animals) to cut.

Read more…

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Best gift of the season? The Kindle Fire

The iPad finally has a worthy challenger, and at half the cost

According to Nielsen Co., for the second year in a row, the most wished for holiday gift is the iPad.  The prices-starting-at-$499 iPad, that is.  Up until now, there haven’t been many good alternatives.

Until lately, I haven’t been very impressed with Android tablets.  I test drove a bunch of them, and briefly owned the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but returned it after two frustrating months.   Then, two weeks ago, I got a Kindle Fire.

I still prefer my iPad, but if I were buying my first tablet (or a gift, either for an adult or child) this holiday season, I’d totally go with the Kindle Fire.  Here’s why:

1.  It’s compact

I love how easy it is to slide the Kindle Fire into a purse or carry on bag.  At 7.5 x 4.5 inches, it’s about the size of a trade paperback and much, much thinner.  Even kids can hold it with one hand (though mine grip it with two, the better to prevent their sibling from grabbing it and running).

2.  It’s tough

The iPad screen is gorgeous, but glass.  The lightweight, chemically-strengthened Kindle Fire display is some kind of plastic that is allegedly 20-30 times stronger than plastic. I have no hesitation throwing it into a bag with keys, a phone, and all my other junk.

3.  It’s affordable

At just $199, you can buy two Kindle Fires for less than the price of a single iPad 2.  How many kids do you have?  If you have more than one, it’s a total slam dunk.  The Kindle Fire battery doesn’t last quite as long as the iPad’s, but it’s in the same league.  You can stretch it farther by turning down the brightness and turning off the wifi.

4.  The Amazon Appstore for Android is just so great

Amazon knows how to make shopping easy, intuitive, and fun.  It’s a real  pleasure to browse apps, games, and movies on this device.  And they offer one paid app free every single day, which is totally fun.  Who doesn’t like free stuff?

5.  It’s also got books, email, and web browsing

Of course you can also read on it, check your email, and browse the web.  I appreciate the versatility, but honestly I seldom get the chance to use these features when my kids are around.  I’d rather read on my regular Kindle anyway.  Since it’s not backlit, it’s a lot easier on the eyes.  Magazines are nice on the Fire though, since you can see them in color.

>>Read more about the Kindle Fire on Amazon

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