Interactive Apps for the Early Years
LANGUAGE:
# / Photo / Name of App / Cost / Description1. / / My PlayHome / $3.99
Free Lite Version / Virtual doll house – interactive – won “Best Top 10 apps” award. It is wonderful for turn taking, teaching action words, prepositions and learning to follow directions. E.g. put the baby ON the chair. Have Dad get the milk out of the fridge.
2. / / Peek-a Zoo / .99 / Great for listening to WH questions e.g. Who is hiding, Who is scared, Who is upside down?
3. / / Scribble Press / $3.99 / Create your own stories together using your own photos and pictures that you create and draw. There are many templates already set up in the app or you can create your own. A great way for your child to use his/her imagination and expand language.
SOUNDS:
# / Photo / Name of App / Cost / Description1. / / Listen Up Bear – Dave Sindry / $1.99 / Song: “The Bear Went Over the Mountain to Hear what he could hear” Can record parent or child making animal sounds –help your child to follow directions “Touch the squirrel – let’s see what happens” - “Tell mommy which one to touch next” - comment about the pictures “What do you think will happen if we touch the alarm clock?” “Who do you think lives in that cave?”
2. / / Peek-a-Boo Barn / $1.99
Free Lite Version / Listen to the sound of animals behind the barn door –make a guess and then tap door to let animals out. Kids LOVE this one. Peekaboo Barn was the first app developed for toddlers in 2008. INTERACTING TIPS: help your child tap the barn then talk about the animal and the sound it makes ( In Options: you can set this into other languages as well – Spanish, Cantonese, Dutch, French, German,Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Swedish) - You can record your voice as the parent or let your child record their voice for the animal sounds!Other similar apps: Peek-A-Boo Farm, Peek-A-Zoo
3. / / Sound Touch / $4.99
Free Lite Version / This app is WONDERFUL – it has cartoon animals (vehicles/household objects/zoo animals etc) and you touch them and it shows you a real version with sound – touch again and it shows you a DIFFERENT representation of that animal/item. It is great for kids to see there is more than one kind of cow or helicopter!
INTERACTIVE TIP: Make sounds with your child, let them pick which animal is next and put it back into reality as you see animals, vehicles and things in their environment that make sounds – THEN go explore what made that sound and why!
4. / / Toca Band / $2.99 / Great app for selective listening – each little character plays a different instrument or sings a different part of the song – put it all together for full effect. If you put a character in the centre of the stage they rise to the top and you can explore ONLY that character and sound they make - each level of the stage also varies the rhythm and speed of each instrument.
5. / / Zoo Sounds / Free / Great app for discriminating animal sounds – choice of 2 pictures – now has dot to dot feature – can take photo of child and have them record animal sound and their face appears as the animal face! Can email photo from within app.
LITERACY:
# / Photo / Name of App / Cost / Description1. / / Endless ABC / .99 / Cute animated letters wiggle into place making their sounds as you match them to the letters – when word is complete the letters are animated to act out the meaning of the word. INTERACTION: TAKE TURNS dragging the letters – act out the word together – make the individual sounds together. Great for pre-reading, pre-literacy and phonemic awareness.
2. / / I Like Books / Free / A series of stories “I like...... (snow, cats, boats, cars etc.) Can record your own voice or child’s voice in the stories or listen to the pre-recorded voice. INTERACTIVE TIP: TAKE TURNS reading each page or talking about what you see on each page.
3. / / Letter Quiz / $1.99
Free Lite Version / Good for fine motor and starting to trace ABC’s - it does not discourage trying and the lines stop where child leaves off and lets them continue - places letter on virtual lined school paper and at end you can touch each letter and it will explode in fireworks display. INTERACTIVE TIP: TAKE TURNS making letters and talking about the sound of the letter.
PRETEND PLAY:
# / Photo / Name of App / Cost / Description1. / / My PlayHome – full version / $3.99
Free Lite Version / Virtual doll house – interactive – won “Best Top 10 apps” award. It is wonderful for turn taking, teaching action words, prepositions and learning to follow directions. E.g. put the baby ON the chair. The mom is making eggs. The kids are eating cereal. Dad gets the milk out of the fridge.
2. / / Toca Tea Party / $2.99 / Great app for having a pretend tea party – wonderful for turn taking: Reality idea: bring the REAL tea party guests around the iPad! (dolls and teddy bears!)
3. / / Cake Doodle / .99 / One of the best rated creative apps for iPhone, iPad and Android - great for young kids up to age 8 or older. INTERACTION: TAKE TURNS – cracking eggs, stirring, measuring and talking about choices to make your collaborative cake the best tasting creation ever! Lots of opportunities for talking about actions like ‘stir’, ‘pour’, ‘bake’ ‘sift’, ‘measure’ and concepts like ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘bigger’,’smaller’ as well as number/color concepts.
SIGN LANGUAGE:
# / Photo / Name of App / Cost / Description1. / / My Smart Hands / $3.99
Free Lite
Version / Over 200 signs – videos of woman signing basic signs for kids and describing each sign. There is a quiz so you can test yourself!
ART/DRAWING/FINE MOTOR:
# / Photo / Name of App / Cost / Description2. / / Glow Draw / Free / Like an etch-a-sketch for iPad. Interactive tip – take turns and create a picture with your child! Talk about and comment – WAIT for your child’s comments.
THE WORLD AROUND US:
Photo / Name of App / Cost / Description1. / / Barefoot Atlas / Free / Wonderful interactive app for exploring the world for older kids 4+! Lots of conversation and learning for all ages.