The Wired Homeschool

Description

Welcome to Little Stars! HD. This game was designed to help your Little Star learn to count numbers 1-10 and identify quantities. Sweet music, precious rhymes, and a whimsical setting makes this game a joy for parents and children alike!

Review

Here’s a simple game that will help you child learn to count to 10. Kids start out by listening to the narrator (who sounds like a young girl) read a rhyme about the number of stars on the screen starting from 1 and going to 10. Kids can touch each start and it will count them and display the digit. Touching an arrow progresses the app to a question asking how many stars the child can see. Once the child touches the correct number, the app will advance. It’s very simple and very young children will find it easy to use.

What I Liked

The narration is very good and the rhymes aren’t too long so this should hold the interest of children with short attention spans. A side benefit is that the words to each rhyme are displayed on the screen so children can learn the spelling of the words they hear in the narration.

What Could Be Improved

If a child starts tapping all over the screen the narration will overlap. This can lead to some confusion. There isn’t much replay value in this game so this would make a great free app. Children will quickly lose interest once they’ve finished the app a time or two.

Final Thoughts

This is a fun little app that you can share with your very young kids. They’ll have fun playing through it a time or two but don’t expect too much reuse out of it.

Little Stars! HD is rated 4+ and costs $1.99. Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Description

Counting can be fun! Touchy Numbers can teach toddlers and young children to count to numbers 1-10 with their fingers on three engaging exercises.

Colorful graphics, positive reinforcement, and delightful music will have your tot playing this game over and over again! This game is perfect for ages 2-5 years.

Review

Review this app was very difficult. At times the app was unresponsive even though it was the only app running on my iPad. Other times, it did not work as expected.

The game is divided into three exercises which will help kids learn to count to 10. The first exercise invites them to touch each number on the screen from 1-10 and the name of the number is said aloud.

In the second exercise, kids are supposed to place their fingertips on the screen and based upon the number of fingertips there are on the screen the game will say the number aloud. For example, if you have 4 fingertips on the screen the game will display the number and say it aloud.

In the third exercise kids should place the same number of fingertips on the screens as the number objects that appear.

The games are simple and suited for the age-group but the mechanic of placing multiple fingertips on the screen is awkward (I’ll address that later).

What I Liked

The numbers are colorful and the music is light and cheery. The male voice in the app sounds as if he’s speaking to little kids which is very beneficial.

What Could Be Improved

Unfortunately, the concept of placing more than one finger on the screen may be a little difficult for some kids. It took me some time to figure out just exactly how make the game respond the way I expected. At times the game was unresponsive and didn’t seem to pickup the correct number of touches on the screen. I think the game could be improved by having kids tap the screen rather than place multiple fingertips on the screen. I have gestures enabled on my iPad and sometimes this led to the app closing or switching to another app.

Final Thoughts

Despite the colorful numbers, cheery music, and good narration, I cannot recommend this app for two reasons:

1. The game mechanics are too difficult for the age-level (2-5).
2. The game was unresponsive and didn’t behave as expected at times.

Touchy Numbers is rated 4+ and costs $1.99. Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Have you ever wondered what your child’s favorite nursery rhyme sounds like in a foreign language? Language Nursery School by EverAge reads popular nursery rhymes in 5 different languages.

Description

Language Nursery School is an educational app that gives kids an exposure to different languages in a familiar, fun, and interactive way. The app features 7 different nursery rhymes, read in 5 different languages (English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish). Your child can interact with each scene, as well as touch words to hear how they are pronounced.

Review

Upon opening the app you’re taken immediately to the first nursery rhyme. There’s no menu or request to sign up for anything. This is a great because you and your child can get right to the content.

The nursery rhymes are professionally read and each one is animated. Tapping a word pronounces it in the language selected. Tapping the page in certain areas animates elements of the story (for example, tapping the spider in the image above makes it scurry up the spout). Tilting your device causes the images in the app to shift as if you’re holding an actual book. Navigating between stories is done using icons are the corner of each page.

What I Liked

The narration is clear and sounds like a native speaker. The animations are fun and the characters and pages are colorful. There aren’t a lot of distractions in the app and children can stay on task. No in-app purchases, email sign-ups, or websites.

What Could be Improved

I’d like to see more than one way to turn the pages. Add swiping and tapping on the edge of the page. Adding more languages and nursery rhymes would be a great addition. Hide the page with additional apps in a protected menu to prevent accidental app purchases.

Final Thoughts

If you’d like to expose your children to foreign languages, Language Nursery School hits the mark using popular nursery rhymes with its excellent narration in a fun and interactive way.

Language Nursery School is rated 4+ and costs $2.99. Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Have you ever wondered what a group of peacocks is called? What about several cobras? If you haven’t chances are your kids have. A Troop is a Group of Monkeys is an interactive book that combines great storytelling with beautiful illustrations and animal noises.

Description

A Troop is a Group of Monkeys is an interactive book for kids that introduces some of the fun plural nouns for animal groups (like “a pride of lions”) in a musical, rhyming story. Written by Julie Hedlund and illustrated by Pamela Baron, the app features original music by Tim McCanna, whose ditty you won’t be able to stop humming until long after the book is closed.

Review

When you first start this app you’re greeted with a cheerful tune at the start screen. Here you can turn the music off, visit the parents & teachers page, have the book read to you, or read it yourself.

Each page of the book gives the name of a group of animal—a troop of monkeys—and tapping on the animals brings them to life as the hoot, screech, and move about the pages. Young readers will enjoy interacting with the story while learning new vocabulary words.

in the top left-hand corner is a helpful icon that allows you to turn off sounds, return to the home screen, or skip to a particular page in the book. This is great because sometimes you have a child who wants to do things out of order.

In addition to the interactive book there is a very useful “reading strategies” section for parents and teachers. This section provides helpful information and discussion questions that can enhance the educational value of this app.

What I Liked

The narration is excellent and the song at the end of the book will stay with you for days. You’ll probably hear your kids singing it for weeks. The illustrations are colorful and beautiful and the writing lends itself to being read aloud by parents. The reading strategies will extend the value of this app.

What Could Be Improved

As with many book apps, the developers assumes the child using the app knows what the up-turned page corner in the corner means. Multiple methods should be utilized to allow the reader to progress through the book: swiping, arrows, and the common up-turned page corner. There’s no indication in the app that tapping the animals makes them move and make noises.

A Troop is a Group of Monkeys is rated 4+ and costs $1.99. Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later.