Children’s ABC is a simple and sweet universal app aimed at teaching alphabet awareness to young children with the use of animation, interactive hot spots and sound effects. Like many app of this style, Children’s ABC’s includes one letter per page from A to Z, allowing the player to tap on the letter, word in question, or object used to demonstrate the letter at hand. A menu is also included to ease in finding a specific section if one chooses.

What makes this app stand apart from others like it is the use of hand-painted illustrations that one may expect to see in a classic children’s book from decades past, appealing to parents who appreciate traditional books but who still want to embrace interactive media as well.

These illustrations are lovely, and I appreciate the use of sound effects used here, especially when included among pages dedicated to animals such as an elephant, lion and whale, my personal favorite. I also enjoy how nicely paced the interactions are, intended for the viewer to sit back and enjoy as the moment plays out – a little longer than in other interactive moments similar to other apps, such as the development of a rainbow, watching a bird lose a feather, or a needle being threaded in order to stitch cloth. These choices are thoughtful and not overly stimulating, but a few sounds do jump out at the viewer, still appropriate for all but possibly the most timid of babies or toddlers. It is also a nice touch that these letters and words are narrated by both a man and a woman, but note that this app focuses on letter recognition and not phonic sounds – something that may be a nice inclusion for a later update.

I recommend this app for those looking for a lovely app that includes hot spots while maintaining the grace of an old-fashioned picture-and-words book for children.

Animals, Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Just For Fun, Language, Preschool, Reviews, Sounds, Toddlers

Loopy Tunes is a very interesting universal musical application, allowing players to layer different instrumental sounds and the like together to create unique musical pieces.

It is nice how both individual sounds that play once when tapped are included, as well as many looping sounds and bits of music that play continuously until silenced with a touch.

This app opens to the lovely view of what is reminiscent of a vintage radio or television face, which includes a top and bottom row of sections that one can tap. The top row involves eight areas that play individual sounds with the touch of a finger. Note the left bottom of the screen where five small yellow knob-like button selections are offered. As one explores here, the top row of individual sounds will change from a series of milk jugs, piano notes, and different instrument options as well as a group of abstract sounds, all of which make a single sound when tapped.

The bottom row consists of five areas to choose from each with sounds that are looped and will play until silenced, with the lower right knob-like red buttons controlling these selections. Sections that include a very pretty series of sounds illustrated with dancing girls, a ballerina, flower, butterfly, and ladybugs, A really fun space motif with aliens, spaceships, planet choice, and an astronaut is included in another section, as is a series of dancing ballerinas, farm, and dinosaur themes. Experiment with each of these areas, turning on and off any or all of these looping sounds to create musical pieces of varied complexity.

Adults will enjoy this app as much as kids will, experimenting with the looping sections that sometimes include simple samples of musical instruments like bass, piano, or percussion found in some creative motifs, as well as other sounds that together create very interesting music. Layer as many or as few of these sounds together, adding or reducing these choice at will, noting how these layers change the music made. With a tap, comb the individual sound choices from the top row as well.

I especially like that some of the looping selections are not music, but singing voice samples that, mixed together, create beautiful music as well.

Not only does this app offer many sounds to choose from, it is lovely to watch all of these selections, as each one is animated with simple, beautifully hand-drawn moving illustrations that are all elegant in their simplicity, including many dancing characters from these series, all of which start or stop their animations when their corresponding sounds are tapped on or off.

The top, single selections often offer instruments choices such as xylophone, castanets or hands clapping, each looking wonderful as they play, creating some very nice moments introducing kids to many instruments that come to life with a tap. Also included as well are some abstract images to go with other interesting sounds, such as images of sunbursts or shooting stars to illustrate beautiful sounds that are difficult to describe with words.

Bottom-looped sounds are equally represented with animations, including spinning ballerinas and many other creatures that dance such as aliens, farm animals, and dinosaurs as well as other interesting animated choices.

Kids of all ages will enjoy exploring this app with all it has to offer. I have struggled somewhat to explain this app in word, and I hope that this review does the app justice as it is very creative and fun to get lost in. I do wish one could record her tracks, however – just a thought for a future update. It is also worth noting that this app was designed for and looks best on the iPad, as the details of this app look a little small on the iPhone but are still enjoyable, and I am glad that the developers chose to make this universal, especially for owners of both devices.

Do also check out this developer – Trustee for the Tokeru Trust’s other apps, especially “A Fine Musician,” an interactive storybook for both iPad and iPhone that I have enjoyed very much, also reviewed here at Giggle Apps.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Just For Fun, Music, Preschool, Primary School, Reviews, Sounds, Toddlers

Musical Me! is the new creative and fun educational app from the developers at Duck Duck Moose, aimed at stimulating the interest of music in young children. Both iPad as well as iPhone versions are available.

It is great fun how this app stars Mozzarella the Mouse, taking place around the Eiffel Tower, much like Duck Duck Moose’s previous app Word Wagon.

Here, visit five activities, nicely varied and beautiful to look at, which include the fundamentals of music in such activities as a Memory section in which a Simon-styled mini-game helps train the memory as the player tries to play back notes heard. Rhythm is taught by tapping birds as they appear left of the screen, as these spacing of these birds teaching about long and short notes. Dance is introduced by the tapping of friendly monsters to make them dance to the beat of music being played, a favorite section of my son’s. My son also really enjoys the instruments section a great deal as he can make his own music nicely accompanied by a selection of upbeat kids songs, with instruments such as drum, cymbals, triangle, egg shaker, or a duck that squeaks just for fun – a nice touch. Another interesting section is included where the player can change the notes used in favorite traditional songs, creating one’s own music on a staff. Do tap the other animals one may find amongst these sections to find many surprises that are all utterly Duck Duck Moose.

I enjoy how this app makes use of vertical space as Moz leads the player to different locations with the tap of a finger, from the base of the Eiffel Tower, up into the sky, with the Tower seen in the backdrop as one taps the birds flying by in the rhythm section and up higher into the upper atmosphere to play the memory game, with a nice use of planets that play notes one must memorize and play back. From the sky, Moz takes the players down into the ocean, teaching about notes on a staff underwater, complete with fun water sounds and fish to tap at for fun, and then back to land again to play various instruments.

The sense of space this creates is very good and quite unique. The details of Moz’s change of clothing for the different modes are really fun details as well, ranging from a space suit to wet suit as well as a tux for when he conducts during the instruments section.

The rhythm, memory, and notes section contains three levels of difficulty, and it is impressive that different instruments can be used during these activities such as piano, guitar, or violin, as well as the use of solfège syllable, sung do-re-mi-fa-sol. It is also impressive the amount of popular traditional songs used in this app, both as instrumental as well as sung, and I have greatly enjoyed hearing the verses of these popular songs that I am not familiar with from such tunes as Yankee Doodle Dandie, Pop Goes the Weasel, or The Farmer in the Dell, finding this experience educational in and of itself.

This app has a lot to offer kids of many ages and skill sets. The youngest kids will have fun tapping fun, colorful monsters, making them dance and making music or noise from the instruments offered. Older children will have fun tapping on the birds as they move across the screen. My son, now 3.5 years, also has a lot of fun with the memory mode of this app, watching intently as I play this mini-game for him as he is not yet able to remember the sequencing of these notes, something he will enjoy when he is older, I am sure.

Possibly the most impressive part of this app is the notes section where one can play instrumental versions of many popular kids songs, changing the notes at will with a vertical slide of a finger, watching as these notes’ names, sound, and color transform, helping the child visualize the differences they experiences as these notes change. Everything is provided to allow a bright, musically inclined child to decode the basics in the complex task of reading music as they changes notes and listens to the music played back – be it a slightly altered rendition of an included song or a completely new piece of music, but I do wish the spacing of these notes could be moved horizontally on the staff as well to truly create something entirely different.

I have no musical training; keeping in mind parents such as myself, it would be a wonderful inclusion for a future update to include a parents section explaining how best to use this activity, as without prior music instruction themselves, adults may lack the vocabulary to fully articulate what is being explained in this section.

The sounds from each individual note played to the full songs used, both instrumental and sung, sound amazing and this app has a great deal to offer kids of many ages and abilities. You simply can’t go wrong with a Duck Duck Moose app, I look forward to their next app.

By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Just For Fun, Matching, Music, Preschool, Primary School, Reviews, Sounds, Toddlers

HowDo Games is a very nice educational universal app that uses wonderful high definition photos and sound effects to explain the sequencing of various events, allowing adults to teach in further detail such things as the planting of tomatoes or how honey is made.

I can remember asking my dad, an engineer, science questions such where rainbow come from. His response typically was to pause and ask me if I wanted the short or the long answer. This app does a very nice job of explaining the short answer to many of these types of questions.

There are six sections including nature, man-made products, animals, journeys, fixes, and development, whether it be of baby steps or learning to play the piano.

The interface is very simple; there is a row of six icons at the bottom of the screen that one can tap on to be brought to the various themes. Each theme has a page of nine individual stories that can be chosen with a tap, and tapping will forward the player to the next image through the four to nine pictures used per story.

I really like how interesting and a little different these selections are, such as the nature section including where rice comes from – something many adults may not fully understand.

The man-made section stories are nice and unique as well, with choices ranging from molding chocolate to jewelry design and painting a picture. The animal section is especially well-done as the life cycles of a bird, turtle and butterfly are included, as well as many cute mammals – really showing how many different animals come to exist, my son really enjoying the frog metamorphosis.

I enjoy this app a great deal. The photos are excellent, as are the sounds used for each picture. One of the first apps we bought was a “white noise” application that was very relaxing and included some great images and sound effects that my son really enjoyed listening to and looking at. He was less than two years and could name “Amazon rainforest” or “rain on car roof” just by hearing the sounds – a game that he really enjoyed. This app reminds me of this early activity I played with my son. The sound effects used here are equally impressive, with the added educational benefit of these complete stories that do a lot to help explain some very interesting things as well as to foster a greater understanding of complex storytelling and the concept of beginning, middle, and end.

Kids will really enjoy tapping each image to see the sequencing of these events and I think that kids by themselves would enjoy the sights and sounds that this app has to offer, but will get the most benefit working with an adult who can really explain what they are looking at, since things likes raindrop prisms or how bees store nectar to later create honey are not specifically mentioned. These explanations are left to the adult who will enjoy this app very much as well.

By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Just For Fun, Preschool, Primary School, Reviews, Science, Social, Sounds, Special Needs, Toddlers

iBaby Buttons is a colorful and fun universal app that will be a huge hit with babies as well as older children. Tap to create a colorful button; tap again and the button flips over to reveal the other side which consists of one of many different photos young children will be familiar with, be it “bird” or “teddy bear.” Friendly narration or sound effects are used to further bring these lovely photos to life, as well as teach about these basic objects. Tap again to pop these buttons. A two-fingered swipe will change the background photo used. I appreciate how vivid these photos used are, including flower choices, tactile images such as wood grain, or a close-up image of a cactus, as well as the use of beans or pasta – images that kids will enjoy. It is fun that kids can fill the screen with buttons either to then pop all at once or to finish each button one by one – the choice is theirs. It is also nice that a variety of narraters are used, both adults as well as children.

Babies, toddlers, and older kids love to pop bubbles, and for this reason I think this will be a huge hit with young family members. I like the fact that this game play does not need to last a long time, something that can be important. We always use apps in places like doctors’ waiting rooms or waiting to be served in a restaurant. Many times with a longer story or a complex game, my son feels compelled to complete them. I am then left with a kid playing with my phone long after it is ideal as now I would rather be focused at the task at hand. I don’t see this as being so much of an issue with this app, a plus in my book for specific circumstances.

In a future update, one will be able to customize these buttons with personal photos and sound effects. I think this will be a great addition, and I think it will be as fun to create these personal buttons as much as it will be fun to pop them. This is a simple and sweet application which is surely a nice conversation starter between the young player and an older
child or adult who may be enjoying the fun. With lots to touch, talk about, and see, I am sure this app will be a family favorite, especially for the youngest app users.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Just For Fun, Language, Reviews, Sounds, Toddlers

Yes, the name of the app I’m reviewing today is the entire alphabet. From this point on, I’ll refer to it as abcdefg for the sake of my fingers.

I stumbled across this app thanks to the title, it initially seemed like a unique way to learn the alphabet and practice word sounds, but I soon found it was that plus a lot more and it turned into a favorite of mine and my daughters very quickly.

Upon opening abcdefg and hitting play, you’re presented with a simple and easy to access play field. The alphabet is split into 2 halves, one on each side, running lengthwise on your device. At the top 4 different words: “Gravity”, “Crickets”, “Vehicles” and “Birds”. At the bottom are 5 buttons, “Recycle”, “Arrow”, “Bomb”, “Camera” and “Info”. Honestly, this is all that you need to know to get started.

Simply take a letter from either side and drag it into the middle of the screen. When you let go, the letter will go off on its merry way. When my daughters first grabbed it, they dragged a few letters and nothing happened. Once the letters hit the edge of the screen, everything changed.

With gravity (the option selected by default), the letters simply move with your device. Each time the letters hit an edge, the “sound” of the letter is played.

Vehicles zip around the screen, making sounds as they move. Crickets skitter and make sounds when they group up together. Birds is the most diverse, with varied sound, tempo and pitch depending on where/how it’s placed.

As each letter moves, it leaves a unique trail behind it, making a visual representation of the soundscape you, I mean your kids, are creating and it’s easy to stop a single letter, group of letters, erase the whole picture or take a snapshot of the insanity using the buttons below.

People might dismiss abcdefg, but if you look closer at what the app actually provides, I think you’ll find that it’s an invaluable tool for kids. In the app, you’re a conductor of sound, and you learn concepts like pitch and tempo. You also get a quick into to physics, seeing how the different letters move and interact with each other, things you don’t often see in “kid” apps these days.

While abcdefg is no replacement for music lessons, it allows children to draw outside the lines of music and just perform these strange experimental mini-concerts with letters. Some of the things I’ve heard my daughters create simply blow my mind. They have to experiment in combining sounds together, finding ones that match in tone, pitch, whatever to create an appealing and melodic sound. They also end up with these crazy pictures of letters strewn everywhere. They get to interact with art in a way that I’ve never really seen, at least not in this medium.

I can honestly say that I think any kid would benefit from putting their hands on abcdefg, even if it’s just to increase familiarity with the alphabet and word sounds. Beyond that, it’s an introduction to physics and a way for kids to create experimental soundscapes, by simply placing letters on a screen, turning that into honest to goodness music.

For the price and for the features offered, abcdefg is much more than a simple novelty. It’s an app that I recommend for kids and adults of any age. It’s never too early (or too late!) to make crazy music and pictures. I look back in regret, wishing that I’d have had something even close to this as a kid, it might have gotten me that much more interested in creating and experimenting with music and sound.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, For Parents, High School +, Just For Fun, Music, Preschool, Primary School, Reviews, Sounds, Toddlers

I’m going to come right out and say this. I love Sandra Boynton. To me, she is the most prolific children’s story writers to come out in this generation, specifically for younger children. I put her alongside Dr. Seuss and Robert Munsch, and that’s high praise.

“Moo, Baa, La, La, La” is produced by Loud Crow, the makers of the PopOut! book series (Peter Rabbit, Night Before Christmas, etc). Their books have been showcased by Apple for a reason, they are top notch in quality and production values. Designed to simulate a real “pop-up” type book, they include characters that spring when you touch them, tabs that move various parts of the book, and windows, doors and such that open and close. It really does give the books a tactile feel, and I honestly believe these books have more interactive elements than most on the app store.

It’s clear that “Moo, Baa” is a silly book. It starts out normal, with a cow saying “Moo”, a sheep saying “Baa”, but the next page you lift up a curtain and it’s 3 singing pigs saying “La, La, La!”.

Like with most books in the app store, you can choose to read it yourself or have “The Big Guy Read it” for you. This book has an especially special narrator, Sandra Boynton’s son, Keith (trivia fact, Sandra’s middle name is Keith).

Inside, interaction ranges from touching Rinos to hear them Snort and Snuff, pulling back dogs like a slingshot to send them running at 2 cats saying “Meow”. As the dogs leap after them, they leave their collars behind to hang in mid-air, a very cute touch.

Like most “board books”, it’s short, coming it at about 12 pages, but it’s no slouch. Each page offers so much to the touch, almost everything you see does something, even if it’s as little as a sound. My daughters spent probably twice as long enjoying the pages, the interaction, the art and the humorous sounds as they did of just the story. Hearing them laugh while touching each of the singing pigs at the start never gets old.

Now, the story itself is probably targeted to younger children around the age of 1 – 4, because of its simple language. The sentences are simple and they mostly consist of animal sounds except for the last of the book. It’s a magical ending and one that will yield different results for everyone who reads it.

I would like to make it clear that even though the book is designed for younger children, you don’t have to be young to enjoy it. My daughters are 6 and it is still one of their favorites. Because they’re now fairly advanced readers, they’re able to read the entire story easily and without having to struggle. In the path to learn how to read, I find this is far more important than pushing kids to read longer words before they’re ready. I figure they’ll probably be done with the book in a year, but between the physical book and this, I’ve gotten an easy 5 years out of it, not a lot of books that have that kind of staying power.

So, is “Moo, Baa, La, La, La” worth your $3? Yes, yes and yes. It’s a simple story that’s an amazing read for children, especially ones who are very young. It scales to older children who are learning how to read, and allows for easy comprehension. The app design is great, and the interaction is one of the best on the app store. You owe it to yourself, and your kids, to check it out.

Animals, By Age Range, By App Feature, Language, Preschool, Primary School, Reading, Reviews, Sounds, Special Needs, Stories, Toddlers

“The Going to Bed Book” is one of two Sandra Boynton books available on the app store (the other is “Moo, Baa, La, La, La”) and like “Moo, Baa” it is a fantastic book with top notch production value that takes a great story and adds some unique and wonderful interactive elements, making it a joy to read both as a parent and for our children.

“The Going to Bed Book” is produced by Loud Crow Interactive, the makers of the PopOut! series (Peter Rabbit, Night Before Christmas, etc). Loud Crow has been featured in the app of the week as well as New And Noteworthy because they’re fantastic. They are designed to simulate a real “pop-up” type book, with characters that spring from the page, tabs to move back and forth, windows/doors to open. It really does give the books a tactile feel, and I honestly believe there is more interactivity in their books than almost any on the app store to date.

As with most of Sandra Boynton’s books, they are very silly, and “Going to Bed” is no different. It’s a story about a boat full of about 10 animals getting ready to go to bed. You get to follow them through quite a few different activities to get them there, starting with scrubbing them clean in the bath to scrubbing their teeth in the sink.

This interaction in the book is similar, in a very good way, to the PopOut! book series. There’s not a single page that’s left out from interaction. You can tilt your iPad and it’ll swing a chain that’s hanging, you can touch on an animal and they’ll bounce like they’re on a spring. Another you touch will squeak, moo or make some other sound. I hate to spoil this, but it’s too good not to talk about… At one point in the bathroom, you get to turn on the hot water tap and very slowly and subtly, it starts to fog up the entire iPad screen. It’s terrifically realistic and once it’s done, you… I mean, your kids, get to use their fingers as a squeegee to clean off the screen. Yes, it’s silly, but it’s a really nice touch.

The story is about 13 pages long and allows you to either read it yourself or “Have the Big Guy Read It”. The narrator is perfect as his voice is deep, warm and inviting, like the perfect grandpa. With the narration off, you can touch on each of the words to hear them spoken aloud, something I find important in the path to learning how to read.

On that note, the language in the book is very simple. There is more of a complete story here than you’ll find in “Moo, Baa”, but the language is still very easy to understand and comprehend. I’d still say the age range for the direct target would be 1 – 4, but I can confidently say that this would be a hit for children as young as 6 months to as old as 6 or 7 years old. My daughters still absolutely love it and I believe they will at 7, a testament to the quality of the story and humor.

It is clear by now that I’m smitten with these books. But it’s not that I’m blinded by the author, if the books weren’t good I’d be the first to say it. But they are good. No, they’re great. They’re experiences that shaped my daughter’s early years of reading, and I hope that you’ll find they do the same for yours, too.

Animals, By Age Range, By App Feature, Preschool, Primary School, Reading, Reviews, Sounds, Special Needs, Stories, Toddlers

Putting aside the fact that there are many apps and games about farms these days, Kids on the Farm is a cute, fun game for preschoolers to play by themselves with some initial guidance and parents to play together with their toddlers. It combines simple games with such skills as counting, colors, matching, size and sounds. The graphics are very simple, so it is easy for a young child to differentiate elements on the screen. In some cases, the children receive positive reinforcement “Great Job!” when responding correctly and a mild “Try Again” when they do not have the right answer. However, as I will explain, the app needs some revisions.

Each screen has a separate problem to solve with farm animals. In the counting screen, the child has to find the “cows” or “horses,” which are added up as they are found. Unfortunately, there are inconsistencies that need to be revised on the next go around. For example, the counting headline says, “Touch 4 Calves” and the child narrator says, “Touch the calves.” If a child only touches two of the four calves and then hits the arrow to go on to the next page, the narrator does not say, “Touch more calves,” or “You have some calves to find.” This is when it would be good for you to jump in and say, “Whoops. Can you find any more calves before we go on?”

In addition, especially with younger children, parents should also review the different names of each animal. For example, pictures of cows are also called “bulls” and “calves.” Similarly, sine screens ask the child to touch an animal of certain color. Or, a screen may ask the child to touch all the animals that make a certain sound that is made. Once again, the headline and narrator may say, “Which animal makes this sound?” and the animal shown may only be in the same family. The screen always shows baby chicks, for instance. When your child hears a rooster’s crow and is asked “What makes this sound?” it is necessary to equate the baby chick to the grown male hen.

In one of the games, the child has to find the “small” animals. Here, size does not equate to what the animal is in real life, such as a big horse next to a small chick. Rather, size is based on the graphic shown, for example, the horse may be shrunk down in size and the lamb enlarged. Sometimes, the difference in size between the animals is minor, so it may be difficult for a younger child to know which animal is larger. When making the right choice, the child hears that animal’s sound. The matching game consists of pairing up the right mother and baby and the “Which Animal Comes Next,” is a pattern game, such as dog, cow, dog, “what comes next?”

All the games get progressively more difficult, which is good way to continue learning and keeping the child’s attention. Overall, the educational concepts of Kids on the Farm are important for children of this age to learn. With improvements, some noted here, this could be a better learning tool.

Animals, By Age Range, By App Feature, Matching, Preschool, Reviews, Sounds, Toddlers

The Little Farm! is a nice interactive app for babies and toddlers with a bright and colorful look to it. Two sections are included: flashcards and a farm tour.

The Flashcard section is exactly what one might expect, with flashcards of animals and other objects that one may find on the farm. The word in question is also printed on the screen next to these flashcards and is narrated by a child. The corresponding sound of the flashcard can be heard as well, when applicable. To hear this animal’s or object’s sound again, tap the flashcard, it would be also be nice if the text word could be tapped to heard again. This section has a lovely blue sky and red barn in the distance as the background for these flashcards which is nice to look at, and pleasant upbeat music is included as well.

Recently, a menu button has been added to the flash cards section allowing one to scroll through and choose a specific card, a nice choice, but I would also like to see a home button added in both of these sections bringing the player back to the main menu title page making it easier to choose the other activity.

The second section, Farm Tour, contains simple and cute farm interactions as one tours this farm landscape. Tap on an egg to help it hatch, feed a rabbit carrots or tap an apple to look for hidden worms, or have apples fall from trees. The section is nice for babies and toddlers who are new to exploring on the iPhone, but there are signs included in this app meant to help gameplay along that are not narrated, so pre-readers will be without these hints that help guide players though the interactions. Sometimes this is not a big issue as it is pretty intuitive how one may figure out that touching the tractor moves it across the page, or how to feed a rabbit carrots, and it is nice that flashing bulls eyes are added to the areas of interactivity. One of these interactions, however, is less obvious and young children may be at a loss as to what to do without additional info. Because of this, I would like it if this information was read out loud when tapped by the player.

This app is a nice activity with nice and colorful graphics. This would be a nice first farm app for babies and toddlers, with the help of a adult.

Animals, By Age Range, By App Feature, Preschool, Reviews, Sounds, Toddlers