More Favorite Apps (Part 2)

Today I'm going to share some more apps I love for various reasons. 

To start off:  Have you played Math Slide?  You can download for free and play each game twice before you decide if you want to purchase or not. (Check on this: that's how it was last year.)  I ended up purchasing each for 99 cents after my kids played.  (NOTE: I got a $50 Apple iTunes Gift Card from our PTO so that's why I've purchased so many apps after test driving them.)

Each game is designed for 1-4 players and kids can easily control that by simply pressing the JOIN button.   If playing solo, a timer appears and kids can try to beat own score.

Here are some shots from first few games: 

The game board rotates so all kids can see it.  To guess answer, kids must slide tile up into dark blue area.  It's not always who can answer first because not everyone has same tiles.  I like it that way so even struggling learners can get points.  

Here are two shots from the hundreds/tens section...I think game 11:

Have you used Chatterpix?  My favorite discovery of the year thanks to our tech gurus at school.  IT IS FREE!  NO ADS! In fact, the developer, Duck Duck Moose, is now associated with Khan Academy and all their apps are free.  See MooseMath above as well.  Apps often lean toward pre-school-K but not all.  See Pet Bingo by them above.  Kids love it!

Basically, kids can take a picture and make it talk by recording their voice.

So much fun and  EDUCATIONAL, too!  Here are 4 quick ways (my examples are on other iPad but I'll update post when I go back to school tomorrow) I've used it recently:

1. Kids had to pick a shape, take a picture of it and describe properties.  EXAMPLE:  Took pic of a book.  Said: This is a rectangle.  I have two short sides and two long sides.  

2. Took a picture of an object and had to describe it using 5 adjectives.

3. Same for Verbs...One child took a pic of a stuffed monkey and said: I'm a monkey.  I like to swing, climb, and peel my banana.  

4. Took a picture of a character in a picture book and stated problem and solution. (My name is Pigeon.  There is a bus driver who won't let me drive the bus, etc.)

So easy to learn!  Takes about a minute.  Really!  

YouTube Kids  (FREE)  

You can set control so kids CANNOT go and search anything on the site.  All content presented on kids' version is fine.  WARNING: Kids easily get addicted to this site.  I reserve this for Friday afternoons only simply because they'd never use any other app.  What's here?  Videos, LOTS of how-tos by young kids, some science experiments, videos of songs performed by kids mostly, etc.  HIGH INTEREST.  

RUSH HOUR

Remember the game?  Fabo for practicing logic and problem-solving skills and spatial reasoning. There is a free version but I upgraded to one without ads and thousands of games for $2.99. 

The objective for each game is the same: get the RED CAR out of the exit in as few moves as possible. Once a game is completed, it tells you how many moves YOU needed and shows the LEAST amount you could have made.  Then it gives option to replay same game and try to beat your score.  A quality app and well-worth the money I spent.  

PBS Apps....FREE!

There is SO MUCH content on these apps that it can be overwhelming.  Took me a few minutes to realize I had to swipe right to get everything for a particular show to come up after presented with a vertical character icon bar.  It's been some time since my own kids were PBS kids but I saw some old favorites mixed in with new shows.  Again, overwhelming content.  Go through and mark what YOU could use.  Above is the DESIGN SQUAD show page. Look at the video bottom center: How to Make a Carrot Flute. PERFECT for our How-To writing unit.  Our custodian is coming in next week to make it for us.  (Need drill.)

This monkey has never been my favorite but the short video on on Visiting the Architects is perfect for my Community Helpers unit.   

While most pages have a FEW entire episodes of the shows featured, most videos are quick.

I'll be back again in next day or two with some more apps.  Hope you found something here today that you're interested in.  If not, go back to my post from yesterday and be sure to check out some free recording sheets for ANY app!

Have a great day!