Hailey has an iPhone and hopes to have an iPad by her birthday in December.* She is loving many of the apps and has actually learned quite a lot from many of them. So we decided to write some reviews here on our blog and we can update this post as she finds more apps that she really likes. This is supposed to be about "educational" apps, but as we were writing it, we found it hard to distinguish what is truly educational and what is not; we find everything can have some "educational" aspect to it.
Stack the States
Hailey: "You learn where the capital cities are, what the states looks like, where they are, and how to read their names (mom helps with that). Also, the states are like little people with eyes on them that are cute; you can make them move their eyes around."
Mom: Hailey has played this game for a few days now and she is really getting to where she remembers the states by their shape, where they are on the map, the capital cities and even some of the landmarks. I'm kind of shocked at how quickly she is memorizing this information. I catch her playing it all the time.
Dragon Box
Hailey: "Dragon Box is a math game with easy questions to learn the first levels of algebra. I liked knowing math that was a little higher than my grade was. My mom wrote down some math on paper without the little people boxes like in the game and I could do the easy algebra on it."
Mom: Hailey really did learn how to do basic algebraic equations via this program. She was playing it and asked me to play. It took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on as I really didn't understand the object of the game. She showed me and I realized that it is algebra and how simple this game made it all. So I started writing down some algebraic equations on paper for her to do. She could do them easily.
Magic Piano
Hailey: "It helps with hand skills and probably is good for people with dysgraphia (her brother has dysgraphia). I like making the music. I don't know if it is a learning game, but it is fun."
Mom: This is another favorite of her's. It makes me think of a music box with the little raised bumps that mark out the tune. You have to hit the little colored circles at the right time to play the music. I agree with Hailey that it should help with fine motor skills to some extent and perhaps helps with some visual processing and maybe even some auditory timing skills as it sounds "off" when you don't play it right.
What's That Tune?
Hailey: "This is kind of a memory game but it is only for songs. I like it because it helps you with memory."
Mom: Hailey and her brothers are way better than me at this game as the songs are all more modern than what I typically listen to. You hear a snippet of a song and have to pick what the name of the song is from a list of possible titles. I imagine this does help with auditory memory.
Draw Something
Hailey: "You draw with friends and you socialize with your friends. I learn some spelling and get to draw. I think when I get my iPad it will be better because I can draw better on a bigger space than the iPhone. It's fun to see how my friends draw things."
Mom: I like how she enjoys playing this with her friends and how she has to practice spelling words and learning new words sometimes.
iTranslate
Hailey: "You type in a word or sentence, you pick a language, and it tells you what it is in that language. I use mostly French. People can use this if they go to another country and need help communicating."
Mom: I was wondering how she kept coming up to me saying phrases in French and then she showed me her app. She doesn't get the pronunciation right usually, but I can then help her with that as I know some French from taking it in highschool and college. This encouraged us to check out a book on learning French from the library and we've been going through it.
The Simpsons Tapped Out
Hailey: "You design the city and you can't get rid of things so you have to plan it well. The people will be mad if you don't do things right. You're like the mayor."
Mom: I know she really likes this game and I imagine it helps with planning and maybe some geometry aspects as you have to place buildings in locations to be easy for the people to get to and so you don't use up all your space haphazardly. She also really loves The Simpsons and has watched every episode and read every comic book about them.
* Hailey doesn't want to sound snotty by having and iPhone and wanting an iPad, so she said maybe we should say something about her wanting an iPad because it is bigger and she wants to be able to read books on it.
If you have any suggestions for apps your child likes, please let us know. We always like to hear of new ones we might like.
Stack the States
Hailey: "You learn where the capital cities are, what the states looks like, where they are, and how to read their names (mom helps with that). Also, the states are like little people with eyes on them that are cute; you can make them move their eyes around."
Mom: Hailey has played this game for a few days now and she is really getting to where she remembers the states by their shape, where they are on the map, the capital cities and even some of the landmarks. I'm kind of shocked at how quickly she is memorizing this information. I catch her playing it all the time.
Dragon Box
Hailey: "Dragon Box is a math game with easy questions to learn the first levels of algebra. I liked knowing math that was a little higher than my grade was. My mom wrote down some math on paper without the little people boxes like in the game and I could do the easy algebra on it."
Mom: Hailey really did learn how to do basic algebraic equations via this program. She was playing it and asked me to play. It took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on as I really didn't understand the object of the game. She showed me and I realized that it is algebra and how simple this game made it all. So I started writing down some algebraic equations on paper for her to do. She could do them easily.
Magic Piano
Hailey: "It helps with hand skills and probably is good for people with dysgraphia (her brother has dysgraphia). I like making the music. I don't know if it is a learning game, but it is fun."
Mom: This is another favorite of her's. It makes me think of a music box with the little raised bumps that mark out the tune. You have to hit the little colored circles at the right time to play the music. I agree with Hailey that it should help with fine motor skills to some extent and perhaps helps with some visual processing and maybe even some auditory timing skills as it sounds "off" when you don't play it right.
What's That Tune?
Hailey: "This is kind of a memory game but it is only for songs. I like it because it helps you with memory."
Mom: Hailey and her brothers are way better than me at this game as the songs are all more modern than what I typically listen to. You hear a snippet of a song and have to pick what the name of the song is from a list of possible titles. I imagine this does help with auditory memory.
Draw Something
Hailey: "You draw with friends and you socialize with your friends. I learn some spelling and get to draw. I think when I get my iPad it will be better because I can draw better on a bigger space than the iPhone. It's fun to see how my friends draw things."
Mom: I like how she enjoys playing this with her friends and how she has to practice spelling words and learning new words sometimes.
iTranslate
Hailey: "You type in a word or sentence, you pick a language, and it tells you what it is in that language. I use mostly French. People can use this if they go to another country and need help communicating."
Mom: I was wondering how she kept coming up to me saying phrases in French and then she showed me her app. She doesn't get the pronunciation right usually, but I can then help her with that as I know some French from taking it in highschool and college. This encouraged us to check out a book on learning French from the library and we've been going through it.
The Simpsons Tapped Out
Hailey: "You design the city and you can't get rid of things so you have to plan it well. The people will be mad if you don't do things right. You're like the mayor."
Mom: I know she really likes this game and I imagine it helps with planning and maybe some geometry aspects as you have to place buildings in locations to be easy for the people to get to and so you don't use up all your space haphazardly. She also really loves The Simpsons and has watched every episode and read every comic book about them.
* Hailey doesn't want to sound snotty by having and iPhone and wanting an iPad, so she said maybe we should say something about her wanting an iPad because it is bigger and she wants to be able to read books on it.
If you have any suggestions for apps your child likes, please let us know. We always like to hear of new ones we might like.
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