Our Current Favorite iPad/ iPhone Apps

Here is a list (and some video) of Elizabeth (2-yrs old) and Matthew's (4-1/2 yrs old) favorite apps these days. I've categorized them as best as I could. Some apps are listed in more than one category. Please feel free to comment and share your favorite apps with us.

Short-term Working Memory
NACD Simply Smarter


Expanding Knowledge
Mini Adventure Animals - I love integrating this app into our reading time, especially when we read about animals. Great real-life photos and youtube videos AND it's customizable.

Matching Jobs
ABA Animals flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Earth Science (by kindergarten.com)
Sesame Street Podcasts - not an app but free short videos featuring the letter of the day and things related to it.

Learning Concepts
Photo Touch Concepts (by Grasshopper Apps)
ABA Problem Solving What Rhymes (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Problem Solving Which Go Together (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Which Does Not Belong? (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive by Function (by kindergarten.com)
Little Matchups Opposites (by Grasshopper Apps)
Little Matchups The Matching Game (by Grasshopper Apps)

Learning Patterns/ Critical Thinking
Caboose - Learn to Recognize and Complete Patterns
Little Patterns
Monkey Mathschool Sunshine

Little Solver Preschool Logic (by Alligator Apps)- this game gets progressively harder as Matthew gets more successful with the basic patterns.

Injini/ Injini Lite

Early Numeracy Skills & Math
KidCalc - Great app except I don't like the number tracing activity on this app. It's overly responsive and allows random screen swiping to trace the numbers.

Monkey Mathschool Sunshine
Grover's Number Special
Kinder Add
Line 'Em Up
Preschool Prep Meet the Numbers
PhotoTouch Numbers
123 Toddler Counting
Counting Bear (by Grasshopper Apps)
Montessori Counting Board (by Grasshopper Apps)

Speech Production & Articulation
SmallTalk Phonemes

NACD Apraxia

Talking Tom (and other Talking Friends)

Just For Fun
Monkey Mathschool Sunshine
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
Talking Tom (and other Talking Friends)
Grover's Number Special
Matching Job
More Breakfast
More Pizza
Cupcakes!
Your Teddy!
Balloonimals
Fruit Ninja
Scout's ABC (by Leapfrog)

Books and Activities
I Like Books (by Grasshopper Apps)
The Monster at the End of this Book
Another Monster at the End of this Book

Lightning Was Here Puzzle Book
Thomas the Train books - Some (or maybe all) of the books have a memory matching game that's both auditory and visual.

Sight Words
Verbs with Milo

Noodle Words

A+ Dolch Pre-primer and Primer Sight Words
300+ Sight Words
Little Reader Three-Letter Words (by Grasshopper Apps) - I just wish the words were in lowercase letters instead of uppercase letters.
Little Reader Four-Letter Words (by Grasshopper Apps)

Language Input/ First Words/ Phrases
My First Couplets (by Smart Baby Apps)
ABA Animals flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Sports flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
My Home (by Smart Baby Apps)
Animal Kingdom (by Smart Baby Apps)
Food Festival (by Smart Baby Apps)
Around Town (by Smart Baby Apps)
My First 1000 Words (by Smart Baby Apps)
My First Words (by Smart Baby Apps)
ABA Vehicles flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Things You Wear (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Musical Instruments (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Things You Play With (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Actions (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Fruits & Nuts (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Vegetables (by kindergarten.com)
Noodle Words

Sentence Construction/ Reading Comprehension
Sentence Maker
I Like Books
ABA Alphabet flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Shapes flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
Sentences Builder (by AbiTalk)


Drawing & Writing
Drawing Pad
iWriteWords - I haven't used this app with the kids yet because we're not actively working on writing yet. I downloaded it because I wanted to try it. I'll use it when we start working on writing.
Paint Sparkles

Letter/ Color/ Shape Recognition
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
123 Color
Preschool Prep Meet the Letters (uppercase)
Preschool Prep Meet the Letters (lowercase)
Preschool Prep Meet the Colors
Preschool Prep Meet the Numbers
Preschool Prep Meet the Shapes
ABA Alphabet flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Shapes flashcards (by kindergarten.com)

Audiobooks
Tales2Go - Since both Matthew and Elizabeth like listening to age-appropriate audiobooks, I'll be using this app in the car so they can listen to books in the car instead of their usual kid music sometimes.

Object Identification/ Visual Scanning
PhotoTouch Toys
Little Finder (by Alligator Apps)
ABA Animals flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Sports flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive Identification by Class (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive Combined (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive by Feature (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive Identification by Noun (by kindergarten.com)
My Home (by Smart Baby Apps)
Animal Kingdom (by Smart Baby Apps)
Food Festival (by Smart Baby Apps)
Around Town (by Smart Baby Apps)
Injini/ Injini Lite

Toy Review Tuesday: Thomas the Train Wooden Railway

Not all kids really get into train toys. Matthew did. Our little train engineer will play with this train set for at least 15 minutes - that's relatively longer than other non-electronic toys and non-screen based games. Elizabeth, his assistant train engineer, enjoys it too. The kids started out with the Water Tower Figure 8 set and then inherited a large plastic tub of tracks from older cousins.

They have two battery-operated metal trains - Salty and Percy - and all the other trains are made of wood. Train Engineer Matthew has mastered the art of connecting the interlocking wooden tracks. Matthew is very particular about how the track is set-up and which trains are on it. If we add another train without his approval, he says "Nooooo!" and takes it off the track. Both little engineers always make sure the trains stay on track. The battery-operated trains tend to go off-track if the tracks aren't connected just so. Some reviews online cite this as annoying but I think it's a good way to hold the kids' attention.

I honestly enjoy playing with the train set too. Bill says I seem to enjoy it more than the kids when I help make elaborate railroad lines. It's just so much fun to think of the possible configurations with bridges, tunnels, twists and turns and then watch the battery-operated trains pull the other trains along the track.



Thomas & Friends books on iPad/ iPhone
Matthew, in particular, has been enjoying Thomas the train so much that I have borrowed Thomas & Friends books from the library. We also have all 13 apps on my iPhone and iPad.

The apps are mostly developed by HIT Entertainment and some by Callaway Digital Arts. The HIT Entertainment ones feature an interactive book, a coloring sheets (6 choices), puzzle, and voice recording capability. The Callaway Digital Arts ones feature an interactive book, a matching game, puzzle, coloring sheets (6 choices), and a short video excerpt of the story.

All books are narrated in a British accent. All the stories are quite lengthy (and wordy) and don't hold Matthew's attention. So I usually disable the British narration and make up a shortened story as we manually swipe through the book.

By HIT Entertainment:
Down at the Docks
Thomas and Toby
Thomas Gets a Snowplow
Thomas and the Castle
Thomas Gets His Own Branch Line
May the Best Engine Win!
Calling All Engines
Thomas-saurus Rex
The Special Delivery

By Callaway Digital Arts:
Misty Island Rescue
Day of the Diesels
Engine Activities
Hero of the Rails

Waitress Mommy

Grover is one of my favorite characters on Sesame Street. (I actually like him more than Elmo.)

If you grew up watching Sesame Street, you may remember Grover, the cute and loveable furry waiter, which was one of his many roles. The app called "Grover's Number Special", now on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, brings him to life in this interactive game. Matthew is still learning to play this game. Tilt the device one way or the other to move the tray and catch and count the ingredients for the special of the day.

One evening, Elizabeth and Matthew were seated at their little table pretending to eat play food. I decided to bring "Grover's Number Special" to life and surprise my unsuspecting customers. I offered to bring food to their table and clumsily set the food down so it would land on the floor. Elizabeth was shocked at the mess I was making and Matthew thought it was funny.

Here's a short video of the app and my attempt at waitressing.