The Working Mom

Dr. Seuss is one of my all time favorite children’s book authors. I loved the books as a kid, and as an adult, I still love reading the books to my kids. So it should probably come as no surprise that the Dr. Seuss iPhone apps totally thrill me and my kids.

The Cat In the Hat

Love this book. For some reason, I feel like this book relates to my life on so many levels. From the thing one and thing two ransacking the house (=cough= Zach and Rachel =cough=) to suddenly finding yourself in a mess that is “so deep and so tall” you can not pick it up, there is no way at all… except a cat with a magical room cleaning machine never seems to show up at my doorstep. Hmmm… This eBook has it all. The ability to have it read to you or read it yourself. Little animations, little interactions, even a little background sound, music and effects. (There’s settings to turn those off too if you don’t like them) This is the way an eBook should be done.

The Cat in the Hat: $3.99* (NOTE!! See below about a special price on this app for March 2, 2010 only!!)

Dr. Seuss’s ABC

I have to admit – reading this book myself isn’t as much fun as reading The Cat in the Hat – but having the eBook read TO YOU it is actually alot more fun. Somehow the reader on the eBook does a much better job. (Maybe it’s also because I seem to get tongue tied reading this book long before I’m even halfway in) LOL! Either way – this book is great. Sound effects, interaction. If you leave the book in the middle, it will even remember where you left off and give you the option of starting there when you start the book/app again.

Dr. Seuss’s ABC: $3.99* (NOTE!! See below about a special price on this app for March 2, 2010 only!!)

Dr. Seuss Camera – The Cat in the Hat Edition

Ok, this is a lot of fun. My kids LOVE playing with the camera on the phone, so this is a no brainer. You can pick out a “frame” and then take a picture or use one from your photo library or camera roll – usually putting someone’s face inside a cartoon – and then save it, email it. You can add “stickers” to it, etc. My only comment here is that the icons on the bottom are a little ambigous and took a little getting used to understand what they did. But exploring and playing with the app was so much fun, we didn’t mind.

Dr. Seuss Camera – The Cat in the Hat Edition: $2.99* (NOTE!! See below about a special price on this app for March 2, 2010 only!!)

NOTE!: So now here’s something really cool: Oceanhouse Media (the developer of these apps) is celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday and NEA’s Read Across America Day by dropping all Dr. Seuss iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad apps to $0.99 each for one day only, Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Definitely recommend you scoop these up tomorrow while they’re on sale. That’s a great deal!! You can read more about that here

Click here to learn more, see demos and see more Dr. Seuss apps

*prices at time of this writing.

I remember sitting at my friend’s kitchen table when I was about 11 and plotting out my life on a little piece of paper: I would be married to some movie star, living in a shack, with 30 kids, driving a jaguar. Hmmm. This of course is from the game “MASH” (Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House). Emily’s Girl Talk includes this game plus a few more: a game called “Lemon”, another called “Love”, and the fortune telling classic “Cootie Catcher”. The app is targeted for tweens and teens, and my daughter loved it. The graphics are as cute as can be. This is definitely a game she and her friends will be playing and giggling over. It saves all the results from your games as “stories” in a journal. Also, if you just want to play the games without typing endless names, you can always click an “emily picks” button that will fill the fields in with random names. (I do wish there was an “auto-clear” – once the names are filled in, it’s not easy to remove them).

Emily’s Girl Talk is produced by Broken Thumbs Apps. Read more about them and buy the app on iTunes here.

Also, to celebrate the release of Emily’s Girl Talk, fans can enter a contest to become a sticker inside the game, by (i) posting a screenshot of their favorite story from Emily’s Girl Talk on the new Facebook fan page, (ii) tweeting it to @EmilysGirlTalk on Twitter or (iii) emailing it to EmilysGirlTalk@BrokenThumbsApps.com by April 1st.

Emily’s Girl Talk: $0.99*

*Price at time of this writing.

Since the last time I did a big round up of apps, I’ve downloaded a bunch more on my own. I know previously I’ve only focused on kids apps, the adults have to have some fun too! Here’s the ones that I’m currently enjoying:

Bank of Mom ($1.99*) – I got this to keep track of allowance money that Rachel had been earning. The fact of the matter had been that anytime she wanted something, I was usually with her, and it was easier for me to buy it for her and have her “pay me back” rather than make her lug a purse with money around. Of course, more often than not, I would forget to request the money, and she would end up with a freebie. Keeping track of the money on my phone makes this a lot easier. The app also helps track non-monetary privileges as well.

Boggle ($1.99*) – This is the classic game of Boggle. While I did buy this app, and I do enjoy using it, Word Scramble by Zynga (Free!) has basically the same features, and in some ways I like Word Scamble a little better. Both are pretty good though.

Dropbox (Free!*) – If you don’t already have a Dropbox account – you need to sign up and get one. Seriously. This is a great FREE! service that lets you share and store files. It does require you to install some software on your computer, but then it basically sets up a folder on your machine that remains in sync with others that you’re sharing files with. In any case, they made an iPhone app so you could connect to this folder as well and have access to all those files right on your iPhone. If you or someone you’re sharing the file with makes a change to the file – all devices/computers get the updated version. You can also restore an older version, or access all your files from a web login. You get 2GB of free space, or you can upgrade and pay for more space. Seriously. Just go get it. (Disclosure: By signing up from the link provided here, I get some bonus disk space.)

Falling Balls (Free!*) is just a weird game. It’s hand drawn (I actually really like these types of low-tech graphics). I think I originally downloaded it just out of curiosity but it is pretty funny. You tilt the phone back and forth to make the little guy run away from various sized falling balls. Should you not time things right, and get squashed by the ball, the ball squishes the little dude leaving a nice little gory splat.

Kinetic Balls (Free!*) – Just about as much fun as the real thing, except a lot cheaper (as in free) and doesn’t take up space on your desk. This one comes with a variety of different balls. (For example, you can have kinetic basketballs. There’s also the standard metal balls but in various color shades)

Pocket Universe ($2.99*) and Star Walk ($2.99*) – I actually can’t decide which of these two apps I like most. They both have some great features. If you ever want to find a particular star, planet or constellation, or see something in the sky and wonder what it is, you will love both of these applications. If you have a 3GS (I don’t, WAAA! LOL!) then you will love some of the additional features added for that model: you can hold your phone up and move it around and it will pan the sky as you move. You can do this manually if you don’t have a 3GS. Obviously, it’s not as cool as having the newer model iPhone, but you probably already know that.

Qik Live (Free!*) and Qik Video Camera (for any iPhone!) ($1.99*) – If you don’t have a 3GS and have been envious of its video capability, then I have an end to your envy. Qik can do video on any iPhone. I’m not kidding. I was over the moon when I found this out. Qik Live will upload your videos and store them on the Qik site – or if you can spare the $1.99, then you create videos you keep on your phone too. A very useful feature allows you to download the videos from your phone onto a computer via a browser by accessing a specific IP address when you’re on the same network.

Rock Band Free (obviously free*) and Rock Band ($6.99*) – Kind of like Tap Tap Revenge, but I kind of like this better. I like how the tracks don’t play unless you hit the notes right and you can choose which you want to play: Vocals, Guitar, Drums, Bass. I haven’t coughed up the money for the paid version of the app. I like playing but I kind of suck at the game. LOL! So I’ve just been having fun with the one song on the the free version, but if I get a little better, I can see myself buying the full version so I can get access to the other songs they have available.

Sims3 ($6.99*) – I actually downloaded this one a few months ago when they had a special deal on it (I think it was on sale for $4.99 at the time and knowing it originally had a higher price and would probably go back up, I went ahead and bought it). I’m not really into playing the Sims – at least I haven’t played it in years, but this game was fun. From what I can tell, it’s not as elaborate as the “real” Sims games, but if you need a quick fix on you phone, it’s fun. I was playing it a lot when I first got it, but haven’t really played with it since then.

Ski Utah (Free) – Well now that I’m into skiing of course I had to go ahead and download an app like this. Just a nice easy way to see how all the local (to me) resorts are doing. I do wish that the app also had direct links to trail maps.

Sudoku ($1.99*) – I’m pretty sure I paid more for this app, but I think it’s really well done so I don’t regret buying it. There are a lot of Sudoku type apps on the app store and I swear I’ve downloaded at least half of them. I think this one has the best, simplest, easiest to use interface. I really like that you can even enter in a puzzle you found in a newspaper so you can use it’s interface to work on it. Still, it’s not perfect – I REALLY wish there was an undo button. Sometimes, by accident, I’ll bump a number and it will add or remove a candidate from a square, and I won’t know what I did. I also wish that the “newspaper puzzle” mode – would hold the finished puzzle a little longer. Sometimes just solving the puzzle isn’t enough. I may want to actually write out my answer on the newspaper and show someone the proof that I did the whole thing. Still, this is the app that I’ve been playing the most the last few months. Completely addicted. I’m only doing their “insane” level puzzles, and it inspired me to learn some new strategies. (Learned with the help of this website – the nice thing about that puzzle solver website is that it walks through step by step HOW to solve the puzzle – not just giving you the answers. So when I’ve gotten stuck, I can enter what I’ve done in the puzzle solver and just have it explain to me how I get to the next step of the puzzle and what strategy it used to get there.) It would be kind of cool if the app had that built in too, but I know I’d be pushing my luck. LOL!

Twittelator Pro ($4.99) – This is my twitter app of choice. I’ve download and bought a few, but this is the one I like the best. There is a free version too. It works with your lists, and I just really like it’s interface.

*Price(s) at time of this writing.

Mandy and Andy Renovating is a interactive children’s book for the iPhone that feature two cats. In this particular story, they go about trying to help a friend renovate a house that is apparently filled with hidden forest animals throughout.

I really like how these books made for the iPhone take advantage of the ability to engage the viewer by encouraging them to click/touch on various parts of the picture on the “page.” In this book, you click on parts of the picture to find these hidden animals. Also, this book comes in a few different languages: English, French, and Chinese and there are apparently plans to add more languages in the future. There is also the option to have the book read aloud, or the child can read and/or explore the book themselves.

Mandy and Andy Renovating is created by Beiz. You can learn more about them here: http://www.beiz.com/games.html

Mandy and Andy Renovating: $1.99*

*price at time of this writing.

Find Bruce is a very simple and fun game for little kids of varying degrees of ability with the iPhone. Bruce (the moose) goes to hide in the scenery. To look around, just swipe the screen. You can click on the trees, bushes, mushrooms and rocks in the picture. If Bruce isn’t there, the item jumps up to show you. Once you spot Bruce’s antlers peeking out from behind where he is hiding, Bruce appears on the screen. The graphics are cute, as well as the background music that plays. There’s no way to “lose” playing, as you can look around in the garden for as long as you like.

To learn more about Find Bruce and see a video demo, go to www.findbruce.com

Find Bruce: $0.99*

*price at time of this writing.

FrootDrop is a purely for-fun game for kids – at the start of the app you’ll see a picture of a tree with funny-faced fruit hanging from it. The whole point of the game is to click on the fruit and they’ll spring free from the tree with giggling sound effects that had my son giggling too while he played. When you clear the tree, a new one appears with more fruit to make you laugh.

FrootDrop is created by GooseRhymes Designs.

FrootDrop: $0.99*

*price at time of this writing.

The Fuzzy Fierce Peach tells a cute story about a peach who’s sure that he’ll be the first peach picked this season. But things don’t go according to plan and he learns that being first isn’t what’s important. There are options to have the text displayed along with the pictures (or not), as well as have a narrator tell the story (or not). The thing your child will really get a kick out of with this particular iPhone storybook, is that you can interact with the pictures and move the characters around in each frame. In fact, you can turn the “story” portion off and just play with the pictures by themselves.

The Fuzzy Fierce Peach is created by GooseRhymes Designs. You can see a video about the storybook here.

The Fuzzy Fierce Peach: $1.99*

*price at time of this writing.

Just in case you were feeling too scroogy for the holidays (like I always do) there’s a number of free iPhone games floating around you can scoop up. First, head over to the appvent calendar – a free app every day until X-mas.

As mentioned on Mashable (where I found out about the appvent calendar), Ramp Champ is a really good and fun free iPhone app (it’s kind of like that skee-ball game. I still contend that skee-ball app is better, and worth the money, but if you’re not a skee-ball freak like me, then you’ll probably be satisfied with this free version. Not sure how long it will be free though, so hurry…)

I also downloaded the free lite version of Mad Libs, which I have to say is VERY cool (I’ll most likely be upgrading and buying the full version as soon as I get bored with the lite version… which may yet take awhile because the lite version is pretty good as is!!)

Updated: OH! Found another via iPhone Mom: Santa’s Village. This one’s free for a limited time too so hurry…

Awhile back you may recall I reviewed an iPhone application called “Little Cook” – I thought you might like to know that they are holding a photo contest. Here are the details:

Little Cook, a featured iTunes App Store game for kids is announcing a new contest to find the cutest Little Critic! The first prize winner will receive a $50 iTunes gift card and a free copy of the Little Cook iPhone application. Additional winners will also receive iTunes gift cards, along with the Little Cook app. To enter, visit the Little Cook Contest web page to upload your favorite funny photo of your child enjoying their favorite meal!

You can also just pick up a copy of Little Cook (currently priced at $.99) on the app store. (My kids still enjoy playing this game)

Do you remember those “moo boxes”? For those who can’t recall back that far (or are too young) they were cylinder shaped boxes, that when turned upside down then right side up again, made a “moo” sound. I never actually owned one myself, but always loved to play with them in the store. Well, iMoo is that little moo box. You’ll actually find a few variations on this theme in the iTunes app store – the “value-add” with this particular app is the ability to pick and choose which moo sound you want it to play, AND it has the ability to record your own sound. (Moo or not).

My son really loves recording sounds on my iPhone already, so he definitely appreciated this particular addition. He recorded himself, then flipped back to the moo box and played his own custom sound over and over. (and over! Be forewarned! LOL!) We were actually at the Doctor’s office when he was playing with the app and it was a good distraction for him as he had been pretty nervous about the visit.

iMoo is created by Panda Cub Productions.

iMoo: $0.99*

*price at time of this writing.