My Numbers – iPad Game

Unfortunately, I do not yet have an iPad. I do plan on buying one within the next year or so – probably waiting until version 2 is released and my husband is employed again. Heh. However, I’ve gotten a few requests to review iPad games, so I have enlisted the help of an official iPad app tester: My mother! Since she often entertains grandchildren aged 3 to 13, she’ll be able to see how an app appeals to a wide range of ages. Here is her first review of My Numbers.

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Review by Esther Makower

My Numbers is designed to help a preschool child master numbers from 1-10. The visuals are slick and beautifully crafted. The buttons are big and easy for a child to navigate while having a very satisfying three-dimensional, tactile quality, seeming to actually depress and click realistically. A color wheel allows the child to change the colors of the buttons on the screen. A number of pleasant melodies (even to the ears of an adult) can be selected to accompany the game as well. Another set of buttons provides a choice of objects to count (fish, birds or flowers) which appear on the screen when the corresponding number button is depressed.

As each of the ten number buttons is pressed, a child’s voice calls out the number and an object appears on the screen. A child can also press on the objects that appear on the screen to elicite the vocalized number.

Although My Numbers is rated as 4+, my 3 year-old granddaughter, Leah, enjoyed it immensely. She delighted in changing the colors and music, calling out the numbers as she pressed each button. My grandson, Joey, 4 ½, said it was “cool” but wanted to “turn off the voice” so that he could show me how well he could count all by himself.

The overall appeal of My Numbers would be best for a toddler who is just beginning to learn numbers. Its exciting visuals, fun sounds and music with voiceovers are designed to aid in the development of hand-eye coordination and to spark an interest in math basics.

Perhaps in another version, it would be nice to see some additional features that would provide more of a challenge for the older preschool child.

You can see a YouTube video of the app here.

My Numbers: $2.99* Price has dropped to $0.99!

*price at the time of this review.

Up With a Fish – iPhone game

IUp With a Fish: $0.99*

*price at time of this writing.

Oh, The Places You’ll Go! – eBook for the iPhone/iPad

IOh! The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss, then it’s no surprise. The story is great for children as well as adults – an inspiring view of life’s various adventures. The advice and encouragement the book gives is timeless. Released in time for Graduation, the ebook has three options: read the book yourself, have the book read to you (and you manually turn the pages), or put the whole thing on autoplay and have the book read to you and pages turn automatically.

Oh, The Places You’ll Go!: $3.99*

*price at time of this writing

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish – eBook for the iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad

OOne Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish is no exception. This certainly is one my son’s favorite books and despite the fact that we’ve read it enough times that we could probalby recite it back by heart, my son requests this book very often. Now that we have the eBook on the iPhone, he can read it (or rather have it read to him, since he’s not at reading age just yet) as often as he likes (or at least as often as he gets his hands on my phone) 😉

As with all the Dr. Seuss books we’ve gotten from Oceanhouse media, you can read the book yourself, have the book read to you (and have you manually turn the pages), or you can put it on auto-play which will read the story and turn the pages for you. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish has been released to honor World Oceans Day (June 8th) and the book’s 50th anniversary.

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish eBook: $3.99*

*price at time of this writing

The Reading Game – iPhone App

TGo download it and check it out! Here’s some info sent to me by the developer:

First of its Kind: Rewards and Tracking as Kids Read Their Books

Parents Can Give Their Child the Gift of Reading

Just in time for summer reading assignments! The Reading Game makes reading books more exciting and fun than ever before. With over 100 rewards to unlock, this game transforms daily reading into kids’ favorite thing. It is simple and easy to use.

Students are already hooked on technology. Now they can harness that energy to prevent the summer slide that causes them to shed their academic skills. This new game encourages students to read every day, to track their reading and be rewarded every time they read.

This app was designed to sustain and improve youngsters’ academic skills. The Reading Game provides the incentive to read more books and receive immediate rewards.

Using The Reading Game, kids can unlock special characters such as the parachuting squirrel, the cute puppy, the weight-lifting robot, the guitar-playing penguin, the surfing alien, and the water-skiing mouse. After they enter the names and total pages of their books, The Reading Game keeps track of the pages they have read and unlocks their rewards. There are over 100 appealing sound effects and songs to unlock as the user reads. While viewing their rewards, users can shake and tilt their phones or iPads to create wild sound effects.

Features:
• Offers over 100 animations.
• Offers over 100 sounds and songs.
• Responds to shaking and tilting with original sounds from the sound rewards.
• Calculates how many pages are left to read.
• Displays the percentage of the book that has been completed.
• Keeps track of the reader’s current page like a bookmark.
• Tracks reading progress with as many books as the user likes.

You can find more info and videos on their site here.

The Reading Game: FREE!*

*Price at time of this post.