This phenomenal educational app about porpoises, dolphins and whales has the all the appeal and entertainment value of a classic Dr. Seuss story. Written in rhyme and vividly illustrated with original artwork that features characters from The Cat in the Hat, it provides a window into the lives and characteristics of our favorite aquatic mammals. Absorb fascinating facts while immersed in the fun, playful sights and sounds...Read more

For so seemingly natural an idea as a different music video for each letter of the alphabet to be done this brilliantly and effectively implies that a great deal of talent, care, and research went into their making. It would be difficult to imagine a more impactful approach. These original animated videos incorporate features geared towards developing essential reading skills in young children. The songs, production quali...Read more

The clever, charming, and highly entertaining illustrations at the heart of Alphabet Animals pull children into a world of letters, sounds, visual treats, and vocabulary. Traversing the entire alphabet, each of Suse MacDonald's 26 irresistible illustrations displays an animal in the shape of the first letter of its name. We see a fox, arms outstretched diver-like, forming the letter F. An impish horse's legs, head, tail, ...Read more

This installment in Cognitive Kid's wonderful series of Ansel and Clair apps, with its seamless blend of entertainment and educational content, is the epitome of a Brain Child award-winner. You'll be having such great fun, you won't realize how much you're learning. But learn you will, for the app is loaded with information, gleaned interactively. You'll meet Dr. Lindy Bones before going underground to uncover fossils, br...Read more

If it's true, as they say, that life is in the details, then it's equally true to say the same of apps. And details are precisely where digital publisher Auryn, and the lovely new app, Breitville, shine. Breitville is a collaboration between Auryn and renowned artist and illustrator Mary Engelbreit, an extension of the paper doll decorating she's popularized and made so enjoyable. Breitville not only let's you choose from...Read more

Care Bears fans and novices alike were delighted by this first-ever Care Bears mobile app. The ease with which even young children explored its magic made the fun highly accessible and very contagious. Kids created and decorated their own postcards, adding personal messages before emailing them to friends and family or saving to a photo library. After dragging a scissors to cut out the basic card shape, choose either the ...Read more

With its customizable features and built-in library of stories containing your favorite Disney and Pixar characters, this app provides endless entertainment for kids and parents alike. Whether you're reading a story, customizing your onscreen avatar's appearance, or using the Settings screen to quickly alter aspects of how a story plays, this app is extremely easy to navigate. One particular feature that can lead to rampa...Read more

In addition to being a delightful, original story with first-rate illustrations, Oscar Finds a Home incorporates innovative techniques and activities that capitalize on how your child learns language, enabling him to gain as much as possible in terms of vocabulary, comprehension, and listening skills. One such technique, WordWinks, guides children to notice details and nuances that are not directly stated, in effect readi...Read more

This entertaining storybook incorporates special technology that allows you to experience it in a variety of ways. When you're in the mood for a traditional reading experience, just sit back and turn the pages. The illustrations and text in this large, hardcover book about several Princesses preparing for the Rainbow Ball are plenty engaging and amusing. But when you feel the need for a more unusual, magical experience, t...Read more

Radz delivers top-notch fun to children in both the physical and online worlds. Radz candy dispensers are wild, happy-looking little creatures whose tongues pop out and deliver a piece of candy each time the hair or cap on its head is pushed back. Kids not only get to enjoy countless hours of imaginative play with these pocket-sized characters, they also have a blast bringing them to life through online games, videos, and...Read more

Radz bridges the gap between the physical and virtual worlds, putting both kinds of fun right at your fingertips. The kooky, quirky Radz characters, wild-looking little creatures that deliver candy to your hand on command, can go anywhere with you. Clip them to a belt loop, strap, buttonhole, or just carry them in your pocket. Need a treat? Slide the Radz' hat back on its head, and a little scoop-like tongue emerges holdi...Read more

It's easy to see why the Reading Rainbow App, with its digital library of over 300 quality children's books and video field trips, is so popular. Kids visit islands with names like Action Adventures & Magical Tales, Genius Academy, and National Geographic Kids, where hundreds of titles grouped according to island category can be downloaded. Once downloaded, books are stored in the child's digital 'backpack,' where up to 5...Read more

Skylanders Battegrounds lets kids of all ages use their mobile devices to enjoy a rousing blend of physical and virtual play. The Skylanders' formidable powers are used to fight Kaos' four warlords and their minions. The game play is accessible enough and the action playful enough to be well-suited to children as young as six. Players collect treasures along the way, enabling them to unlock and upgrade powerful abilities ...Read more

This fully interactive storybook app provides a wealth of touch-activated animation to go along with the beautifully illustrated story. On each page, touching certain elements causes them to spring to life, often with accompanying sound effects. The story, which can be viewed and read with or without narration, follows the opening storyline of the popular Disney Junior animated series, 'Sofia the First.' The app's story i...Read more

There are more than 20 free apps to download and use with Sphero the robotic ball (see current Tillywig review in the Toys category), including Sphero Golf (control Spero with a flick or a swing and aim for a hole in one), Draw & Drive, Zombie Rollers, and Sphero Tag. The Sharky the Beaver app lets you take a virtual 3-dimensional beaver for a walk around your house and feed Sharky by launching virtual cupcakes into his m...Read more

One of the many delightful and effective things about this interactive app is the way it delves into the topic of art from a variety of angles, in entirely relatable ways. The visuals, dialogue, and narration are top-notch, and the lessons and activities a joy to experience. Humor and animation play a big part in the app's accessibility. Three animated characters, Furnace, Tickles, and Ruby (a polar bear and penguin sibli...Read more

The design and content of the SuperDuper StoryMaker app gives kids tremendous freedom to exercise their creativity while developing a number of essential skills. Object recognition, vocabulary, reading, spelling, grammar, sentence making, and story building all occur naturally and fluidly with the use of this app. Kids quickly and easily create picture and photo stories, utilizing over 800 places, people, and items contai...Read more

Imagine having unlimited access to thousands of name-brand audiobooks from top publishers at your fingertips wherever you go. That's the striking and invaluable service Tales2Go provides to families and educators. This exceptional asset in developing vocabulary, critical listening, fluency, and comprehension skills is available to families for $10.00/month or $100.00/year. And for educators, bulk purchase options make it ...Read more

The most successful teaching tools are those that deeply engage the student. Engaging younger students, in particular, is rooted in creating a sense of fun in the learning process, something this app does very, very well. The app introduces and teaches 100 core curriculum words across four subject areas (Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Math), employing four exceptionally entertaining games to do so. Students can p...Read more

Auryn, Inc. is an absolute master at creating breathtaking apps that are magical worlds unto themselves. There are so many wonderful things going on in this interactive storybook app. Page after page is loaded with stunning visuals, sounds, activities, and games. The charming introduction by actress Jamie Lee Curtis (who is also the author, with illustrations by Laura Cornell) explains how she conceived of this story of a...Read more