Touch and Write

Touch and Write by FizzBrain is a wonderful app for teaching writing in a fun way. Your child will be able to use many different items while learning to write such as finger paint, shaving cream, and more. In total there is 16 different types of textures to write with. There is also 28 different writing surfaces such as food paper, regular paper, and  more. Parents and teachers can create a word list for their child to work on. As your child writes the actual letter will show so your child can learn to improve their writing. With this app comes single letters, high frequency word list,and alphabet word list. This app is fun to use and teaches a lot to children using many different textures without the mess. My children are all working on writing their letters correctly and this app helps with that along with learning to write words. I enjoyed playing around with this app even before my children got their hands on it. I loved trying out each of the different textures and thought it brought a lot of fun to learning. I would highly highly highly recommend this app :)

https://www.facebook.com/Fizzbrainapps?ref=ts
http://fizzbrain.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/touch-and-write/id504319132?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3J9omQadwk

Rantek Inc. apps (Montessori Approach)

Rantek Inc. apps (Montessori Approach) offer many different types of apps for learning with a montessori approach. There apps teach in a unique way of learning. Their apps offer learning for children from early childhood to the upper grades. The pictures they use are realist and the voices are wonderful. I'm going to write today about eight different apps of theirs for all different age levels and different skills :)

Montessori Approach To Geography HD- Continents: This app teaches about the continents and the different oceans. There is 4 different lessons in this app. Lesson one teaches the names and locations of the Continents and the Oceans. Lesson two through four teach using puzzle format. The first puzzle map your child must look for the correct piece of the puzzle using cues of a blinking spot on the map. When your child touches the piece it will move to the spot and the name of the continent will be said aloud. The second puzzle shows the word (the child can touch the title if they can not read and it will be spoken) and then they must touch the correct piece. The last puzzle has both continents and oceans that need to be touched according to the name at the top. The puzzle has been randomized so your child can not just memorize the correct spots for each puzzle. This app is wonderful young children and older children needing to learn the continents along with oceans. It's very easy to use and a great set up. I would highly highly recommend this app :)

Montessori Approach to Geography HD- Animals of North America: This app helps teach the different animals in North America. This app uses real pictures to teach the different animals and their locations on the map. There is three levels of play with this app. Lesson one includes the facts about the animals. This level contains a lot of info and will need to be replayed over and over again. This level is a lot of fun to read about the animals and is a must to do the other three levels. Level two children must look for the animal that goes to the name shown at the top. When your child touch the correct animal card it will go on the map. The last level your child will have to find the animal that belongs to only that habitat. This app is fun for young and older children. My children enjoyed level one a lot as they really like looking at animals and learning about them. I would highly highly highly recommend this app :)

Montessori Approach to Zoology- The Animal Kingdom (Verebrates) HD: This app teaches about birds, mammals, fish, amphibians and reptiles. This app includes three levels of play. Lesson one is about the animals. You learn what the animals are and where they fit in the animal kingdom. Lesson 2 is a match puzzle where you match up the animals. Lesson 3 is sorting where you get to sort the animals out where they fit. Each lesson includes a lot of info in them and teach our children about the animal kingdom. The pictures are real and include a lot of animals from each catagory. I would highly highly highly recommend this app :)

Montessori Pre-Language Exercises HD- Rhymes: This app teaches beginning rhyming. There is 40 rhyming sets included. The app shows the word form and will show pictures when the button is pushed. There is a sound button to push to hear the word aloud also. This is a wonderful app to help build on early rhyming. It's like flashcards but better :). I would highly highly recommend this app :)

A Montessori Approach to Math- Hundred Board: This app build on math skills using a hundred board. The numbers will be randomized on the side and then your child must push the correct number in sequence. You can pick sequence with control or sequence. With control would be for a child struggling with this skill that needs a little extra help putting the numbers in order. You can also choose a simplified version for either that will only show so many numbers at once to make it a little easier to see the numbers to get them in order. There is also a button for learning odd or even numbers. This is a wonderful app to help children learn counting and odd and even numbers. I would highly highly highly recommend this app :)

Next two apps are very similar so I'm going to put them togeather. :)

A Montessori Sensorial Exercise- Pink Tower and A Montessori Sensorial Exercise- Brown Stair and Pink Tower: Both these apps are wonderful for teaching visual discrimination. Your child must follow the directions of what to not only start with but also pick out the sizes in order. Each of these apps have multiple levels of play and get harder and harder as the move on to different puzzles. The pink tower one offers only size but the brown and pink one offer size and color. I would love love love if these apps let your child place the blocks and not just have to touch them. It's the only downfall I can find with these two apps as I think they are perfect to help children with size compairisons. I would highly highly recommend :)

A Montessori Sensorial Exercise- Geometric Cabinet: This app teachs shapes and size discrimination. The app will prompt the child to put a certain piece back in the tray one by one. This is wonderful for listening skills as well as shapes and sizes. I once again would love if the child could actully move the pieces not just have to touch them. This app is wonderfuly done with little to side track your child from the task at hand. I would highly highly recommend :)

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtistSeeAll?dkId=11&ids=319592818&softwareType=iPad
http://www.mobilemontessori.org/
https://www.facebook.com/MobileMontessori?ref=ts

Tick Tock Clock- Learn How to Tell Time Using Digital and Analog Clock with Roman and Arabic Numerals

Tick Tock Clock- Learn How to Tell Time Using Digital and Analog Clock with Roman and Arabic Numerals by @Reks is a wonderful app to help your child learn to tell time. This app is cute and fun as Reks helps you learn to tell time many different ways. This app has child proof settings that you must press and hold to change so your children would have a difficult time changing the settings while using the app. There is three modes of play: Learn, Practice, and Word Problems. You can choose to have Arabic, Roman or no numerals on the analog clocks. This app will track your child when using the word problems and save their score history. My daughter really likes using this app to learn time. I love the set up and how easy it is to use. Highly highly highly recommended :)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Reks/134779223208224?ref=pb

Mole Trapper

Mole Trapper by PlayTales is their newest toy. I love this toy and so do my children. This is just like wack-a-mole only for your iPad. You have 60sec on the clock to trap as many moles by touching them as fast as you can. Your point total will show in the corner of the screen. This app helps with fine motor control and is fun to play. The moles move fast but that just adds to the fun as you try to get as many points as you can. Here's a word from PlayTales about this app :)

Mole Tapper: The most fun of all children's games. Six over-active moles that hide under their respective molehills, but they're really curious and the they want to see what's going on out there. They're great fun and each one has a different look. Some with a hat, some with glasses. Don't let them leave their molehills – hit them with hammer! The faster you hit them, the more points you get.

 https://www.facebook.com/myPlayTales?ref=ts
http://www.myplaytales.com/en/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/playtales-kids-interactive/id389523239?mt=8

Smarty Ears apps

Smarty Ears offers a wide variety of speech and language apps. Today I'm going to tell you about three of their apps including two of the newest app additions. I have found all their apps that I have to be very useful in my home and I highly highly highly recommend them :)

Language Adventures: This app is ran like a board game and teaches your child how to play games as well as learn speech skills throughout the game. This game helps build on synonyms, antonyms, and multiple meanings and includes three levels of difficulty. The game can be used with up to four players at a time which makes it perfect for home use or small speech groups. The levels target elementary grades to high school grades. As with most Smarty Ears apps it covers both receptive and expressive skills which helps if your child is struggling in one area more then the other. This app must be used with an adult especially if your child can not read as the question is read aloud (option to turn off) but the answers are not under receptive mode. Under expressive mode you must choose if they answered correctly or not so it is a definite must for an adult to be present. You can also check your child's report card at anytime and share with whoever you would like as needed. My children find this app fun and enjoyable. They love that it is set up as a game and enjoy playing it over and over again. Highly highly highly recommended app :)

Go-Togethers: This app works on building comprehension and expression. The app targets many different areas such as seasons, rooms, and more. The app will measure how well your child is doing along with their skill growth over time. Receptive, expressive and a mix of the two can be chosen along with two levels of play within each setting. You can choose how many correct items per screen and how the app will react to wrong answers. You can also choose what items you would like your child to work on in the app or you can choose them all. With just using receptive your child can work on this app alone but with expressive an adult must be present to grade the answers. I find it best to always work with your child when using speech and language apps to see and hear how they are doing :). This app is very easy to use and is very easy to customize to fit your child's needs. Highly highly highly recommended app :)

Expressive: This app is an entry to mid level aac type app. This app helps children and adults with speech impairments and communication disorders use pictures for their needs and wants. This app is simple and easy to use and not complex like some others. Users can choose from a large assortment of pictures and audio, create their own folders, and arrange images as needed. You can add your own pictures and audio which is nice for some that need their own items or to add pictures that may not be included. The delete and add is hidden to avoid accidents from happening to your pictures or folders. There is a total of 600 vocabulary pictures included in the app. I found this app to be very easy to use from the start. It was not confusing like some of the larger aac apps I've used in the past. The pictures are not all realistic but a lot of them are and you can add your own images if they seem to work better. The app includes both female and male voices so it fits with who you are using it with. For children especially I found this to be one of the more easy apps to use and navigate around with most things needed included to say what they need. I would highly highly highly recommend this app :)

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/go-togethers/id511881567?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/language-adventures/id510822157?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/expressive/id398345416?mt=8
https://www.facebook.com/SmartyEars?ref=ts
http://smartyearsapps.com/

MyTalkTools Mobile

MyTalkTools Mobile by 2nd Half Enterprises LLC is a wonderful aac app to help individuals communicate. The app comes with images as well as the ability to add your own. The app is very easy to navigate and uses a very clear voice in over 15 different languages. This app is very easy to customize to fit your child's needs. There is in-app purchase available to add Acapela Voices but is not needed to run the app. If you chose to use Workspace you will need Wi-Fi or 3G but you can use this app with anytime with out it. With this app you will receive online access to Symbolstix image library for a large selection of pictures. With the app also you will receive a free 30 day trial of Workspace which includes many different options to really add onto this app. The pictures are realistic and this app will also communicate in full sentences if you would like as well. Highly highly recommended app :)

Free trial available to try out to see if this app will work for your family :)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mytalktools-mobile-lite/id376401959?mt=8

http://www.mytalktools.com/dnn/Home.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/mytalktools?ref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/mytalktools?ref=ts#!/mytalktools/videos
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mytalktools-mobile/id324286288?mt=8