Free Top That! Apps & E-Books

by 3 Comments

I'm not being paid to write this or given anything in exchange, I just thought you'd be interested to know that Top That! Publishing (who do send me books to review every so often) are very kindly making all their apps and e-books free to download until midnight tonight to help celebrate World Book Night.

I've downloaded most of the apps as The Boy loves the Mixed-Up Monsters/Animals that we were playing with the other day, and I've downloaded all of the picture books into the iBooks app on my new iPad (did I mention I had one of those?).

There's not just pre-schoolers picture books available, there's a whole load of fiction and non-fiction books for children up to about ten years of age, especially engaging for reluctant boys!

To download the apps click here and the ebooks here.

HURRY!

The Froobles

by Leave a Comment

A little while ago I reviewed two new books from a series called 'The Froobles'. The Froobles are fruity people who come to life when the playgroup people go out for playtime, and inhabit the wonderful worlds that the children have made in their pictures. All of the books tell stories which teach children how to behave kindly to others through showing how negative behaviour isn't kind or friendly.

Now The Froobles books are available for your Apple product with downloads available for iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads through the App Store on iTunes. Two of these titles (Apps Apple and the Tooth Fairy, and Ozzy Onion and the Noisy Dinosaurs) can be downloaded for free for a limited time only, while some of the other new enhanced audio ebooks with celebrity narration can be downloaded for a discounted price at £1.49, with the others costing the full price of £2.49.

What's more is that The Froobles are also available through their very own App which is free to download! It comes with the story of Little Jack Potato and his big surprise with additional stories available to purchase and download.

With interactive stories and puzzles, it's a great treat for your Reception aged children addressing issues which they may come across on a daily basis, and can teach them the nice way to behave to gain and keep friends.

I downloaded these Apps of my own volition to test and review.

'App-y Talking Talking, 'App-y Talk

by 4 Comments

A contrived title I know, but you'll soon see why.

When The Boy was about 16 months old I gave him the iPod Touch to play with one day. Just a simple bubble-popping app (see? Makes sense now doesn't it?) but he soon understood what he had to do and from then on in I was finding apps ever couple of days for him to play. I always loaded these for him. Invariably I would get frustrated as hell when he would then press the 'home' button, thereby cancelling the game and resulting in him grunting at me and calling 'Mummy, help!'

Less than two months later, I was sitting at the dining table fussing with something (probably twitter) while The Boy played at my feet. I glanced down to check he was ok and found him pressing the 'home' button yet again. I sighed and went to reach down before I stopped sharply. He was switching between screens to find 'his' apps and loading the games that he wanted to play. Completely independently.

Since then he's gone from strength to strength, through the apps on the iPod he's learnt various shapes that I wouldn't have thought to have taught him yet (diamond and hexagon!), colours, recognition of (some) numbers, let alone the matching skills and logical development. It now means that I'm constantly on the look-out for new and engaging apps to further his understanding and development.

We've been asked to review two, and I was only too pleased to accept the offer.

My First JCB

This is a lovely little app, perfect for most boys. There are a number of different games that can be played:

The vast majority of the games are easy enough and The Boy barely needed any input aside from with the 'sorting' and 'memory'. The 'racing' and 'action' games are too hard for him at present. However, The Boy liked playing the jigsaws, matching, dot-dot, painting, etc.

It helps though if your little ones know what a JCB or a digger is because various games within the app focus on things like a bucket, mixer, scoop etc. This app is suitable for 2year olds+, definitely pre-schoolers.

My First JCB is available from iTunes for £1.49 (limited offer)

Postman Pat SDS

This is a little more complicated than the JCB app and would be more suitable for children aged four or over. There are a variety of different games that can be played, with each game having three different levels: easy, medium and hard.

The Boy struggled with most of these games, as they require a little bit more manual dexterity than he has, with quicker reflexes. Out of the eight, he could do two: Thompson Farm and Pencaster Trains.

While the images are bright and attractive, the animation mostly slick and clever, it can't disguise from the fact that it's too hard for it's target market. With an introductory screen for each game that has a paragraph of small writing on it, not many pre-schoolers would be able to play this without assistance. Definitely for the older child.

Postman Pat SDS is available from iTunes for £1.99

I was provided with free download codes for these apps for the purpose of this review. My opinion, and that of The Boy, are honest and unbiased.

Review: The Froobles

by Leave a Comment

There are a fabulous new range of books out by the brilliant children's publishers Top That! called The Froobles. We were sent the titles Apps Apple and the Tooth Fairy and Orlando Orange and the Big Scary Bear to review.

The Froobles are characters based on fruit and vegetables that come to life through the power of children's imaginations. When the children in a playgroup create a scene for them, the characters enter into this magical and ever-changing world to explore it, having new adventures that only they know about.

There are twelve characters and books in the series:

  • Apps Apple and the Tooth Fairy
  • Billy Banana and the Magic Mystery
  • Bobby Blackberry and the Treasure Island
  • Charlie Chilli and the Safari Song
  • Chloe Carrot and the Greedy Witch
  • Cory Cucumber and the Farmyard Muddle
  • Little Jack Potato and the Big Surprise
  • Ozzy Onion and the Noisy Dinosaurs
  • Penny Pineapple and the Chocolate Forest
  • Sienna Strawberry and the Ice Palace Ballet
  • Tessa Tomato and the Rainforest Rainbow

The books are small and fit perfectly into change-bags for instant distraction and story-telling. There is also a sheet of stickers at the back of each book with the main characters and locations from that story, so that little ones can recreate the story. The illustrations are really funky and modern, using hand-drawn pictures alongside photographs and computer imagery.

The text is simple enough for a Foundation Phase child to attempt reading it themselves, and alongside this the font is perfect: is uses the correct type of 'a' and 'g' that are encouraged for use with early readers.

Normally retailing at £2.99, The Froobles books are available at a special reduced price of £2.69 through the publishers Top That!

The Froobles world is wide-reaching and encompasses traditional and modern media. Not only are there the twelve books, but there is also a fabulous website (www.Froobles.com) with games for each character, from dressing Little Jack Potato, skateboarding with Cory Cucumber, to playing nought and crosses with Apps Apple.

In addition to the books and website, in November, there will be a range of interactive Froobles Apps (available from iTunes App Store) featuring the voices of Johnny Vaughan, Denise Van Outen, Edith Bowman and Reggie Yates. I will definitely be downloading these as The Boy is very competent with a touch-screen but not so much on the computer; he'll be able to enjoy these on the iPod Touch.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...