Let the groaning begin; yes I’m talking about back-to-school….or maybe it’s cheers for you…..
Next week starts a 5 week series in which I’ll be highlighting a weekly app that helps us moms get ready. A new app will be featured each week, unless I get really carried away and throw in more. đ
As always, if you have an app in mind that fits this category, please share.
Scapbooking- don’t you almost feel obligated to do it being a mom?
I’d love to do it, but when, where, how, and OMG is it expensive to just buy the supplies. I’ve done a couple digital scapbooks on sites and had them printed, but even that takes quite a bit of time, uploading photos to the site and designing the pages, etc.
Mommas, if you are like me and use your iPhone as your digital camera, then listen up (or read closely…) I’ve found an even faster way to display those precious memories (in cute fashion of course)….yep, you’ve guessed it, with an app.
The TapnScrap App for iPhone, iPod Touch, and soon to be on iPad, allows you to customize and add effects to the photos you take on these devices, and set them on backgrounds, with text, objects, and frames. You can save multiple scrapbooks with unlimited number of pages. The app costs $1.99 or $4.99 for the HD version.
Sharing your scrapbook is easy; just click the Share button on the bottom toolbar and you can choose to email your scrapbook, save the scrapbook to your computer for printing, or share your scrapbook on Facebook.
What’s really cool is that there are plenty of free features with the app. You can edit photos, add “stickers” and word bubbles. You can also re-size and position an image, all with your fingertips. Here’s a page that I designed myself (in about 10 minutes) with the free features.
There are several different themes (backgrounds, imagery) you can purchase within the app (in the ScrapStore), as you desire for new scrapbooks. These cost $.99-$2.99; much cheaper than going to a craft store and buying +$20 in supplies each time you want to do a new scrapbook.
I love looking back at photos and reliving all the moments; to think I used to wish time would go faster! I have made it a practice of mine to never go through my day wishing it was the weekend, for example; I try to find enjoyment of the right now.
Visit tapnscrap.com to learn more.
Disclosure: I do not receive compensation for writing this app review. This app was just a nifty app I wanted to share with y’all. Sometimes I receive promo codes for apps in faith of writing an app review. The photos used were taken as screen shots from my iPhone. If you wish to have your app reviewed by Apps4Moms, please visit the Submit App for Review page on this site.
All promo codes can be found on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Apps4Moms/141283649281971?sk=wall
Move over Old McDonald, Tilly has a farm too, and this one teaches you more than just animal sounds. E-I-E-I-O
Tilly’s Petting Farm app by Shoto is a fun, bright, educational app for children age 1-7, that focuses on speaking full and complete sentences. Children learn a great deal of vocabulary about life on a farm, though just a few words aren’t typically used in American English. This isn’t a big deal to me;Â just another learning opportunity to have with your children about different cultures and language. I also like the English accent of the narrator.
Tilly’s Petting Farm app is $1.99 in the App Store for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
I like how the narrator speaks in complete sentences, and that it really requires the child to listen. I feel like my two and a half year old daughter will open an app and just tap away, but this app forces her to stop, listen, and comprehend what is being said to her.
The app works like this: There are four different areas on the farm to learn about. When you select a scene, you can select the hand symbol to tap-and-learn about what’s going on in the scene, and then you can select the magnifying glass to enter a question-and-answer(tap) session. There are over 300 sentences spoken in the app, so your child won’t run through the app quickly.
This app isn’t one you can just toss over to your child under age 5 and expect them to play around 
with and learn on their own. You’ll have to show them how to go through the tap-and-learn phase (by selecting the hand symbol) then go to the question- and-answer phase (with magnifying glass). You’ll especially need to be around for assistance when questions come up that may be difficult for young children to answer like “where is the dried grass?” (hay).
Overall, I like the app, and my daughter does as well. I think it is worth the $1.99 price.
The Coloring Book Color Mix HD App by Eightfold Education, LLC adds a new level of creativity and imagination to digital coloring books and drawing apps. This app for iPhone and iPad costs only $1.99, and allows your child to create their own colors to draw on different types of backgrounds, color-in characters, connect the dots sheets, and doodle on photos from an album on your device.
The app works like this:
Choose a she
et in which you would like to draw or color. Next, tap the paints and brush image in the bottom left-hand corner.
Here’s where the creative juices start flowing. Drag a color from the palette and drop it in one of your four color choices on the left to create a new color. Use the sponge in the middle to drag to the four color palettes on the left to change out a color. Tap the question mark to listen to audible directions if you get stuck.
Once you have the four unique colors of your desire, click the green check mark and go back to your drawing. Use your finger to draw, or if using a color-in sheet, just tap the area you wish to color, and it fills it in for you.
Other nifty features include (and can be found on the right-hand toolbar) taking pictures of your creation to save on your device, delete the image and start fresh, turn background music on or off, and undo.
I really enjoy watching my 2 1/2 year old daughter play around with thi
s app, and I think she is understanding how mixing colors can create new ones. It’s a great new challenge for her since she knows her way around coloring and drawing apps already on my iPhone. Her creation is to the right đ
Timo and the Magical Picture Book is a storybook app for iPhone and iPad, on sale for $1.99 for a limited time (versus $3.99 for iPhone and $4.99 for iPad). 
This app is not just a simple read-to-me story app; it has very good quality illustrations that are both animated and allow for interaction. Your child can tap on the characters for fun little surprises in the story. I did find it difficult to see what areas and what pages of the story had the interactions; you have to click on the letter “i” in the top left-hand corner to see explanations of what the interactives are on each page. If the interactives were highlighted better in the illustrations, I think it would be much easier and obvious, especially to young children.
I also struggled with trying to turn the page for the app (which is done so by swiping your finger along
the bottom of the screen after the animation is compete), but I just updated the app with this bug fix. I still think a button with an arrow so you can find exactly where you need to touch to turn the page might be easier.
The story is cute and very silly and my daughter seems to enjoy it. Plus the narrator has a great accent which I like. I think once you learn what the interactives are and how to turn the pages, it makes the story experience more enjoyable. For $1.99 I feel the app is worth it; like I said my daughter really likes it, but I wouldn’t recommend spending $4-5.
The Toca Hair Salon by Toca Boca is an app that I bought for my daughter, but I like stealing a minute to play with it. In fact, I caught my husband playing it too….
The app takes place in an artsy hair salon where you choose from 4 characters that need a new ‘do. The app adds an element of fun and surprise with the responses of the characters. 
You have several tools available to create your hair masterpiece: scissors of course, comb, hair coloring sprays, a blow dryer (love the facial expressions while doing a blowout), and special growing potion that grows the hair you just cutoff (we all wish we had some of that for the regretful haircut in the past).
What is also great, and what the app developers Toca Boca emphasize about their apps, is that there are no high scores or time restrictions. The game is fun and creative-not stressful. It builds into the child’s imagination in a unique way to be expressive.
The app is recommended for ages 3-7…or let’s just say 3 to infinity…I know you’ll enjoy it just as much as your kids. The app is $1.99.
Your child babysitting this summer? The Babysitting Guide by phoneflips (iPhone, iPod 
Touch, iP
ad, Android) is a great resource for anyone who is taking care of children.
The app has everything from preparing to become a caregiver, finding a job, communicating with parents, setting rules/disciplining, and safety. It’s a great app to keep as a reference if an incident/emergency takes place too. It costs $1.99 from iTunes, or get it for only $.99 for Android at Amazon.com.
The app is very informative, simple, and straightforward; no flashy animations or illustration, or sound effects, none of which is needed. I also like how it isn’t just a list of facts and steps, but gives real parenting advice. For example, not calling a child “bad” but discussing behavior and helping a child to understand it by asking questions that can’t be answered by “no.” I bet you can think of a parent or two that could benefit from this app right?
I think this app deserves a space on your mobile device screen, if you have little one’s in your life. Get the app here from iTunes. Get the app here for Android.
I love it when my 2.5 year old daughter sits down and does a puzzle. I can see the satisfaction it brings her when she successfully inserts each piece to its proper place, and her “oh yeah, I did it,” dance when she completes the entire thing. Maybe that’s why I’m so gaga over the Tozzle Puzzle App by nodeflexion.com, oh yeah, and most importantly my daughter is gaga over it too.
The Tozzle App (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) comes in a Free Lite version, but the
$1.
99 you spend on the full version is definitely more than worth the price. The app is great in the fact that not only is it fun and challenging, but there are 39 puzzles in all, with increasing difficulty as your child completes a puzzle and slides over to the next one. Also, new puzzles are added with app updates, so the app never gets boring, alt
hough my daughter will do the same puzzle over and over again anyway.
The puzzles work like this; the puzzle piece shown in-color in the upper-right hand corner needs to be inserted in one of the empty slots or shadows. If your child struggles with placing the piece in its correct place after
3 failed attempts, the app displays a green arrow that directs your child where to go, with a circle target that helps snap it into place.
The app is colorful, fun, has great sound effects, and cheerful music (my 
daughter loves to dance and celebrate with the music when she completes a puzzle). Get this app for your toddler. Seriously, get it.
Apps4Moms 