The iPhone Mom

I think that Tap & Learn Animals is best suited for older babies and toddlers. It’s divided into two sections, “Tap and Learn” and “Choose and Learn”. In “Tap and Learn” you tap on a picture of an animal and then hear it’s name and sound. There are twelve animals to choose from. Six on the first screen and then swipe left with your finger to see another six. In “Choose and Learn” the app asks “where is the…” or “do you see the…” and you have to tap on the animal it asks for.  Tap & Learn is a simple app but it’s well done with cute animals and realistic animal sounds.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Anna Islamova

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Nursery Rhymes are a subject where I’ve shortchanged  my children. They’re just not something that I read much of when my kids were little. I know that they’ve learned a few in school but I’d be surprised if they knew about Old King Cole and they’d be shocked to learn about poor Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater’s wife.  Well here’s an app that  can help out any other nursery rhyme deficient mothers out there. The Mother Goose Classics app currently features nine classic nursery rhymes. They are Humpty Dumpty, Jack Be Nimble, Jack & Jill, Hickory Dickory Dock, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Hey Diddle Diddle, This Little Piggy and Pat a Cake. There is also a free version that features three rhymes.

The characters from the nursery rhymes appear on your screen and you tap on the one that you’d like to hear more about. (Only three characters show up on the screen at a time so you’ll need to scroll to the left and right.) Each nursery rhyme is presented over several screens. Tap on the text to hear it read aloud. Each rhyme has some animation to it and if you tap on the screen you can watch more things happen.

If you’re looking for a good introduction to Nursery Rhymes this isn’t a bad way to go and the animations are humorous. Personally, $1.99 for only nine rhymes feels a little high to me. Hopefully more rhymes will be added in future updates.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Raizlabs Corp.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

If my baby’s fingers weren’t a slobbery, sticky mess from teething I’d show her BalloonMaker. It’s brightly colored and simplistic and I think she’d be intrigued. So much so that she’d be reaching for the phone even more than she already does. Which I can’t have given the state of her fingers. Death by slobber is not the way my iPhone wants to go.

Here’s the rundown on BalloonMaker. It gives you a screen full of blue sky and fluffy white clouds. Tap the screen and a balloon appears. Tap again and again to fill the screen with balloons. If you hold your finger on the screen the balloon will blow up larger than if you simply tap. If you keep your finger on the screen you can drag the balloon around. The balloons  will float to the top of your screen and if you turn your phone they’ll readjust and float to the top again. They move around and bounce off each other. You can pop the balloons by tapping on them. They make a satisfying pop sound and explode with sparkles.

That’s the extent of the app and it’s perfect for young toddlers with short attention spans who love balloons. Which is just about every toddler I’ve ever met.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Troy Tegeder

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Field Flier is a simple app that will appeal to young toddlers. It features a little Robin bird who will fly around your iPhone screen, exploring his world. Your child controls Robin’s flight by tapping and dragging on the phone’s screen. Robin can fly up, down, left and right. As he flies you’ll notice little circles on the screen. Tap on one of these and Robin will stop and do something. He might nap, hide or swing. The app has twelve different actions to find on the screen. If you shake your iPhone you can hear Robin’s happy chirping.

Field Flier has cute graphics and the animations worked smoothly. I liked how you could control where Robin flew on the screen. He’s not forced into a set path and you’ve got the freedom to direct where he goes. Older children might grow bored with this app but it is perfect for toddlers. They will enjoy making Robin fly and finding all the silly things that he does.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: zinc Roe

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

My baby is about 6 1/2 months old and we are beginning the grabby phase. She’s trying to get everything within her reach with her slobbery fingers. I had her on my lap when I tried out DJ Baby and she was fascinated. Fascinated and determined to get her wet fingers on my iPhone. She’s been fairly indifferent towards “Baby” apps in the past so this is an endorsement, slobbery fingers and all.

DJ Baby is a simple screen. There’s a record turnstile, four colored buttons and a small button with music notes on it. Tap the different buttons to hear different “samples” and “scratches”.  I can’t tell you how un-hip it makes me feel to type those words. I’m so far removed from the DJ scene it’s not even funny so go ahead and laugh. You can also slide your finger on the record just like a real DJ. Tap the musical notes button and you’ll get some background music. Shake your iPhone and you’ll hear my favorite “track”. Keep tapping and sliding while you find your groove.

I think that little ones would be completely enthralled with DJ Baby. It’s a simple, colorful app that provides a good amount of silly fun. My two suggestions for the app are to add in more tracks and if there’s a way to record and replay your creations that would be excellent I think that feature would make the app even more appealing to the preschool and young grade school peeps.

Price when Reviewed: $.99 – on sale for limited time

Comet Coast also provides a free flash version of DJ Baby so you can try before you buy.

Seller: Comet Coast

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Are you looking for a noisy app to keep your toddler entertained? Look no further, Baby Drums is here! This app fills your iPhone screen with pictures of drums, cymbals, maracas, pots and more. Pretty much anything that a toddler would love to bang on is here in this app. All they have to do is tap on the picture to hear that banging, clanging and ringing. To see more instruments swipe your finger from left to right (or right to left) and they will scroll across the screen. There are plenty of things that make noise in Baby Drums! and it is perfect toddler entertainment, if your ears can handle it.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: SMHK Funlab

iLook is a picture book app that was designed specifically for babies. It contains black and white images that display on the screen, hopefully catching your baby’s interest. The app contains pictures in five different categories, animals, food, baby items and nature. Each category has five images.  To switch the categories just tap the small “i” button on the bottom right of the screen. Here you can turn the categories on or off. You can also choose to view the pictures as a book (where you swipe on the screen to turn pages) or a slideshow. You will have the option of setting the duration that the picture will be displayed.

There’s no doubt that black and white images appeal to babies. Our Baby J is fascinated by contrasts but when I tried iLook out on her she wasn’t having any of it that day. She’s not been very interested in any of the apps I’ve tried with her so far. She is, however, very interested in music which got me wondering if there was a chance iLook would add  music in a future update. The developers tell me that’s the plan for their next update and that they’ll also be adding in more categories. The black and white pictures are great for babies and I think the music will make the app even better. I’m looking forward to trying it out with Baby J again.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: ComputerNet Technologies

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Today I’m looking at two apps from zinc Roe.  Both are bright and colorful and recommended for ages 3-5.

Sort Slider

Sort Slider presents the outlines of two different shapes. Then there is a third shape (presented in color) that sits in between the outlines. Your child needs to tilt the iPhone to move this shape to it’s correct outline. They can also drag their finger to make it move. If they make the wrong match nothing will happen. But if they get it right a little doggy pops up and barks out his congratulations.  It’s a very simple concept but a key one that kids need to learn. I know that the app needed to be kept simple for the younger users but I’m not sure it will hold the same appeal for those from 4-5. Those who really understand matching will speed through and be done quickly. Younger children will probably  have more interest in Sort Slider.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Sound Shaker

Sound Shaker presents your child with six pictures, each one representing a different sound. Tap on one of the pictures to choose a sound and you’ll be taken to a blank screen. Now you tap the screen to add the sound. It shows up as a ball that will make the sound as it bounces around the screen. Tap as many times as you like to add the sound over and over again. If you tap and hold down your finger the ball will get bigger and it’s sound will change. If you hold your finger down long enough the ball grows and grows and you get a surprise. Once you’ve got as many versions of the sound as you like move them around with your finger or shake your iPhone and listen to all the glorious noise! Our favorite sound was the telephone ring, followed by the farm sounds. Out of the two apps, this one was easily our favorite. It’s colorful and clever and noisy. But not noisy in a way that’s so obnoxious you find yourself deleting the app when your child is sleeping.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: zinc Roe

Peekaboo Barn

Many moons ago I tried out Peekaboo Barn Lite and I was not a fan.  I thought the app was cute but only getting three animals was a turnoff for me. So I am very happy to report that I really, really like the full version of Peekaboo Barn. This version includes ten animals and having more is worth paying the full price for the app. The concept is simple, a red barn appears on the screen and starts to shake. Animals are a movin’ around in there. Listen for the animal noises and try to guess who’s hiding inside. Tap on the barn and you’ll find out which animal it is. An adorable child’s voice then says the name of the animal and it’s also written on the screen. Now tap on the screen to do it all over again with a new animal. In the app’s settings you can switch from English to Spanish and you can turn off the voice and animal noises. You can also switch from “regular” to “looped” mode. Here’s the difference as we experienced it at the iPhone mom’s house. In regular mode you go through all ten animals and then they end up in the barn together. The screen switches to a night scene and you can open the barn one more time to see the animals sleeping. In the looped mode the animals will cycle through over and over, but in random order. So how they appear the first time through won’t be the same order they come the next time. With the regular mode the animals are in the same order each time.

After playing with the full version I can see why Peekaboo Barn has been so popular, made it’s way onto all sorts of lists and been downloaded over and over. It’s a great one for your older babies and toddlers!

Price when Reviewed:$1.99

Peekaboo Wild

Peekaboo Wild is the sequel to Peekaboo Barn that was just released in October. It follows the same great format but features animals from the African Savannah. They’re hiding behind some very tall grass. You’ll hear them making noises, guess which animal it is and then tap the screen. The grass disappears and you’ll see the animal. Another adorable child’s voice tells you what the animal is and you’ll see the name written on the screen. The narration on this app made me smile. When you’ve gone through all ten animal they’ll all be hiding behind the grass together. The screen will change to a night scene and you’ll find the animals sleeping behind the grass. It’s the same format as Peekaboo Barn and you can change the settings in the same way. Switching from “regular” to “looped” mode shuffles the animals around and presents them in a different order.

If you’ve already fallen in love with Peekaboo Barn then Peekaboo Wild is a great addition to your iPhone. I can’t choose which one I like best because they’re both fantastic. So choose the one that features the animals your child likes best or choose both.  If you’ve got an older baby or toddler I don’t think you’ll be sorry.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Night & Day Studios, Inc.

Teach Me: Toddler is an educational app that combines six different concepts: shapes, colors, numbers, counting, letters and letter sounds. A friendly mouse teacher – wait that should read a teacher who is a mouse, unless mice are now attending school – quizzes you on the different concepts. They are all mixed together so you’ll get a little bit of everything in one shot. After a certain number of correct answers you earn a reward. In “Options” you can set this number. You can also decide whether they earn coins or stickers. If you choose stickers there are four different sticker scenes to choose from. They’ll be able to arrange stickers on a beach, reef, pirate cove or city scene. In “Options” you can also customize what you want the app to quiz your child on. For example you can include questions on numbers 1-10 or 1-20, lowercase or uppercase letters or even turn off the shapes and color questions.

Teach Me: Toddler doesn’t have fanciest interface that I’ve seen but it does a fine job teaching some important concepts. I like the way you’re able to customize the what your child is learning. My son really likes the stickers.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: 24×7 digital