Info Exchange Magazine

Apps Alert No. 24 15 January 2014

Free or Lite indicates that the app is free today. Some apps may be for

Android devices, as well as for iPads. Editor: Florence Longhorn

florencelonghorn@gmail.com InfoXchangeMag@aol.com

 

 

Note the new flyers available on the Info Exchange website for Flo’s courses and workshops for the first half of 2014! Access them from the link on the Info

Exchange website home page.  

Please send an email to florencelonghorn@gmail.com if there are any particular areas of apps of interest to you. I am happy to research and produce such a list, not only for you, but for other readers to use as well.

Three Little Pigs. The Story. (Free at the moment) This is an interactive story with each illustration sculpted in clay. There are 17 interactive plasticine pages

with dubbed characters with personality. The music was specially composed for the book. There are no computer graphics and the story is the original UK one. It can be read on its own or by an actor. Make sure there is clay or plasticine to hold, smell, manipulate and squish as the story is told!

Gloop Free A classic app that fascinates all users. Just trail a finger or swipe and the screen and the lava glows and speeds across the screen randomly. Great for practicing tracking and swiping!

 

Air Horn Little Devil Free A simple app that can annoy adults - so it is bound to be popular. On the screen there is a large air horn with a big red button to press. This is hard to miss. At the bottom of the screen is a slide level to control the level of

sound. Underneath is a written description of a noise such as spooky ghost, smoke detector (very annoying) squeaky duck, star trek horn or wolf whistle. You have to press the button for the sound to continue so this is a good app for maintaining attention. Stop pressing and the sound will cease too. There is also an arrow at the top of the page to tap for setting a timer limit on a noise. This means the noise is delayed and then suddenly happens, a nice prank!

Magic Stickers Lazoo This is a very well made app with excellent graphics and activities, really like a scrapbook of interesting things to do and play

using stickers, which animate on rich backgrounds. Each activity is very original and has clear instructions on how to approach the activity. Having said that there is opportunity to use imagination and enjoy high quality interactions within each activity. This would suit the independent learner to use as a leisure activity or interesting workbook. Watch a short YouTube clip to see this app in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0n5aikh6BQ

SHAPES+ Free

(Make sure you type the name in capital letters or it will not be found) An impressive app that is amazingly free. SHAPES+ is an intuitive, interactive game to learn and practice colours, shapes, numbers, and to practice

memory. It also has free draw capabilities with shapes tracing or free draw. This app is targeted for early levels of child development and also students who would fall in the sld/mld levels or the American description of 'mentally challenged.' However it is ageless as it is not child like in presentation. SHAPES+ is played either with voice or text commands. I would also use it for assessment and record keeping as it has a built in system with multiple levels in each area, which also incorporate the time taken to complete a task.

 

Fun Time Timer Free This Spanish app was designed specifically for learners with behaviours where attention was lacking, such as autism. Choose a time and a clock shows up with a red segment to indicate

the time to wait or concentrate on a task. I have chosen 10 seconds. The timer shows the seconds disappearing but also a snail at the bottom of the screen moves along a road, so it has an added element to concentrate. I could put mu finger on the snail as he plodded along the road. When the time has elapsed a cloud of balloons, a hurrah and clapping celebrate.

Farting Frenzy Free

Well, this is an app for those who enjoy a little raucous humour. Educationally, good for a pointy finger exercise and also for differentiation of sounds!

And whilst we are on the subject....

The Potty Show Free

This is a rather odd app so I will let the developer tell you about it.

Welcome to the Potty Show, where your child is the star! This interactive potty-training app allows children to see potty training success right from

the start. Based on proven techniques used by child experts, the Potty Show features:

- A playful first-person storybook with fun animations and original music - A character that can be personalized with photos from your own camera roll - Potty-themed colouring pages to reward and excite - A Sing-a-long to reinforce potty steps - Facebook & email sharing options to celebrate your child’s potty-training successes with family and friends. The Potty Show is brought to you by Preschoology, a children’s mobile app company created by a school psychologist and computer engineer. The school psychologist first wrote the Potty Show as a yarn tied, laminated book to use with potty-training preschoolers. She’d remake and personalize the handmade book with photos of each of her students. Her computer engineer husband came up with the idea to turn the storybook into an app. (Trialed on their own son!)