Thing # 6: iTouch Apps (11.5 Things)

My daughter graciously loaned me her iTouch and I was able to "play around" with it. I found some great educational apps that were in the "top free" games under the education category. It was easy to do and fun to search for. Each app gives a brief description and an age the game would be appropriate for. I found ten great ones which I will describe below:
1. Catch and Count: this is a simple and fun interactive game for young children to learn numbers. They move a truck along the bottom of the screen with their finger and catch falling Easter eggs. As the eggs are caught a voice counts out loud the number. My youngest daughter (4) played this one and liked it. She kept wanting to drag the truck up into the sky to catch the eggs, but soon got the feel for moving it along the bottom.
2. Memory Match: This is a memory game where the player has to match all pairs of animals. It is great entertainment and good at developing fine motor skills. My daughter really liked this one and had no problem catching on.
3. Math Drills Lite: This game helps the player learn basic math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It allows the player to explore solutions using number lines, wooden blocks, facts, and hints the full version even lets the teacher track student progress for accuracy and speed. The teacher can set the number of problems for reviews, practices, and tests.
4. States & Capitals Free: This app has flashcards for each of the 13 original states containing its capital and flag, voice pronunciation of each state and capital, and a link to Google maps for each state. Students can check their memorization skills by playing the timed game mode with 10, 20, 30, and 50 questions which are recorded in the scoring table to track progress. The full version has all 50 states, but you have to buy it.
5. iWriteWords Lite (Tracing Game) : This app teaches young children handwriting while playing a fun and entertaining game. The child has to help Mr. Crab collect the numbers in sequence by dragging him with their finger - and drawing the letter at the same time. Once all the letters in the word are drawn properly, a cute drawing appears. When the itouch is tilted the letters slide into the rotating hole and the child is advanced to the next level.
6. Animal Fun: This is an animal learning program for children. They learn about animals by seeing and hearing the sounds an animal makes. It combines an easy-to-use interface and fun sound effects to entertain children while they learn. It gives the nam, sound of the animal, and spells it too. They are like interactive flashcards. My daughter loves to hear the animal sounds on this one.
7. Numbers Memory Match: Great for improving memory and cognitive skills by matching numbers and colors. Each time the card is flipped, the number of the flipped card is spoken. Players have to match the same number and color in order to receive points.
8. VocabWiz SAT Lite: A tool used to improve vocabulary and boost test scores. Features 200+ frequently tested SAT vocabulary words. Need to purchase the full version software which contains over 4700 words. Example sentences given that demonstrate proper usage of each word. Correct pronunciation of each word, quiz mode, and easy self-assessment. Great for middle and high school students!
9. Pop Math Lite: A fun way to practice basic math. You have to pop bubbles of the same fact families. Only addition is offered in the lite version. Full version features addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, including the choice to practice a given operator for even better drills.
10. myHomework: Simple and easy app for students to use in order to keep track of their homework, classes, projects, and tests while. It resembles a notebook, the sections are separated by colorful "sticky pads" that mark the page. Students can quickly enter their class schedule and use it to differ between HW assignments. myHomework will also notify them when they have upcoming assignments by numbering them on their app icon. This seems to be a great app for middle school and up ages.