Info Exchange Magazine

Apps Alert No. 22 2 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 January and February 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.

A peaceful, happy and healthy new

year to all our Info Exchange readers!

 

Thank you to readers who sent messages of condolence on the unexpected death of our son in November. Your thoughts were

very much appreciated.

Roger and Flo Longhorn

Each life touches this world

in a way no others can, leaving not only memories,

but lasting imprints on our hearts.

 

Musical Paint Pro (Free at the moment) This is an excellent multi sensory art app with easy controls. There is a set of colours with which to paint on the screen. As a colour is painted, it is accompanied by a musical sound, which goes up and down as lines are drawn.

Each colour has a different sound. When completed, press on a tick symbol, which asks if the painting is finished. It then repeats the painting sequence that has just been created. The completed sound paintings are all stored for future use. Really good! Watch Jude, aged three, give a very exciting art exhibition on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdbo7Jt38q8

Tolva and Ting (Free at the moment)

“Me and The Giant's” have created many useful apps with clear images for those who are beginning to learn how to' look and observe.' They have now

developed Tolva and Ting, comprising four games, developed with Glasgow University. It is aimed at three- to six-year-olds but looks ageless, using neon and modern characters. It aims to educate through enjoyment using vibrant robot characters and space worlds. The aim is to progress the understanding of shape and colour recognition as well as language and motor skills. It also covers emotions and choices.

The world of Tolva and Ting comprises four fun games with the colourful characters of Tolva and Ting: Globots from the ‘land where computers dream’. The robots have the unique ability to glow in different colours according to their moods.

Look at a short YouTube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMIRjCvqFdI Or the website – http://www.tolvaandting.com

               

   Spangled! (Free at the moment) This app is decagon art. A regular decagon is a polygon with ten sides that is equiangular (all angles are equal in measure) and equilateral (all sides have the same length).

Only kidding, this is a brilliant visual stimulation app for the special learner who enjoys vivid moving images. It is a constantly evolving colourful display of geometrical shapes based on a new high-performance polygon library. Actually, they look like spinning windmill shapes. When you spin an image quickly, the music increases and decreases as it slows down. The music can be changed to D or G minor, and sounds good.    

Peep Apps  

 Find out more at the website, which is well worth exploring for early cognitive skills using attractive and engaging imagination and games. Visit: http://www.peepandthebigwideworld.com

     Peep Fish Swish (Free) An app from the WGBH television station in Boston< USA. It links to the website, which has a range of early cognitive activities. The animation is clear and well presented. The voice sounds are a bit shrill, but that may only be my impression. This app has Quack visiting his fish friends underwater to give them balloon rides. In order to find out how many balloons he needs, the player has to tell him. There is not much time as the fish appear quickly on the screen. This is deliberate as the app aims to promote sight counting or subitizing. This simply means seeing how many are on the screen without counting each individual fish. The formation and size of the fish change to practice this numeracy skill. Have a look at www.pinterest.com/drnicki7/subitizing/ for more ideas.

 

Peep Hide and Peep (Free) Play hide and seek with Peep! Peep, the chicken, and his friends are hiding. They peek from their hiding places in the tool shed. Tap the screen where you think each character is hiding.

The first level of the game has three characters hiding. If they are all found, the lights go out and the characters hide again, ready for the next round. The difficulty increases only if the previous round was successfully completed without mistakes. This practices observations, scanning and memory skills. On the simplest level it is hide and reveal.

This Monster: Creatures that love colour

A really different app book that is full of   originality and offers the opportunity too devise and design, just by dragging all sorts of oddities into

place. This is a very open-ended and original art collage in book form.

It is quirky and refreshing with zany colour eating monsters such as a polka dot painter, a musical mermaid and a jumping jackelope. They are created with paper, fabric and pen so looks very tactile and colourful. This is well worth buying!

For Your Toca Collection

 Free at the moment, to join your Toca collection of excellent apps, are 'Toca Kitchen Monsters' and 'Toca Tailor Fairy Tales'.