Macleans Nurdle Time  by GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

Available for ipad, iphone and android.  
Cost: Free

Download for iphone

Download for ipad

SparkleFish By Whosagoodboy Partners - FREE

A very funny story creation app.  Your children will love recording their voice with this iphone and ipad  app.  

The free app allows you to choose from a few story templates - A fairy tale, infomercial, cold remedy, greeting card and yearbook signing. 

Your child's job is to record the missing words.  This may be an animal, adjective, verb, adverb, etc.  Each category lists a few examples for your child to get the idea.  I find that most children will choose from the words listed initially and then they become more creative with subsequent recordings. 

Once the words have been recorded, you "SparkleFish it" and listen to the your child's words placed into the prerecorded stories with often hilarious results.  Kids love to hear the sound of their own voices! 

You can purchase additional story packs such as "A Dream World, A Day in the Life, Tall Tales, Realtionships or the complete story pack" as an in-app purchase. The promo video doesn't do the app any favours as you can't hear the stories but I included it just for your information.

Have you tried SparkleFish? It is well worth the free download. Enjoy!

rED Writing - Learn to Write by Rogue Mobile

Firstly, this app is listed as an iphone app in itunes, however it is compatible with use on an ipad.  It is currently available for $2.99 A.  I have not received any remuneration for this post and the opinions expressed are my own. However, if you purchase this app through the iTunes link on this page, I will receive a small commission.

rED Writing app has been designed for an Australian audience. Yeah!  That means Australian education approved fonts used throughout Australian schools to trace and learn. There is even an Australian voice to prompt your child along the way with the name and sound of each letter. {Sorry to my international subscribers, this is for the Aussies!}

The app supports multiple users, which works well in a classroom, with a therapist seeing multiple children or within a family. 

There are 6 learning modes including upper and lower case letters, numbers and fluency patterns.  The app guides you with a "monster" showing you starting points for letters and correct letter formation.  Kids earn "monster theme" stickers along the way to help with motivation. 

Kids can choose from a variety of backgrounds and colours. You can also choose whether you want lines behind the letters and numbers (ie. scaffold lines).  

This app allows you to choose the letter or fluency pattern you would like to write.  This is useful if you are working on particular letter families or spelling a name as you can choose what is appropriate.  You are not required to work through the alphabet from A to Z.

I encourage school age children to use a stylus for this app. The stylus should be held with a functional pencil grasp, preferably a dynamic tripod grasp. 

Overall, this is an excellent app for kids learning letter formation within the Australian context.  I would recommend it to parents, teachers and therapists! Download it today from the itunes store.

Poisson Rouge {Red Fish} is an innovative website for children.  I first discovered it about five years ago and it continues to be a firm favourite in our household.  

Self-described as a "playground", it has over 300 activities for children of all ages and a range of abilities. It is truly a wonderland of exploration.  
Children are encouraged to use the mouse to navigate through the various activities.  There are simple "single click" cause and affect activities, "click and drag" activities for sorting and matching, as well as more complicated numeracy and literacy activities. 

The activities have a range of appeal ... with music, colour, art and science elements.  There are a range of languages to engage in specific activities for an international audience or for those children who may be learning more than one language.

Lazoo Squiggles app - FREE
Draw a squiggle to make a lion's mane, rocket fuel, rain clouds, spaghetti, etc.  Press go and see the squiggles come alive as your lion roars, rocket takes off, rain falls or spaghetti wiggles on the plate. It is so motivating for kids to draw using this app.  They love seeing what will happen to their squiggles.  Older kids can be challenged with using a stylus to draw the squiggles.

Lazoo Let's Color app - FREE
Colour in a range of interactive pictures.  Draw water for a hose, teeth for a crocodile, colour in a slice of watermelon, etc.  The colour changes automatically each time you touch the screen or you can choose from a range of colours and tools.  Like Lazoo Squiggles, your coloured picture comes alive when you press go.  

Some pictures help you colour within the lines given (eg. slurpy straws) where as other pictures just encourage you to make marks so it doesn't matter if you draw outside of the lines (balloons).  This is motivating for kids who struggle with colouring.  You can encourage older kids to use a stylus with this app also. 

Lazoo Zoo app - FREE
This is the latest addition to the Lazoo family.   You can feed the animals, either by drawing your own food or by finding hidden foods to play.  The animals react to the different food that they eat.  The giraffe changes its spots and the monkey is pretty fussy.  Your child will love seeing the giraffe covered in the food they have drawn themselves.