iPad – Application Reviews

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App Developer: Launchpad Toys

Toontastic is one of the most creative iPad apps for kids available today. Through stunning layout, accompanied by verbal and written instruction, Toontastic takes kids through the process of creating their own cartoons step-by-step. The app first explains what a cartoon is, and describes the story arc, which is the measure of the story’s emotional energy. The story arc consists of a setup, a conflict, a challenge, a climax, and a resolution. With the aid of the verbal and written instructions, as well as additional useful information, kids work through the process, starting with the setup, and ending with the resolution.  Settings and characters  can be selected from a range of templates provided by the app, or kids can draw in their own. With each scene, movement and sound can be added and music can be selected from a range of genres with differing emotions. The final result is a magnificent story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, which has been created by the kids themselves, and which they can share with other Toontastic users throughout the world.

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App Developer: Amo Oy

A brilliant collaboration between Juho Jussila Oy – who produces classic wooden toys; Amo Oy – Finland’s largest domestic importer and marketer of toys and games; and Into-Digital Oy, who helps customers succeed with digital media – this iPad application is superbly designed to replicate the original wooden shape-sorting toy that has been available since 1923. Targeted at toddlers between the ages of 1 and 3, Jukka Askare  is fun, user-friendly, and tried and tested by adults and kids. On opening the iPad app, shapes ranging in colour are spilled out of the wooden box onto the floor. With the slide of a finger, kids are then required to sort the shapes, dragging them into the appropriate slots.

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App Developer: Stagecoach Education

A splendidly spectacular Christmas experience for preschoolers. This iPad application provides kids with many hours of fun and excitement, while incidentally teaching them vital reading, writing, mathematics, spacial, and fine-motor skills that will provide the foundation for future learning. One of the most worthwhile iPad Apps for this time of year.

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