Numberlys is an interactive story about the origins of the alphabet from Moonbot Studios. In a world where everything and everyoone are named after numbers, five friends embark on a mission to create something different - the alphabet.

I just finished watching, reading, and interacting with Numberlys and it's a fantastic little story! The graphics are great and the narrator is just as awesome. Moonbot Studios did a great job of making this a hybrid between a book, movie, and game. It's no question that any child would enjoy Numberlys, but most adults will too!

Numberlys presents a fanciful depiction of the origins of the alphabet and is the newest interactive epic from Moonbot Studios, the creators of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Numberlys is a story App celebration of the early fantasy epics King Kong, Metropolis and Flash Gordon with a dollop of the Marx Brothers, a splash of the Fleischer Studios technicolor Superman and a little bit of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Numberlys is huge in scope. It's an adventure! A mystery! A game! And a story!

Numberlys is available on the iPhone and iPad for $5.99.

• App Store link

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Shape Fun is an app to help toddlers and young children learn shapes. It makes the learning fun with exciting scenes, animations, and music incorporated into games with a reward system.

“Shape Fun” is a shape learning software for toddlers and preschool kids, including three attractive games and reward systems. The funny attractive scenes, animations and musics make kids deep inside the joys of exploring various basic shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, trapezoid, fan-shape, pentagon and hexagon. So let kids learn through play now!

• 3 different type of attractive games with various scenes and cute animations that help kids explore shapes from triangles to octagons stage by stage.
• Dozens of lovely sounds and voice recordings of shape names, praises and more.
• Different lovable animated animals guides kids through the game play with animated celebrations for correct answers and gentle redirection for incorrect ones.
• Interactive mysterious aquarium! Kids will get a cute fish reward when they make progress.
• Designed for kids with easy user interfaces.

Shape Fun is available on the iPhone and iPad for $0.99 each.

[iPhone App Store link] [iPad App Store link

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Word Games for Kids - Futaba is a multiplayer iPad game for kids that quizzes them on words. Up to four kids sit around the iPad and the first one to tap the word that matches the picture that appears in the center wins a point.



Futaba is a 4 player game designed for kids. This outrageously fun word quiz game can be used at home or in the classroom as a entertaining way to build language skills. 



DESIGN YOUR OWN GAMES

• It's perfect for children 4-8 and is ideal for supporting class room activities of all types (or just as fun to play at home!). Futaba is a great way to learn a 2nd language learner or you could even use it in your history class.

• The idea is simple; Each player takes a seat around the iPad and taps in to start. The game begins as images zoom into the playing area. The first player to match the word to the image scores a point. Win 3 rounds and you'll be awarded a giant (but very friendly) seedling...


• Futaba comes with over 100 wonderful hand drawn illustrations, professional audio soundtracks and has high quality visuals (just check the screen shots below).


USE YOUR OWN IMAGES & TEXT

• Parents, teachers and even students themselves can create their own content by using either the built in camera, the camera roll by copying images to iTunes. NEW: Dropbox account holders can also upload new images via the drop! (Available as in-app purchase).

Word Games for Kids - Futaba is available on the iPad for free.

[App Store link]

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The classic Grimm Brothers' fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin, is now available on the iPhone and iPad as an interactive storybook. All scenes feature 360º viewing and tapping on objects and characters will result in animations and dialog.

Silicon Beach Software invites you and your child to explore a new type of interactive children's storybook. Created and rendered in 3D, all the scenes feature 360º viewing. In Rumpelstiltskin HD, the classic Grimm Brothers' fairy tale comes alive with narration, stirring cinematic music, and delightful animations. Tap on characters to hear what they have to say in each scene (but watch out, Rumpelstiltskin will give you a little attitude in one scene if you keep poking him).

• Tap on objects to see more animations
• All characters speak in every scene, adding to the story
• Find gold coins in each scene
• Turn narration on or off with one tap
• Tap on torches to turn them on and off, changing the lighting
• 31 fun-filled pages
• 26 pieces of music
• Developed in a 3D game engine
• 3D training room teaches how to use gestures with 3D scenes
• Magnifier allows zoom in and zoom out, as does the pinch gesture
• Universal: buy once, install on all your iOS devices

Rumpelstiltskin HD is available on the iPhone and iPad for $1.99.

[App Store link]

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The Moogies is an iPhone and iPad app targeted for children aged 2-6. A Moogie is a silly, colorful character that your child can "call" and babble with. There are 9 different Moogies, each with their own personality.

Say hi to The Moogies, the crazy, comical, colorful characters that are here to keep kids aged 2-6 entertained. Kids can make a phone call to any of the nine Moogies and listen as they talk back in their delightfully silly babble language. Touch objects on screen and watch the unexpected, and sometimes hilarious results as they interact with each Moogie. Bright, beautiful, fun and funny, The Moogies is the perfect kids game.

A MOOGIE IS A KIDS BEST FRIEND

• Nine hilarious Moogie characters to get to know, each with their own special characteristics. Watch The Moogies come to life in a multitude of funny ways as children interact with them on screen.

DO YOU SPEAK MOOGIE?

• Each interaction begins with a phone call. Speak to each Moogie and then listen to them respond in their own silly babble language. Each Moogie responds in a different way, especially the mischievous parrot that mimics what you say!

INTERACTIVE CARTOON

• Interact with a variety of objects in the scene and watch the comical animations unfold. Watch the pig accidentally get sucked into a vacuum the cleaner, the horse struggle with exercise and many more hilarious scenes.

PERFECT FOR KIDS

• The Moogies has no advertisements, no In App Purchases, nothing to hinder your child’s enjoyment of the experience at all. It’s pure, simple, laugh-out-loud fun for kids aged 2-6 (and you parents too!)

The Moogies is available on the iPhone and iPad for $2.99.

[App Store link]

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Fun for Kids HD is an iPhone and iPad app that includes a picture book, puzzles, and games. It covers four main groups: animals, baby animals, vehicles and things and offers support for English, German, Spanish and Swedish.

An attractive design with clear images, sound and text catch your children’s curiosity and keep them interested with independent activities.

• Picture book with four different groups of images and with a voice explaining, in the language of your choice, what the picture depicts. The child also gets to hear, for example, what different animals sound like.
• One out of four – choose the right image in order to keep playing.
• Jigsaw puzzles with cute illustrations, both entertaining and stimulating.
• Memory game with images from the picture book’s four different categories.

Fun for Kids HD is available on the iPhone and iPad for $0.99.

[App Store link]

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Nosy Crow has released their newest animated storybook, Cinderella. It's the same story that we've all grown to love, only this version allows you to add your child's picture to the magic mirror!

What a great way to add more excitement to this classic story! Growing up, I had a book that was personalized with my name and loved it, but that's nowhere near as cool as having your face included the story! I can't wait to read this to my niece - I know she'll love it.

You know the fairytale. Now experience the magic! Created in HD especially for iPad. Nosy Crow’s Cinderella app lets you play inside the story. Beautiful illustrations, exciting animation, and original music make this a picture book app at its best.

• Help Cinderella clean the kitchen.
• Stack the King’s invitations to the ball.
• Dress up the Stepsisters for the party.
• Build the magical carriage with the Fairy Godmother.
• Select the music for the Prince and Cinderella and watch them hit the dance floor! Do you want a waltz, disco or Bollywood?
• You can even choose Cinderella’s dress!
• With the front-facing camera on iPad2 you can even see yourself in the “magic mirrors” in many scenes in the story!
• Pick a reading mode: either Read to Me, Read by Myself or Read and Play.
• Choose how long text stays on the screen so beginning readers have enough time to read by themselves.
• Choose between American or British spelling styles.
• Help is embedded into the story. Characters offer hints about what to do on each page so even very young readers can participate fully.
• Tap the characters to trigger additional dialogue.

Cinderella is available on the iPad for $5.99 .

[App Store link]

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The story of Winnie the Pooh's birthday is now available on the iPhone and iPad. Pooh's Birthday Surprise is an interactive storybook aimed to encourage reading and early math concepts.

Winnie the Pooh was my favorite as a kid! I'm planning to pick this one up to read with my daughter when she gets a little older.

Pooh’s Birthday Surprise is a Disney Learning interactive storybook designed to help children acquire and reinforce early literacy and pre-math concepts. As children read along with the word-by-word narration, they are invited to join in the birthday party planning with their favorite Hundred-Acre Wood friends. This rich storytelling experience features Winnie the Pooh illustrations and exciting tap-and-play animation on every page.

• Early-learning activities include: identifying and extending simple patterns, problem solving, vocabulary awareness, and story comprehension.
• Narration with word-by-word highlights supporting the read-along experience.
• Special feature taps engage and surprise young readers. Shake to clear away dust, tilt to set clouds in motion, swipe to see flowers bloom, and much more.
• End of book activities provide extended practice with early-learning concepts.
• Learning activities refresh for repeat play and practice.
• Info Page offers story extension activities for parents and caregivers.

Pooh's Birthday Surprise is available on the iPhone and iPad for $4.99.

[App Store link]

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Hickory Dickory Dock is an iPhone and iPad app meant to teach children how to read a clock. It includes many mini games, interaction with the mouse, and it of course ties in the famous nursery rhyme with the same title.

Help your children learn to read a clock while being entertained by a playful little mouse companion. There are a number of mini games designed to develop specific skills, while all the time keeping the child entertained with humorous animation and sound effects.

• Learn numbers 1 – 12 through interactive games
• Learn the hours and their position on the clock face
• Interact with the mouse and learn more of this classic nursery rhyme
• Provides early exposure to an abstract concept within an accessible narrative framework.

Hickory Dickory Dock is available on the iPhone and iPad for $2.99.

[App Store link]

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VivakIds' ABC is an iPad app to teach toddlers and pre-kindergaten kids the alphabet. The alphabet will com alive with stop-motion animation with the help of internationally renowned artist, author and educator Ulrike Kerber.

The letters of the alphabet come alive in this fun iPad app that seamlessly combines letter shapes and sounds into words both familiar and challenging. Toddlers and pre-kindergarten children are engaged and captivated by the motion and imagination expressed in this colorful, cheerful learning tool.

• A- Amazing stop motion videos for every letter!
• B- Because we love to help kids learn to read
• C- Change the backgrounds and personalize the experience
• D- Don’t look now, but learning can be fun!
• E- Every child will love the animations
• F- Fill the letter shapes with different textures!
• G- Gee Wiz! You are still reading this? Go download now!
• H- Hear the letters and related words to strengthen learning
• I- Interact with loveable stop-motion characters
• J- Just watch as your children explore and learn
• K- Kerber is a really amazing artist
• L- Learn the alphabet in a fun way with Vivakids!
• M- Make some noise!
• N- Now spin in a circle!
• O- Oh no! You haven’t downloaded yet?
• P- Please don’t forget, if you love it, leave a review!
• Q- Quit reading this, go have fun on your iPad!
• R- Really now…
• S- Still here? We are getting to the really hard letters now
• T- Think you know what X and Z will be?
• U- Unusual to find words that start with those letters
• V- VIVAKIDS!
• W- We love that you are still reading but…
• X- XOXOXO
• Y- You must be wondering what the last word will be
• Z- Zilch is how many letters come after Z!

VivaKids' ABC is available on the iPad for $2.99.

[App Store link]

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ABC Food is an iPhone and iPad app designed to teach kids the alphabet and learn about food. It's packed with photos, videos, and interactions.

The Little Explorers are at it again. Join them this time as they explore a world of letters, words and food! Where each new word leads to a new food discovery with beautiful photos, vibrant videos, and super fun new interactions.

• Enjoy more than 70 delicious foods
• Explore more than 150 beautiful photos and fun videos
• Practice letter and word recognition
• Introduce your child to a world of food

ABC Food is available on the iPhone and iPad for $1.99.

[App Store link]

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Colorific is a new coloring book for the iPad. Kids can either draw and color their own drawings or choose from five categories: Numbers, Animals & birds, Transport, Professions, Dinos.

Who says you need to be a kid to enjoying coloring? Even as an adult, I enjoy Colorific and find it very relaxing. The templates are well designed and don't have frustratingly small areas to color. I have a stylus which really helps make it feel like I'm coloring a traditional coloring book.

The app allows children either to draw pictures from scratch or to color one of the multiple (40+) templates built into the app.

• Kids-friendly easy-to-use interface
• Drawing and coloring modes
• Lots of built-in fun & smart templates
• Works with finger and stylus
• Email sharing functionality

Colorific is available on the iPad for $2.99.

[App Store link]

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Mathcial is an educational app on the iPhone and iPad meant to help kids improve their arithmetic skills. It include 5 different fast-paced mini games targeting key skills.

I've play around with the iPhone version of Mathical and it's fun! These games may be designed for children, but many adults may find some of them to be challenging as well.

Mathical is a 5 in 1 compilation of awesome, fast paced games for primary / elementary aged children to practise mental calculation skills.

The skills the games encourage are:

• Multiplication facts
• Division Facts
• Times Tables
• Addition and Subtraction
• Inverse Operations
• Place Value
• Ordering decimals
• Fractions of shapes

Mathical Vol. 1 is available on the iPhone for $0.99 and on the iPad for $1.99.

[iPhone App Store link] [iPad - App Store link]

Giveaway

The good folks at StusApps have given us 5 promo codes for the iPad version of Mathical, and we're going to give them to you, our awesome readers! For a chance to win, just leave a comment below and tell us know which area of math is your favorite (or least favorite). My favorite subject is geometry, followed by analysis.

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SmartyMinds Little Ones Suite is a children's educational iPhone app that teaches the alphabet, numbers, colors, and shapes. Each card is complete with images, pronunciation, and an intuitive interface.

SmartyMinds Little Ones Suite is a collection of learning modules - Alphabet, Numbers, Colors, Shapes. Alphabet module is included in the initial purchase. The other modules (Numbers, Colors, Shapes) can be purchased as In App purchases. Children get to pick which module to play/learn and advance through each module at their own pace. By letting them choose to do what interests them, children create their own focused learning environment.

• Vivid, photorealistic images to enhance visual learning.
• High resolution rendering to maximize benefits of the Retina display in the latest iOS devices.
• Clutter-free intuitive user interface for focused and child-centered learning.
• Positive reinforcement to instill confidence and excitement.
• Accurate pronunciation

SmartyMinds Little Ones Suite is available on the iPhone for $0.99.

[App Store link]

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(Grinchmas for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Grinchmas [$1.99 - iTunes link] is a Christmas themed game designed by Oceanhorse Media. In the game, you get to choose if you play “Merry Grinch” or “Mean Grinch”. With the mean Grinch, you goal is to throw snowballs at the houses which are playing too much music (and thus bothering you). With the merry Grinch, you through presents at the houses (of matching color) trying to spread Christmas joy.

The games themselves are suitable for all ages, and my daughter had some fun trying them out. However, they do take a little bit of skill – hitting the houses with either the snowballs or the presents depends on your aim as well as the speed at which you throw (swipe your finger). Faster swiping means throwing the item farther (at the distant houses). It takes a little bit of practice to get it down pat.

Unfortunately, that’s where the game ends. The merry Grinch game is based on how many packages you can throw in a certain time limit. The mean Grinch game is based on how many houses you can silence (how long you can last) before your patience wears out. As such, both games are similar to each other. It would be nice to see a couple of different KINDS of games between the two options. In addition, while there is a nice soundtrack (or rather, music and sound effects), there is nothing else enticing. I would have loved to see some cut scenes (maybe from the TV special), some spoken lines to the TV special, some sort of bonus features (maybe Max appears, maybe some houses are worth more, etc). As it is, playing the game a few times is fun, but the novelty wears off rather quickly. The simplicity of the games is both good (easy to pick up) and it’s downfall (gets boring relatively fast).

Conclusion

All in all, the game is nice holiday themed fun, and if you have kids they may enjoy playing the Grinch. For $1.99, the price isn’t too bad, but don’t expect something you will be able to play for a long time, or something that has a high replay level. The game might help you get in the Christmas mood, but if you are looking for a detailed, complex, or long lasting game you will probably end up with a mean Grinch face. Three and a half out of five stars.

Pros:

• Fun, Christmas themed games
• Suitable for all ages
• Requires some skill when aiming

Cons:

• Games get a little boring
• No “special levels” or bonus plays
• The two games are not fundamentally different

TiPb Review Rating

Pre-School Pals and My Beagle Kiddies' Corner Forum Reviews by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Pre-School Pals

You remember those old flip books where you could mix and match the head, body, and legs from various animals and such? Well, preschool pals with Henry and Hailey takes this idea and turns it in to an app for kids on the iPhone.

When playing this app, the first thing you can do is go through and look at the various "preschool pals" as they are supposed to appear. They include things like a fireman, policeman, robot, ballerina, etc. You can look at each image, and hit the play button to have each one say something (just a sentence or two). Keep reading Pre-School Pals Forum Review...

My Beagle

My Beagle is a "create a dog" app aimed at young kids. The concept of this app is simple - you can create a picture of a dog with various...accessories (for lack of a better word) from a wide list of options. Starting the app is simple - you simply click on the play button and get brought to a blank slate with a generic beagle image. From there, using the dial on the left, you can choose various accessories or attributes - collars, food bowls, background, eye shape, etc. You get to design a beagle to your liking.

When creating your masterpiece, you choose each of the categories of accessory, and then can choose from different images by sliding a button left or right to show the options. For example, with background images, you can choose from some butterflies, some birds, some trees, etc. The wide variety of options means that there are plenty of ways to create a unique masterpiece on your iPhone. Keep reading My Beagle Forum Review...