App Friday: It’s Learning Time, Big Top Circus, Shake-A-Phrase, PianoBall and MORE!

Welcome to App Friday, our weekly link exchange of family-friendly apps. This week we are featuring apps from four MWA developers at free and special prices. In parallel, our community is also aware of the news that Steve Jobs resigned from Apple. I’d like to dedicate this App Friday post to his vision and efforts. His company has provided the tools for developers to thrive, for kids to learn, and for families to connect. It’s a new chapter, and these Moms & Dads With Apps are more motivated than ever to keep up the good work. 

What are your apps about?

It’s Learning Time is an engaging, challenging and fun game that interactively supports your child in reading and setting the time on analogue and digital clocks. Begin by choosing one of the five progressive levels of play you wish to practise (o’clock, half past, quarter hour, 5 minute increments, minute) then set the analogue clock by dragging the minute hand around the clock to match the time spoken in a friendly US or UK accent. Press the yellow button in the middle of the clock and meet cuckoo if you’re correct –  if not, It’s Learning Time encourages you to try again after hearing the incorrect time you set. Complete each level by acurately setting the clock 12 times, then make play more challenging by hiding the digital time!

Big Top Circus – The Circus is in town! LoeschWare introduces Big Top Circus, an educational app that embraces the thrills and follies of the Circus. Expect a little of the unexpected as your little one gets positive reinforcement for exploring, matching, counting, color and shape recognition, and having fun.

Shake-a-Phrase combines physical device shaking with hilarious randomly generated sentences in a game for kids ages eight and up. But fun is only part of the appeal. The app actively engages kids in reading and building vocabulary during the course of play, while the Quiz Me game strengthens their understanding of parts of speech. A Story Starter mode gets the creative juices flowing, setting up silly scenarios and encouraging kids to imagine what happens next. The vocabulary list of more than 2,000 words was compiled by teachers and parents, and includes a broad range of age-appropriate, interesting and entertaining words. In addition to the new Sports theme which has its own dictionary, Shake-a-Phrase offers four distinct content flavors to customize learning: Animals, Monster, Fairytale and a Starter theme.

PianoBall is an amazingly colorful musical instrument for children that teaches through play. The Original 4baam application allows children to explore the world of sounds, melodies and colors while developing creative, cognitive and motor faculties of your child. PianoBall has children of various ages discovering many aspects of the world of sounds and colors through the use of four feature balls: Color Ball, Tune Ball, Rainbow Ball, Instrument Ball. Youngest children will use PianoBall as a rattle, see a magical star shower and learn to identify sounds and names of 4 instruments (xylophone, piano, drum set, saxophone). Big keyboard allows them to experiment with the instrument of parental choice. Medium age children will play tunes in the toddler mode (chosen and fixed by the parent) with the instrument chosen with the Instrument Ball. In addition they can turn their keyboard to a rainbow with the Rainbow Ball.
Older children will learn to play popular children’s songs selected with the Tune Ball by following floating little stars. The Color Ball allows them to paint the keyboard and learn color names.

What’s in it for me this App Friday August 26th?

• It’s Learning Time – $.99 (from $1.99)
• Big Top Circus – FREE (from $.99)
• Shake-a-Phrase – FREE (from $1.99)
• PianoBall – $.99 (from $1.99)
• AND THERE’s MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…
• Penelope the Purple Pirate – FREE
• Penelope the Purple Pirate HD – FREE
• Ruckus Media Apps HUGE Back to School Promotion – all 15 book app titles at $.99
• Screen Time Media Manager – $.99 for Back to School!

To Keep in Mind