I'm a full-time mummy

Here is another fun and educational app which was released few months ago that I get to review with my 3 year old Benjamin:

* Title: ABC Day
* Price: $1.99
* Category: Education
* Released: Jun 01, 2012
* Version: 1.0.0
* Size: 18.2 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: CV. Hompimplay
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Description from the product page:

"A- Award winning app that effectively teaches young children to read and write.
B- Bubble-popping, alphabet-singing fun.
C- Cute animal friends introduce kids to the joy of learning.

An outstanding tool for education, ABCDay encourages kids to read, write, play, and sing their way through the alphabet. Straight forward navigation permits easy gameplay, and lively animations captivate children as they plunge into a vibrant undersea world. ABCDay is packed with four delightful sections, each with its own unique music and activities.

(1) Reading Time!
P is for Penguin. Identify letters of the alphabet by reading along to the names of loveable animals living in the aquatic wonderland.

(2) Writing Time!
Catch stars. With the assistance of a friendly turtle, trace a sequence of stars to practice drawing letters.

(3) Play Time!
Tickle a seashell until it releases new friends. Each animal that appears has a letter missing from its name. Test memory and spelling by bursting the bubble with the correct letter inside.

(4) Sing Along!
Sing aloud to the alphabet song. Pop letter-filled bubbles or simply watch them float as the song plays."

What's good?

* It is engaging and interactive and I love the beautiful illustrations!

* I was totally amazed when I saw my 3 year old boy tracing along the alphabet (uppercase & lowercase) in the  "Writing Time!" game by helping the turtle to follow (I said catch) the stars. Currently, I have not gone through the alphabets with my boy as I'm trying to build up his skills and practise in tracing activities. But based on this, I am very excited to see the potential of learning to write while still having fun!

* I also used the opportunity in the "Reading Time!" to teach my boy alphabets in a fun way, seeing the animals animated cutely and the bubbles popping!

* My boy is not at the reading level yet so we can't feedback on the "Play Time!" game at the moment but I will definitely revisit this app when the time comes (I always do that for all my products and apps!).

You can purchase the "ABC Day" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code by the sponsor to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

Last week I blogged about our shopping experience in one of the many Skechers outlet and yes you have no idea how excited we all were to be able to review the shoes from Skechers! Woohooo! This is like one of the pinnacles of my blogging journey!

I'll start off the shoes review with Ben's awesome kid's shoes, the "Skechers Kid's Terminal Radian Z Strap Shoes":

Description from the product page:
"Beam out cool sporty style with the SKECHERS S Lights: Terminal - Radian shoe. Leather and synthetic upper in a zigzag strap closure sporty casual sneaker with light up features and mesh fabric panels."

The first shoes that caught the attention of my 3 years old boy is of course the very same shoes I'm blogging about here! Maybe it is the green color that he likes (no, he does not watch any Ben 10 shows, so the green color influence is definitely not from there!) I got a bigger size shoes for my Benjamin as being kids (AND boys!) they tend to grow up very fast, so I think it's safe to say I can still put 1 and a half index finger of mine in his shoes.

Now let's see how this awesome shoes look like. Frankly, I love the green color too as I feel it is eye catching and refreshing! This shoe also came in blue color but we decided green is IN! 

Now Benjamin can't tie his shoes yet so we love that this shoes came with a Velcro strap which can be easily taken off and stick back.

One awesome thing to note about this shoe is the way it lit up! Oh wow... it felt so magical and powerful, I mean, if I can feel that, what more can a 3 year old boy feel right? The moment Ben steps and walk casually, the sides of the shoes lit up in green color. You can see few dots of green lights chasing after one another, kinda like a lightning! It goes from the back to the front all the way! Coolness!

It's so cool that I can see Ben purposely stomping his feet when he walks just so he can see the light blazing through his awesome shoes! By the way, he called it his 'Power shoes!' and insists on wearing it whenever we go out for our family outings!

Pictures below are taken during our family outings:

From a concerned parent's point of view, we are happy our boy is wearing this shoes as we feel he is safe in it and can protect him and yet it makes him look cute and cool at the same time!

I'm very happy the shoes do not have any sound and that the light is not too overbearing. I am also happy that the shoes do not have any funny image or pictures of alien characters or whatever characters on it as I'm not a fan of this type of shoes so I really appreciate the simplicity of the design. Our vedict? An awesome shoes yet it looks stylish and edgy for a kid!

You can check out the designs at http://skechers.com.my/index.php

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the product by Skechers in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

When I saw the press release of this app, I immediately checked out for more details on it and what got my full attention was the beautiful illustrations in this app. I had initially thought this app was more like a story book where you page through and read some story about a dog or something, until I realised you get to find the many many hidden objects on each page as you travel a long with Mitzi, the spotted dog with a red collar. Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: Mitzi's World
* Price: $3.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Jul 25, 2012
* Version: 1.0.0
* Size: 198 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Auryn, Inc
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Description from the product page:

"In Mitzi’s world, every detail is worth seeing. Young readers will enjoy following Mitzi, the spotted dog with a red collar, through all four seasons of the year as she explores the towns, farms, and countryside of America, vividly brought to life by author Deborah Raffin and folk artist Jane Wooster Scott.

Along with Mitzi there are plenty of other objects to uncover, whether they are candy canes in winter, sail boats in spring, sand castles in summer, or pumpkins in fall. Children will be introduced to counting concepts, seasons, and colors, while the entire family can enjoy the highly beloved folk art form with its colorful and accessible scenes. Mitzi’s World is a part of the Auryn line from Auryn Inc. and is based on Deborah Raffin’s book by the same name. "

What's good?

* The illustrations is just simply amazing and breathtaking and there are some cute little animations and awesome interactivity in this app!

* I love the 15 folk art illustrations and the details are simply amazing!

* I like that when you exit the app and resumed back later, those objects which you have found earlier are still indicated as found (as there are some apps which make you look for the objects all over again!) so you just need to continue back your search for the hidden objects.

Room for Improvement?

* Perhaps make it easier for us to locate the hidden objects when we clicked the Hint option? Blinking the objects would be cool hahaha!

You can purchase the "Mitzi's World" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code by the sponsor to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"