I'm a full-time mummy

My 4 years old boy is a huge fan of Little Critter's books and of course the moment I saw the press release for this app, I have to have it! Can just imagine seeing my boy's excited face when he sees the newest addition to our Little Critters book app! Without further ado, here goes my feedback...

* Title: The Trip Little Critter Reading Adventure
* Price: $3.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Mar 25, 2013
* Version: 1.0.1
* Size: 63.8 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Baker & Taylor, Inc. © 2013 Mercer Mayer, Silver Dolphin Books, Dancing Penguins LLC, J.R. Sansevere
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Description from the product page:

"In this fun-filled, interactive reading adventure, young children are invited to learn along with Little Critter on his family’s road trip. Rich in learning activities, games, and exciting surprises, kids will be entertained as they discover a new adventure on every page. The Critters’ trip is full of amusing twists and turns—just like the actual road they’re following! Kids can help Little Critter choose the route the family will take and explore the countryside, the city, the beach and more: fix the car when it breaks down; move a horse stuck in the middle of the road; feed the seagulls; and even find time to grab a hot dog! All this while playing lots of games with Little Sister along the way to pass the time!"

* It is engaging and interactive and I personally prefer the 'Reading Adventure' option instead of 'Just Read' option which you will missed quite a few animated surprises here and there when you just plainly read along the storybook!

* I like the idea of this story as I can easily use it to relate to my kiddos when we go for our family trip next time.

* Other than going through the adventure journey with Little Critter and his family in the road trip, there are also educational and fun games to be played throughout the story such as color matching, alphabet games, object sequencing and alphabets flashcards.

* There is also a mini problem-solving games where your child can find and keep objects in Little Critter's backpack which will come in handy when they got into problems along their road trip. This helps build up problem-solving skills in our little ones to determine and figure out which objects in the backpack best to be used to fix a problem.

* In summary, this is a fun-filled and educational app which is a must for Little Critters' fans! Definitely must have!

You can purchase the "The Trip Little Critter Reading Adventure" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code 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"

I mentioned before that we are big fans of "Little Critter" apps and the latest app we reviewed is the "What a Bad Dream". Just in case you missed out on my 3rd pregnancy announcement, I was very interested when I saw the words "Little Critter" and "Little Brother" in the latest Oceanhouse Media's press release in my email inbox, I immediately requested for a review copy. Well, at 2.5 months preggy now, we still can't tell the gender of our baby now, but I would like to see how my kiddos react to this app. Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: Just Me and My Little Brother
* Price: $0.99
* Category: Books
* Released: March 11, 2013
* Version: 2.1
* Size: 30.0 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Oceanhouse Media, Inc.
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Description from the product page:

"Little Critter is looking forward to all the fun things he can do with his little brother. They'll go trick-or-treating on Halloween, ride bikes, build a snowman, watch spooky shows on TV, and more. Little Critter is eager to share these exciting experiences with his brother, but he'll have to wait since his baby brother must first learn how to walk!"

* It is engaging and interactive and I love that we can also touch the objects in each page on the screen and the words pop out to tell you what it is!

* I like the storyline where it tells how Little Critter looks forward to doing lots of fun and cool activities with his little brother. As mentioned earlier, I'm currently expecting my 3rd child and although we have no idea of the baby's gender yet, I would like to instill this idea especially to my 4 years old Benjamin that having a baby brother and baby sister again is going to be fun, fun, fun all over again!

* I particularly enjoyed the page below where it shows Little Critter and his little brother sharing a bunk bed together as my hubby and I are considering getting a bunk bed to put in our room, to slowly transition Benjamin out of our bed as we are all still co-sleeping at the moment. So having a bunk bed, maybe Benjamin could sleep on top while I continue to sleep at the lower bed with Alyson and the baby then and at the same time, hubby's King size mattress right next to our bunk bed.

* One thing I don't feel comfortable with is the page below where it shows Little Critter hugging his little brother while watching spooky shows, I'm okay with the idea of spooky shows (monsters are spooky to Benjamin) but the thing that makes me uneasy is the 2 cans on the floor and the messy snacks left on the floor. Not exactly something I would want my kiddos to learn and think it is alright to be messy so as we go through this page, I reminded Benjamin that we should be clean and tidy and make sure we clean up after eating or snacking.

You can purchase the "Just Me and My Little Brother" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code 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"

When I first saw the review pitch for this book, I thought to myself 'What? No more Sunday schools? Is this for real?'. I checked out the book further and decided I must review it! So here goes my review:

Title: No More Sunday School Volume 1: Old Testament Favorites (Kindle edition)
Author: Bekki Lindner
Publisher: Lindner Creative; 1 edition (December 31, 2012)
ASIN:  B00AVE113U
File Size:  455 KB

Description from the product page:
"No More Sunday School is an application-driven family Bible study, designed to help families integrate faith into family time.

No More Sunday School is a weekly Bible lesson (and more!) for families. It’s a chance to connect once a week as a family, diving into God’s Word while gaining practical application for today’s world. Kid-friendly and easy to understand, each of the stories are also jam-packed with ways to apply the biblical truths and principles. Each week features an application-rich Bible story, family memory verse, family project, and craft. Every component of the lesson is designed to highlight the truths and principles found within the pages of the Bible. Intentional and application-driven, No More Sunday School will provide your children with a rich Biblical foundation, allowing them to connect personally with God and His Word.

This volume features stories taken from the Old Testament. Full of rules, genealogies, and some fairly fantastical events, finding practical application can prove challenging for anyone. It doesn’t matter if you grew up in the church, or if you’re just now beginning to dive into God’s Word – application is your key to unlocking how the Bible relates to YOU. How many times have you flipped through the Bible and wondered how the story of a boy who killed a giant, or someone thrown into a den of lions could possibly relate to your life? This study is designed to help you and your children understand how these stories translate to modern culture. Within each of these stories are timeless truths, principles, and practical life application.

If we desire our children to truly learn and embrace all of the truths found in the Bible, we need to stop relying on Sunday school, singing vegetables, and other people and influences, and make the choice to intentionally integrate faith into family time."

Why I wanted to review this book? Like the author, I too sometimes felt the lessons and activities taught in Sunday schools are not well absorbed by my child.  I feel that the activities in Sunday school are not exciting enough and maybe there is quite a number of children in the class everytime so there is no real one to one (or smaller scale) attention given in order to ensure our child knows and remembers what they learned in Sunday school.

Just a brief info on this book: It contains 5 stories from the Old Testament:
~ David and Goliath: Confidence and Courage
~ Hannah: Faithfulness and Strength
~ Daniel: A Shining Example
~ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: Ready and Willing
~ Joshua and the Battle of Jericho: Trust God All The Time

And each of the story contains 3 parts: family bible verse, family project and family craft. Meaning, each story begins with a parent preparation part, where parent can read up to prepare themselves before starting the lesson/activity with their children followed by a family bible verse related to the chapter and a family project and craft which you can do with your child and family to further reinforce what have been learned in the story.

I like that there is picture accompanying the family craft section, as it gives a better understanding and easier for us to refer to how the crafts will look like.

Some suggestions which I can think of to further improvise this book:
~ To have a summary page that can be printed out for easy reference / teaching to child
~ Bible verse to be formatted in a text box which we can print out and glue on wall or in book for reference.

You can get this book from Amazon, the author's website and many more.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a PDF copy of the book 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 book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"