I'm a full-time mummy

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

* Title: The Adventures of Slibby the Snail: The stolen food HD
* Price: $2.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Jun 28, 2012
* Version: 1.0
* Size: 141 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Ivan Kules © CoolAsh Studio 2012
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Description from the product page:

"Introducing The Adventures of Slibby the Snail storybook, a story about funny snail named Slibby. Slibby lives in Porchlandia and he is helping his friends the Ants to find some stolen food. Along the way, Slibby needs to solve a lot of quests to find that stolen food. For example, he needs to solve a puzzle,  connect the dots to find a leaf, find some differences on two images, and a lot lot more. On his journey, Slibby will meet various Ants, an Old Tree and a Grasshopper. When he finds that stolen food, he will also find himself in trouble, and he will need assistance from his new friends and from you – the reader!"

What's good?

* I love the beautiful illustrations and the storyline about a snail helping out his friends (the ants) to find their stolen food and how we have to help him solve puzzles and games in order to complete his quest!

* I am very excited to see some of the puzzles and games in this appbook such as the maze (help Slibby the Snail to find its way home) and the jigsaw puzzle (help repair Slibby's shell) These are some of the activities I do with my 3 year old boy on daily basis as part of our relax learning method and I am glad to see my boy able to grasp this puzzles and games faster.

* I am also happy to see my boy being able to complete the game where he has to connect the dots to find a leaf. This type of exercise are currently not started in our learning lessons yet as I am still teaching him to count from 1 to 10 (verbally)

Room for Improvement?

* I would prefer that the animals names are easier to pronounce or better if they could rhyme together, such as Sally the Snail or Annie the Ant or Hopper the Grasshopper.

* I find that the game where we have to find the differences on two images a bit difficult for my 3 year old boy to comprehend and I would prefer it if the 2 images are shown vertically instead of horizontally (reflection in the water against the image above water) but perhaps children of older age group will be able to grasp and solve this game.

* I would recommend that the flowers matching game be revised a little bit. Currently when you touch a flower, it will change color and glows making it difficult to remember the original color of the flower. Perhaps the flower could be outlined with a blinking line so that we know we selected the flower and also know the color we selected?

You can purchase the "The Adventures of Slibby the Snail: The stolen food HD" app from the iTunes App Store.

The iphone/ipod touch version and details can be found here.

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"

This is the 2nd app I get to review from Playtend in my search to get more educational preschool apps for Ben. In case you want to find out what is the first app, you can checkout my review on ABC 123 Blocks post. Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: Counting Ants
* Price: $1.99
* Category: Education
* Updated: Mar 20, 2012
* Version: 2.0
* Size: 14.8 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Playtend Apps LLP
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Description from the product page:

"Counting Ants is a great app for early learning - perhaps the best way to help your toddler practice counting to ten on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. It's also a great way to introduce your kids to a foreign language. This app features adorable ants that zip around in their cars, while teaching kids the basics of counting in 10 languages. The app automatically rotates through five minigames to keep your toddler engaged while they learn to count.

Minigames include:
* Count the ducks
* Count the fish
* Count the fruit
* Count the train cars
* Find the number

The minigames and toddler-friendly interface make learning incredibly easy and fun. The scenes are fully interactive and simple for young children to control even if they don't yet know how to read."

What's good?

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

* I love the minigames as I think it definitely keeps the attention and interests since there are many different scenes to look at and played with.

* Ben enjoys this game as it has cars and trains in it (boyish genre, yes!) and this app will definitely be used again and again!

Room for Improvement?

* I would prefer if the number 7 is redesigned as it currently looks kind of like the number 1. My boy gets confused at times when he tries to look for these 2 numbers.

You can purchase the " Counting Ants " app from the iTunes App Store. 

I am so excited to be able to hold this giveaway for my lucky blog followers and readers! FIVE of you lucky people are going to win a copy of this educational and useful app! You will absolutely love it! Now, let's read below for the giveaway terms and conditions OK?

To enter the giveaway, kindly read and follow the instructions as stated in the Rafflecopter form below.

• You can enter either via login through your Facebook account or just key in your name and your valid email address.
  
• Please also leave your valid email address in the post comment so that I can contact you if you win this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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"

I've been doing iPad app reviews for a year now! And this is the first time my hubby MSN-ed me a link to this website saying 'Check out this website! It's so CUTE!' So, yeah, if my man said some website is cute, I have to check it out! And boy oh boy, it is cute! And they have loads of cute apps too! So yes, I told my hubby I'm so going to pitch this company and see whether I can review their apps or not! Few days later I got the reply and yes! This is the result! Below is the first review (I requested for 2 apps to review):

* Title: ABC 123 Blocks = Learning Tool For Toddlers
* Price: $1.99
* Category: Education
* Updated: May 10, 2011
* Version: 4.0.1
* Size: 28.9 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Playtend Apps LLP © 2009 The Guys In The Booth
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later.

Description from the product page:

"Help your toddlers and preschoolers learn and grow with ABC 123 Blocks, Learning Tool for Toddlers. It's full of educational activities optimized for early learning on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

 * ABCs - kids can flip through the letters of the alphabet and match them with images of animals below. A is for Alligator, B is for Bear, etc. Features sounds for both letters and the animals.
* 123s - kids can tap numbers, hear them pronounced and see animations illustrating the numbers.
* Shapes - kids can match triangles, rectangles, and circles and practice learning their colors.
* Music - kids can play a mini piano and experiment with composing their own songs.
* Letters - kids can trace the letters of the alphabet using the color of their choice. Also features full sound for the alphabet.
* Matching - kids can practice matching skills with an animal shapes puzzle that features hundreds of different configurations
* Coloring Book featuring dozens of drawings, as well as a full selection of colors and brush sizes
* Connect the Dots counting game featuring dozens of animal drawings"

What's good?

* The illustrations are really cute and pleasing to the eyes!

* There are a total of 8 mini games in this app which I find some are suitable to what I've been exposing Ben to lately. Games such as Matching (where you match the animals to its shadows), Shapes (where you find and match the same shapes by its shape and colors), Coloring and Connect the Dots.

* I let Alyson (9 months old) played on the Music game and she just happily taps along hahah...

* I am impressed with Ben's performance in the Shapes game where I noticed him easily finding and matching the same shapes by its shape and colors. I have previously just let him try out 1 similar activities and those are on paper (from our activity book) and I'm happy to see him applying his knowledge in this app without much coaxing and teaching too! He matched the shapes so fast that I can't get a proper picture of him solving it! Arghhh!!

Room for Improvement?

* I would love it if the game selection is easier to choose. Instead of dragging and dropping the game icon to the center play area on the screen, it would be better if I just tap on the icon and the game loads into the play area.

* Other than the above, nothing to complain about!

You can purchase the " ABC 123 Blocks = Learning Tool For Toddlers" 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"