Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

*This post was originally written in 3-17-2008. I wanted to re-post it for those of you looking for a fun way to celebrate this year My kiddos still talk about it.

Those tricky leprechauns somehow turned all the water in our faucets green this AM! The toilets flushed green water, too! It was a big mystery for a while but then the boys started to figure bits and pieces of it out. They guessed that the Leprechauns must have put green paint or something in the faucets. After a lot of fun and teasing I brought out the fizzy tablets from Steve Spangler that does this. They had fun mixing the colors…Carter did not know that yellow and blue make green…I just assumed he learned that in Kindergarten (maybe he was absent that day, lol). Connor remembered back to 4th grade where I taught him chromatography and made black with the primary colors. Thank you Leprechauns for the fun color reminder and for leaving us extra fizzy tabs to play with!

5 Educational Apps For iPhone

I love my iPhone. From it I can rule my kingdom (or at least pretend to) but apps on my phone have been really good for my kids as well. I have loaded a ton in the last two years and here are the 5 we happen to love the most right now. The really great thing about this is that you can squeeze a little learning time into the 5 minutes you are waiting here and there.

1. Dinosaurs-The American Museum of Natural History Collections: This starts out as a mosiac of a t-rex which breaks down into thousands of gorgeous photos of dinosaurs. This is a really extensive collection and I find the boys hopping around from one thing to another on it. Best part is ITS FREE!
2. iKnow Math Dojo-my kids have been playing this on iKnowThat.com for a really long time so it was a natural app to get when it came out. Kids can practice their math facts (there are an addition-subtraction and multiplication-division versions) by helping Leon the turtle practice his karate kicking skills. The app works just like the online game and we have been pleased with its performance. $1.99.
3. b&n eReader-I may be partial to this one because anything we buy for the Nook can be transferred over to my sons iPhone. Saves me a ton of time when something comes up on his K12 reading list. No more “but mom I am waiting for you to go get the book” and since he is so addicted to his phone he can never tell me that he doesn’t have a book to read. The app is free, the book downloads are not.
4. Space Images-This free app comes from NASA. Like Dinosaurs, the photos are amazing. You can view all the latest images sent from the JPL spacecraft. They have some very cool images that I have not seen anywhere else.
5. Rush Hour-This is the same puzzle game that many of us (or our kids) played when they were younger except you don’t have to put up with all the lost cars that come with the plastic version Strangely addicting little puzzle game that takes the plastic version to new levels. Gives hints and strategies with it. $.99

Bonus: This one is not educational. It is just bizarrely fun and addicting. The whole object is to make the Doodle Jump. That’s it. Just make him keep bouncing up. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

What about you? What are your favorite educational apps? What am I missing?

PS….My friend, Lori, wrote a post on Fun Websites To Enhance Your Child’s Learning so if you don’t have an iPhone (or even if you do) head over there and find some other cool resources. She is a new blogger so give her some love

« Previous Page — Next Page »