Another EYFS /KS1 computing app

I have been playing with the Foos this morning and it's another nice free app for EYFS and KS1. 

It uses drag and drop blocks that scaffold learning. 

You can change the direction of your blocks by clicking on them, then select from arrows.

After you have mastered basic walking and jumping, it introduces the repeat command.

That's as far as I've got at the moment, but I can see that children will enjoy playing with it from what I have played. I will try it with my mini digital leaders next week. It requires some computational thinking, though doesn't challenge like other apps by asking children to think too much about direction. This is good for the children who find apps such as Beebot too challenging. 

 My only other criticism so far is that you don't have to be overly precise with the jumping/adding blocks. I was successful even when my code wasn't quite accurate. A nice start to early coding though.

Bugs and numbers

This is another lovely EYFS/SEN app made by Little Bit Studio. Like Bugs and Buttons, the graphics and the music are appealing and of high quality. There is a range of games to play, to enhance early maths skills from counting and adding to time and fractions.

As with the last app I reviewed, there is a handy finger to give you a hint should you need it.

The first game I played was number recognition and ordering to 100. If you get the order wrong you get an 'oops', but then continue from where you were, which is good.

At the end you get a score, which I would then encourage children to try and beat.

The next game I looked at was a sequencing game. It shows you the order of the xylophone, which you then shake up before replicating. A nice matching/sequencing game. 

The time game is a simple match the analogue to digital time. I only played this briefly so it may go past hour times. It scaffolds learning by showing the time as you move the small hand, then the train chuffs away if you match the time correctly. 

The adding game uses ants as visual, which I know will appeal to children. It is a great game for independent work for a child with SEN in my class as I know he will experience lots of success with it-which it more important than challenge at times. 

The music is appropriate for each game, with a lovely Italian favour during pizza fractions! 

The measuring lab had suitably scientific kooky music too. If you weren't watching your child at play, you would know exactly what they were doing.

There is also some lovely humour too - during game show addition and subtraction (level 1) I was told that I am a super genius! ☺️ That's what I tell my children all the while!

I haven't played all the games in the app, but from the ones I have played I would recommend it as another quality app for early years education. I will definitely be using this in class.

Bugs and buttons

This morning I am exploring some more apps that are great for EYFS and children with SEN in ks1. Little Bit studio have made a range of 'bug' apps that look beautiful, because of the brightly coloured high-definition graphics. They definitely feel like the high quality resource you would want to be using in the classroom. 

Learning and exploring through play is key for our youngest children and Bugs and Buttons 2 lets children do this. There are 18 games within the app, with different environments for your child to explore. It covers a range of skills, from counting and sorting to manipulating and early computing (computational thinking) skills. The latter happens as children have to think about what they need to do to be successful within the games. It's nice that the games don't get too hard, too quickly, but that is a bit frustrating for me as a reviewer, so I have bought it for my favourite little beta tester to trial too (thanks Ruby!) I will share her views once I have them. 

A quick snapshot of some of the games

The first game I played was a simple match the button to the trolley game. I realised quite soon that you could speed it up by adding more buttons to each trolley, then got it wrong when I was matching by colour, but not by button. Early computational thinking. At one point it seemed quite frantic (in a good way) as I was trying to put all the buttons I had on screen into the trolleys before they rolled away. A nice matching game.

The next game I played is a 1:1 correspondence game, whereby you have to give the right dish of treats according to the number of bugs. It has nice background music for an app- well it didn't irritate me like some have! Before starting the game there is a helping hand to give a hint about what to do. 

This game is a lovely manipulation game that I shall try with a child in my class. (If you use your personal ipad in class it is important that you lock it to the one app so that they don't go wandering.) In this game you pinch the screen to create an elastic band, to bounce the buttons so that they don't hit the bugs. Lovely! 

I will be having a look at the other games, but for just over £2 I really don't think you can go far wrong! Here are the other games that you can play.

I will add my beta testers reviews once I have them, so come back and check them out soon - or subscribe to updates. If you have any thoughts, please comment below!

App reviews from a gorgeous little beta tester!

On Friday I took my iPad with me to the prison cafe, because I had a perfect little beta tester for some of the apps I have reviewed previously. The apps I wanted testing were 3 problem solving activities for EYFS: Petites Choses, Toca Robot lab and Toca hair salon. 

I was interested to see how long the first would take her to complete and how long the Toca apps would keep her amused. Petites Choses , which is available for android too, was free last week and I enjoyed playing then reviewing it. I completed it very quickly, but thought that it would keep a young child amused for much longer. It didn't really, in fact Ruby managed to complete the television challenge more quickly than both Jenni and I did - and we have a combined age of over 80!! Ruby enjoyed playing it though and quickly learned how to navigate around the app and she understood  the expectations of the puzzles with very little input from the adults watching her play. 

Ruby really enjoyed Toca Robot Lab, which I have reviewed here, because she loved making the different robots. She showed fantastic perseverance soon after starting when she got her robot stuck in a tricky position. It is super for developing logical thinking in our young children. Ruby realised that she had to collect stars and was delighted when she had collected 3 within a level. She enjoyed seeing her certificates when she completed the level and then enjoyed creating new robots each time. I may have spoilt her problem solving skills by telling her to avoid the magnet after she had been whizzed off screen a few times in a row. I'm sure she would have worked it out for herself, but equally she may not have had enough experiences with magnets to understand what was happening. She would have kept playing this had I not offered her another app to play, Toca Hair Salon, which I will review very soon (I thought I had done so already!) 

Ruby brings the mighty FC into the 21st century!

The great thing about this app, compared to the other two, is that  it allows children to explore their creativity, whilst making things happen. Ruby chose her 'model' then proceeded very quickly to select the hairdressing tools to change the hair styles. She showed obvious enjoyment at cutting, combing, colouring and drying her models hair. She explored the app independently and it kept her amused for a long while. It kept us amused watching her creations! 

When she got home I believe mum was on strict orders to get some of these apps onto her iPad! I think they have proved to be quality apps for children in EYFS, though I'd love to know which one she would return to first if she had her choice, and how long they would keep her amused when she is more familiar with them. I certainly think they are valuable apps for EYFS education and they are a super introduction to the new computing curriculum. For more quality early years apps, follow the EYFS tag below. 

Snow White - Another Gorgeous Nosy Crow Fairytale App

I have had the Nosy Crow Three Little Pigs and Cinderella apps on my iPad since they first came out and they were two of the first apps to appear on Ipads in Primary because of their high quality and, more importantly, my children's response to them. I added Snow White to my collection today - the newest of the Nosy Crow apps. which you can also see on the Nosy Crow website (there are some film clips and links that I haven't included here). 

I also realised that there is a Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and The Beanstalk app too, which I must have missed at some point during my career change. I have limited time for app reviews and the computing curriculum seems to keep me busy! I shall review these at some point though as these apps are so important for developing children's love of stories - and I am intrigued by the fact that these two are not linear narratives and children can create their own stories by following different paths. 

 Snow White is similar to the other apps in that there are lots of ways that you interact with the story, such as moving the characters, making them speak and making things happen (like tidying things up). In old ICT money you would be modelling effects on screen, in the new computing curriculum you are using technology purposefully to organise and manipulate digital content. 

So, the app. It is as delightful as I expected it to be! The story sticks to the traditional tale, but has been brought into the 21st century with some lovely features. For example, it made me say 'ooh' when I appeared in the mirror and then again in the pond, because it wasn't expected. I would love to see the reaction from a child (though I'm not sure their awe and wonder will differ that greatly from mine!) I will find out!

As with the other apps blue dot appears to point the way if you are not sure what to do next and it also helps to keep the dialogue in some kind of order (although that is not always essential to the story and the way the app works). 

Other nice touches are counting to 10 whilst picking flowers 

matching socks and lots of other interactivity whilst cleaning the dwarfs' cottage. 

There is a handy storyboard to retell the story in your own words - or to use in class, which is what I shall probably do with it. I have been playing for around 30 minutes and am just over half way through (that is a guesstimate, I wasn't timing). 

Snow White has all the features that you come to expect from Nosy Crow and I think the use of children's voices and sound effects add to the storytelling. You can read yourself or have the story read to you, with the words turning red as they are spoken. 

As with Cinderella, the way that the characters are portrayed adds to the story. Can you tell I love it?!

Bossy Ugly Sisters

A lovely Fairy Godmother

There really are some magical elements to the stories and the illustrations are just gorgeous. 

You really do feel like you are part of the story when you do things like swoosh the knitting needles to create the carriage and Cinderella's dress.

Magic knitting needles

There are elements of humour throughout and lots of things to share if you are looking at these with young children. I have shared them with my class and friends' children and they have absolutely loved exploring the pages.

As children become familiar they will no doubt be happy to explore the stories in their own.

I know some of you might be sceptical about digital books for children. As a reader, I jump from reading on my kindle, to iPad, to paperback and hardback books. I've yet to pursue the audio route, though have often regretted not having something to listen to when I'm driving distances. Nosy Crow have provided traditional stories, beautifully done, that will entertain children for a long while and I think these are a valuable addition to a child's storybook collection. I'd love to know what your child thinks about these apps if you have them.

Delightful problem solving app for EYFS

I have looked at two apps today that I got via apps gone free (the latter from last week).

Petite Chose is a delightful little problem solving app that an adult will complete in minutes, but will keep our youngsters going a bit longer. There is a bird in a cage with coloured padlocks that you need to find keys for. 

You are then guided to a street and to certain rooms to solve problems,

such as making the televisions work and

matching pairs in the windows. 

Some problems are more simple, but still require thinking about them.

On this one you place the keys on the piano 

and this one the cars become musical instruments. I am sure that there is music to accompany these, but for some reason it wouldn't work. 

A handy finger points the way if your child gets stuck, so they are completely supported whilst thinking. In some ways I think the finger appears too quickly, but I would have to watch a child playing to see if this is true. 

If you are a parent who plays this with your child I would love to know your thoughts - please leave a comment!

The second app is more of a 'do not purchase' warning. I don't usually write about apps that I feel are not good quality, but would hate for anyone to be enticed by Monster maths. The following photos should tell you why.

Twice in a row I was asked to find calculations that = 4 (after finding calculations that = 2 then 3) and the sums were very similar - no progression for multiplication and division.

The thing that made me delete it was the way that the monster defeated the aliens - by hitting them on the head with hammers. Not the sort of behaviours you'd want excitable infants to observe. I deleted it after playing for around 10 minutes. Not impressed.