We’re so excited for this! Welcome to Julie’s Library, where books bring us together. Every week, Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton will settle into the reading nook for a new story during their story time podcast. This is definitely one of our favorite things!
Our latest NAPPA Award winners bring fun and learning together.
A mobile app for kids that uses augmented reality to bring books to life. Choosing from an extensive library of AR books that features the best publishers such as Penguin Random House and DK, the child can learn, read and have fun at the same time. The books range from classics such as Peter Rabbit to Hasbro’s Transformers. Ages 3-8, $59.99, bookful.app
Provides a wonderful opportunity for kids to gain practical kitchen skills through preparing food from around the world. Step-by-step photography feature children from a wide range of backgrounds preparing dishes that reflect their unique food traditions. A pop-out food passport, world language flash cards, and flag stickers provide additional fun on their global food journey. Ages 8+, $18.95, www.storey.com
Created by a pediatric speech pathologist with the goal of uplifting, inspiring, nurturing and supporting those in the Special Needs Community. This album can also be enjoyed by all children. Each song allows children the opportunity to learn and demonstrate simple physical and gestural movements as well as to vocalize with repetitive, easy-to-make sounds. Ages 2-10, $15, theadrienneprocess.com
Start the important conversations about money early with this educational app. Kids will learn about money management, including saving, spending, investing and helping others through the app. Ages 6-16, $7.99/year, Busykid.com
With joyful illustrations and kid-friendly writing, this idea book serves as a delightful, easy-to-read collection of 125 concrete activities kids and their families can pick and choose from and act out in their daily lives — no special occasion required. Ages 5+, $12.95, storey.com
Every activist started out as a kid—and in some cases they were kids when their activism began! But even the world’s greatest champions of civil liberties had relatable interests and problems–often in the middle of extraordinary circumstances. Features kid-friendly texts and full-color cartoon illustrations on nearly every page. Ages 9-12, $13.95, quirkbooks.com
For more book and app reviews, visit NAPPA Awards. #playlearnconnect
Whether you’re enjoying a quiet day at home during the winter holidays or taking a road trip, these award-winning sites can be a fun companion for fun and learning.
This game show improves manners by teaching kids, in a fun way, to be polite and respectful. Special holiday offer is $1.99 (from November 25-January 5), 5-8, www.sirdapp.com
Hosted by children’s author and Scottish storyteller, Kathleen T. Pelley, who shares retellings of fairy tales and folktales, beloved classics, nonsense poems and a sprinkling of her own original tales, all with a distinctive Celtic flavor. Free, 3-10, www.journeywithstory.com
Ad-free audio streaming service curated exclusively for children, featuring podcast shows, stories and songs, as well as some of the best-known, award-winning kids’ podcasts, music and audiobooks from around the world. $7.99/month, $79.99/year, 3-12, www.pinna.fm
Features a huge library of games, videos and books featuring names like Peppa Pig, Dr. Panda, Toca Boca, Sesame Street, LEGO, Dr. Seuss, Thomas the Tank Engine and more, plus parental controls. only works on Samsung Galaxy devices. $4.99/month, 3-12, www.samsungkids.com
Offers online resources, tools and self-paced programs for K to 8 and various standardized exams such as the SAT and ACT. Free and paid subscriptions, 6+, www.argopreop.com
Wholesome, fun, informational and ad-free video website made just for kids. Designed to engage, inspire and grow young minds. $10/year, 2-6, www.videopoodle.com
Includes thousands of lessons across a variety of subjects, self-assessments and flashcards created by subject-matter experts. $39.99 to $59.99, grades 3-12 and college, www.study.com
Simply and securely share family photos and videos with only the people you invite, featuring free and unlimited storage. Keeps memories organized and creates collages. Free, www.family-album.com
Gives parents, teachers, grandparents and other special friends and family an opportunity to record their voices reading children’s stories. Synchronizes your video/audio recordings with the app’s illustrations and text from an award-winning collection of picture books. Free, 4-7, www.letsreadapp.com
Innovative, game-based adaptive early learning app that helps children build a strong understanding of number sense and operations. $9.99/month, $79.99/year, Preschool-2nd grade, www.ABCmouse.com
Discover 1000+ songs, nursery rhymes, games, stories and activities focusing on early learning, with no advertising. $4.99/month, $39.99/year, 1-7, www.kidloland.com
A fun way to help children develop computational thinking and programming skills in a creative and intuitive way featuring interactive game-based courses. $120/year, $240/lifetime, 5-15, www.tynker.com
Learn numbers, letters, phonics and more through playing 30+ activities.$4.99/month, $29.99/year, 2-5, www.drpanda.com
Your child becomes the chef of a busy seaside restaurant –slice up squid, asparagus, and candy canes, and roll it all up into a cone of seaweed. $3.99, 6-9, www.tocaboca.com
For more holiday gift ideas, visit NAPPA Awards. #holidaygifts #giftguide #playlearnconnect
Summer is filled with so many great memories — family vacations, beach days and fun with friends. Now you can easily and securely share all your favorite photos and videos with these NAPPA Award winners.
FamilyAlbum allows you to simply and securely share family photos and videos with only the friends and family members you invite. With free and unlimited storage, users can upload as many photos and videos as they like. FamilyAlbum keeps memories organized and creates collages to make look backs even more special. The app also includes special features to make communicating with the entire family easy and fun. Free.
The Nixplay Seed is the easiest way to share and enjoy your photos and videos. Using WiFi connectivity, instantly display photos and videos sent from anywhere in the world directly to your Nixplay frame using the mobile app keeping all your favorite memories, right at your fingertips.
For more product reviews, visit nappaawards.com
We have new award-winning apps that bring fun and learning together!
KidloLand is a comprehensive learning program for kids. Discover 1000+ songs, nursery rhymes, games, stories, and activities focusing on early learning, English, Math, coding, arts and more. The app also helps develop skills such as logical thinking, fine motor skills and creativity. KidloLand is regularly updated with new content and is also completely ad-free. $4.99/monthly, $39.99/annually, ages 1-7.
Get creative and learn about coding with Tynker’s innovative computing platform. A great way to help children develop computational thinking and programming skills in a fun and intuitive way. As they’re guided through interactive game-based courses, children quickly learn fundamental programming concepts. With Tynker, a child can apply their coding skills as they build games, tell stories, mod Minecraft, create apps, control drones and robots, and more. Parents can follow their child’s success and share their creations through a parent dashboard. $20/monthly, $120/annually, $240/lifetime, ages 5-15.
Dr. Panda & Toto are back in the brand new learning app “Dr. Panda Learn & Play”! Kids can play and learn numbers, letters, phonics and more through playing 30+ activities along with Dr. Panda, with more added all the time! Beyond games, books and videos, kids will also explore Dr. Panda & Toto’s world, play dress up, unlock new costumes, and discover all sorts of hidden activities around Dr. Panda’s home. $4.99/monthly, $29.99/annually, ages 2-5.
With Toca Kitchen Sushi, your child becomes the chef of a busy seaside restaurant. Slice up squid, asparagus, and candy canes, and roll it all up into a cone of seaweed! Or make stars and hearts of watermelon and mix them with fish and hot peppers! Want to make the roundest rice ball? You’ve got great tools for that right at your fingertips. Then see what your customers think. $3.99, ages 6-9.
For more product reviews, visit nappaawards.com. #playlearnconnect
As parents, we love when fun and learning come together. That’s why we’re so excited for these latest NAPPA Award winners.
Fun and etiquette come together with an animated silver-haired Schnauzer in the Sir Dapp! Game Show app. Children select from categories like “Sight What’s Polite,” “Historically Rude,” and “Trivia Soup,” with the main canine character, Sir Dapp, guiding them to complete fun raps, decide “who did it?,” figure out what is polite or rude and more. Occasional commercial “breaks,” PSA’s, and music videos with teaching messages further the game show theme. $3.99, ages 5-7.
Ready for a fun brain challenge? Jabuka will have you quickly twisting letters and transforming words in this clever and fast-paced word game. The playing pieces are shaped like coffee beans and packaged in a mini jute sack — perfect for on-the-go fun, especially when traveling. $20, ages 8+.
The Let’s Read app gives parents, teachers, grandparents and other special friends and family an opportunity to record their voices reading children’s stories. It’s fun and easy to use on your phone or tablet. The app synchronizes your video/audio recordings with the app’s illustrations and text from an award-winning collection of picture books. Families can then share their own personalized, read-aloud stories on a private, secure family network. Free, ages 4+
Videopoodle.com is a wholesome, fun and informational video website made just for kids. It is a positive and trusted environment, free of advertising and unsafe links, where children can safely watch responsibly made videos designed to engage, inspire and grow young minds. All of Video Poodle’s series, videos and content are written, designed and produced in-house. $10/yearly subscription, ages 2-6.
For parents looking to gain a greater understanding of their child’s screen use, we have two new NAPPA Award- winning Apps that help with the monitoring.
This app allows parents to more closely monitor their tweens’ and teens’ device use. The App will send all recorded data to a secure web-based account which allows parents to monitor remotely from any device. WebWatcher allows parents to view messages (texts, Facebook and other social media), call history, photos, website history, GPS and more.$10.83/month.
This app is designed to help parents gain a better understanding of just how much time their kids are spending on a screen. Includes a “pause button,” allowing parents to use their own smartphone to “pause” their child’s device remotely. The app also allows children to earn more screen time by doing specific things set up by the parents, such as chores or homework. Parents can also set daily screen time limits and block certain apps at specific times of day, in addition to many other useful features.$4.99/month.
Check out these terrific NAPPA Award-winning educational apps.
LetterSchool is a fun and educational App with a wonderful mission — teaching the world to read and write while having fun. The App includes educational games for young children learning to read to work on sight words with endings such as -ab, -et, -at and -ut to increasingly more challenging endings such as -ock, -eed, -ish, etc. The program’s challenges increase with the child. $9.99, ages: 2 – 8.
Kidomi is an app that combines fun and learning. Featuring hundreds of puzzles to solve, adventures to read, inventions to build, creations to make and games to play from the top global content creators that kids know and love including Toca Boca, Crayola, Sago Sago, Highlights for Children and more. New activities are added every day. $7.99 monthly or $59.99 annually, ages 3-8
Connected Kids is an online, self-directed study course that guides parents and educators to create and deliver mindfulness and meditations techniques that help kids and teens reduce anxiety and stress. Created by Lorraine E. Murray, author of “Calm Kids: Help Children Relax with Mindful Activities,” this program has been empowering adults to teach their kids and teens with mindful skills since 2003. A great way for adults to practice what they are teaching and for the whole family to learn these important skills. $230 for the course. For the entire family
These fun new mobile applications let kids of all ages learn and play all at the same time!
BusyKid – Allowance Simplified: BusyKid is the first and only app where children can learn how to earn, save, share, spend and invest real allowance. By completing weekly chores, children 5-16 get to earn money and experience some of the same financial situations they will face as adults. Earned allowance can be used to make donations, buy gift cards, get cash or buy fractional shares of real stock.
$14.95/yr per family
For kids aged 5 to 16
www.busykid.com
Joy land Mobile Application: Joyland is certified by the kidSAFE Seal Program and features 900+ educational activities (with new content delivered biweekly and new games are added monthly). Joyland provides learning information and skills based on Common Core States Standards.
Free to download
For kids 3 to 8 years
www.itunes.apple.com
PlayKids Mobile Application: PlayKids is an educational content platform that helps kids develop through apps. Our proposal is to provide a safe, non-advertising environment with expert-cured educational content ensuring that children are in constant contact with learning while having fun.
$9.99/month
For kids 2 to 8 years old
us.playkids.com
Kiddopia – Kids Learning Games: Kiddopia is a dynamic app that teaches a huge variety of skills to kids of younger ages. It covers everything from shapes, colors, alphabet, spelling, logic and patterns to creativity and self-expression and engages kids with its stunning visuals and exciting gameplay. Our games are designed by parents who know how to make the learning process as fun and intuitive as possible, and all of them are tested and approved by parents and kids alike.
$4.99
For kids 2-7 years old
www.paperboatapps.com
Fun English by Studycat: Fun English is designed for second language learners of English. It has been in the marketplace for 6 years and has been featured by Apple, Google and Amazon. It contains over 300 basic English words inside over 80 different game engines.
$14.99
For kids 3-8 years old
www.studycat.net
Toca Life: Hospital–Experience the excitement of a busy medical center with Toca Life: Hospital! Welcome newborn babies into the world, treat sick patients and even say goodbye to loved ones. Toca Life: Hospital is a place where you can play out the joy and pain of life in your own way.
$2.99
For kids 6-9 years old
www.tocaboca.com
Toca Life: Office–The Toca Life office looks a lot like a regular office — you can have everyday fun with laptops, printers and copy machines; have lunch in the cafe; and get cash from the bank. But in Toca Life, even simple office life can lead to an exciting adventure! Find hidden surprises. Hop into a helicopter. Turn regular people into superheroes! Where will you work today?
$2.99
For kids 6-9 years old
www.tocaboca.com
IXL Learning App
IXL is a fun and education App, offering a personalized learning experience that sparks curiosity and builds confidence for all learners in math, language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish. Featuring more than 7,000 skills, IXL introduces new concepts at the perfect time and right difficulty level, and continues to adapt with learners as they grow. And, IXL’s diverse problems, fun visuals, and awards keep learners engaged and eager to learn more.
Starting at $9.95/month
For kids 3-18
https://www.ixl.com
Kidlo Coding Games For Kids
Get your kids coding in no time with Kidlo Coding Games For Kids, a fun app to teach kids (5-9 yrs) basic programming concepts like sequencing, loops and functions. Includes 50+ interesting games.
Free
For kids 5-9
http://www.kidlocoding.com/
Wuf Shanti’s Yoga Fun Machine Mindful Mobile App
Wuf Shanti is an adorable dog yoga character that travels the world sharing yoga, meditation, & mindfulness with kids through fun games & music. The OMazing free mindful mobile app (complete with videos, music, and games) is available for download on both Apple and Android devices.
Free
For kids 3+
http://wufshanti.com/mindful-mobile-app/
