+5 Ipad Apps You’ll Love -#1

Have you recently bought an ipad and are wondering what you should load it up with? Or are you looking for some new favorites to add to your collection? Here are 5 of our favorites! (just click on the thumbnail below to see the app in itunes) I will be continuing this series as we find new favorite apps I think you will like!

This wonderful Toy Story Disney Book App is FREE!  You can have the book read to you, read it yourself, record yourself reading the book, and turn music from the soundtrack on/off. There are short animated scenes within the book. You can also ‘color’ one of three scenes, listen to 2 full songs from the movies, or play one of 2 games – Parachute Drop or Toy Barn Maze. This is one amazing FREE app!

Bugs & Buttons is one of our FAVORITE apps – very worth the $2.99! This app has 18 fun, educational games in stunning color and beautiful graphics. Each game is different – mazes, pinching bugs, sorting, color lightening bugs, letter train, connect the dots, and so many more. With varying degrees of difficulty your preschooler, elementary, and hubby will all be equally excited to play! I was introduced to this app by J Daniel 4’s Mom – a great blog filled with inspiration, Read Learn Explore Weekly Link-up, and wonderful ideas for activities based on books.


As you know, I am a HUGE Disney fan so it is probably no surprise to you that my kids & I fell in love with this {FREE} Disneyland App. The beautiful images of all the park favorite rides, characters, and tons of interactive screen will be an instant hit for children who love Disney, want to reminisce about a family vacation, get excited about a future trip, or just play some simple, fun games this exploring Disneyland App is SUPER! As you span around the park the music will change with the scene. Click on objects in the picture to see additional pictures, short videos, and some really fun interactive games – Use binoculars to spot the snowman on the Matterhorn, turn the crank to see/here children from It’s a Small World, interactive scene on Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, shoot canons at the ships on Pirate of the Caribbean,  use touch to make your own fireworks over the nighttime castle, watch short cartoons in Mickey’s House, and so much more!

If you have a Curious George fan at your house you are definitely going to want to pay the $1.99 for Curious George at the Zoo. In this app your kids can wash, feed, and interact with zoo animals. There are also educational videos with some beautiful images and great information. As of right now you can only play on the farm, although there are other habitats coming soon. There is also a game and a sticker album to play with (you get stickers as you help the animals). This is a lot of fun for the 3-6 year old crowd.

   My son LOVES Mathopolis. You can click on the Lite version to try it for free or get the full version for $0.99! My son loves the app because he is a firefighter who solves the math problems to put out the fires; if he gets them wrong the windows break or get boarded up. I love this app because it is way more fun to learn your math facts playing an interactive fun game than doing dry math facts like when I was in school. Whether you homeschool or just want an app to help your child practice, you are going to love the versatility. You can tell it to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or all of them. You also customize what numbers are used from 0s to 12s or any combination of those numbers. As if that weren’t enough, you can also choose to either do them in training/non timed mode (perfect for those just learning) or easy/medium/hard levels to challenge your children (or yourself) with increase speed. This simple, effective app is a must-have in my ipad!
I’d love to know if you find a new family favorite from my list above! I’ll continue the series as long as I see an interest and have favorites to share =-)