Common Core Quest

Common Core Quest is an excellent free Android app for Math & LA grades 6th on up, and aligned to Common Core Standards.  This app allows students to take practice quizzes to learn a large variety of concepts such as: functions, fractions, graphs and more.  Also, it tracks student progress as well as show the incorrect answer w/ links to walkthrough videos and games.  Students can then earn badges/ribbons for learning a Common Core Standard and teachers/parents can get detailed reports.

I highly recommend checking out Common Core Quest by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational Android Apps click here.

Below is a brief demo...

Clarisketch

Clarisketch is a new (beta) free Android app that I had the pleasure of learning about from Richard Byrne's amazing blog.  This is a simple app to use that allows a user to upload/take a photo and then edit it by drawing on it (similar to the iPad app Explain Everything).  Best of all, a user can then record their own voice to create their own narrations, tutorials, or even be used for digital storytelling.

I highly recommend checking out Clarisketch by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Android Apps click here.
For my Pinterest board on Digital Storytelling click here.

Math vs. Dinosaurs

Math vs Dinosaurs is the new free Android (Google Play) app by the creators of Zeus vs. Monsters.  As far as I'm concerned this is Peaksel's most robust app yet and great for Game Based Learning.  The game has dozen's of levels for student's to play through as they solve basic Math (i.e. addition, subtraction, etc) equations.  For those w/ other Peaksel games, they feature excellent graphics, high replay value, and fun game play.  Best of all, are the educator features that allow them to choose which numbers and type of equations that occur in the game.  Also, wrong answers reveal the correct answer as well as tracking student progress.

I highly recommend checking out Math vs. Dinosaurs by clicking here!!!

For more Peaksel games click here.

For my Pinterest board on Game Based Learning click here.
For my Pinterest board on Android Apps for Education click here.

Level it Books

Level it Books is a mobile app (iOS/Android) that I've blogged about many times because of how useful it is for educators, parents, and librarians.  This is a simple to use app that allows a user to scan a bar code (ISBN #) of a book and then have a Reading/Lexile Level generated.  This is ideal for the teacher who wants to create a class list of students and track their Reading Level too.  Also, a person can use it to create a "book of the day", upload their own book to the database, and create a wish list.

I highly recommend checking out Level it Books by clicking here!!!

*Level it Books is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Level it Books

Level it Books the wonderful iOS app for scanning a book and getting a Reading Level has just released an Android version.  This app is great for educators or parents looking to build a digital library of books for their kids by Reading Level.  Also, teachers can create a class list and monitor the  Reading Levels of their students, as well as manually search for books, and have a book of the day.

I highly recommend checking out Level it Books for Android by clicking here!!!

*Level it Books is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Zeus vs. Monsters

Zeus vs. Monsters is a fun Android app for practicing basic Math skills (addition, subtraction, division, etc).  It has users trying to defeat mythical enemies (i.e. Medusa, Cyclops) by trying to solve equations.  Best of all is the high replay value of the game w/ over 50 levels and 10 bosses to try to defeat.  Also, the game has a detailed report feature that shows exactly how well a student did and which problems they got wrong.

I highly recommend checking out Zeus vs. Monsters by clicking here!!!

Find Zeus vs. Monsters on Edshelf by clicking here.

Tic-Tac Bananas

Tic-Tac Bananas is a fun iOS/Android app that combines learning w/ Tic-Tac-Toe.  This is a 2 player game designed for kids 4-8 yrs old that focuses on: word recognition, phonics, and decoding.  The way this works is the first player taps on a square and then has to select the correct letter to spell out the picture.  If they are correct they get the square and the next player goes, if not the square is still open for anyone.  This is a fun simple game to play w/ high replay value for players.

I highly recommend checking out Tic-Tac Bananas by clicking here!!!

Froggy Phonics

Froggy Phonics is an excellent iOS/Android app for PreK-2nd grade students working on Phonics.  The way this works is a student guides a frog to jump from lily pad to lily pad collecting words that starts w/ a certain letter(s).  As the frog lands on the correct word they gobble up fireflies.  Once a user collects enough fireflies they unlock a "special" feature/photo.  The farther along a student goes the more words they'll unlock (over 900) as well as more boards and other characters.

I highly recommend checking out Froggy Phonics by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational iOS Apps click here.
For my Edshelf collection on Educational iOS Apps click here.

Creatorverse

Creatorverse is a fun free iOS/Android app that is perfect for sparking a kid's creativity.  This app focuses on scientific concepts such as: levers, pulleys, joints, and more as a user creates their very own invention and then puts it to motion.  This is a very user-friendly app that has users selecting from different shapes, connecting them, adding color, and then watching go into action.  Also, a user can browse through other creations and share theirs w/ others.

I highly recommend checking out Creatorverse by clicking here!!!

Below is a brief demo....



Thanks to Edshelf for the tip.

Nabi

This Christmas the kids were lucky enough to receive a Nabi 2 from Santa ;-)  I was very excited about this as we are predominately a iOS family and I have little experience w/ Android devices.  It's unfortunate that after spending a ton of time w/ the Nabi, I have lukewarm feelings at best.  The reason for this is simple, the user interface for the person setting up the Nabi is incredibly frustrating while the child interface is great.

Perhaps, it's because I'm used to working on iOS devices and the iPad but I expected the Nabi to be a lot easier to setup.  My first mistake was using the Nabi before I did any updates.  I highly recommend doing all updates before beginning to get familiar w/ the Nabi.  The reason for this is that the user interface changes once the updates are done and it will require time to get familiar w/ the new controls.  Also, while the Nabi does have a lot of great parental controls that other devices, say the iPad doesn't have, it would take a wizard to figure out how to use them.  For example, I set the default browser in the parental control as a kid safe browser.  This is not what I wanted, I thought it was for the browser my kids would be using not me.  I could not figure out how to switch it back, even after using Google.  (After searching the web, this is one of many issues people are having).

Besides the big learning curve to setup, my other big issue was the misleading information the Nabi gives out.  One of the big selling points of the Nabi is that "Good Morning Red Bird" time setting animation as well as other "goodies".  While I'm sure this works fine, I wouldn't know because what the Nabi doesn't tell you, is there is a fee to "unlock" that feature.  And while that fee might be minimal, on principal alone I don't want to pay for it as it was supposed to be included w/ the Nabi.  This goes for some of their educational curriculum as well.  For example, my 8 yr old son wanted to look through some of their Science apps and when he tapped on the Science button it asked for my password as well as another minimal payment to access it (I will pay in time to "unlock" all features of the Nabi).

As for the good stuff, my kids absolutely love us the Nabi.  We have plenty of iPads and iPhones in this household but all they want to play w/ is the Nabi.  I love how I was able to find them some Android apps that are not available on the iPad and they really like using those.  Also, the size, rub
ber protector case, and camera work nicely and make it easy for my kids to have fun and learn.

All in all, I'd have to say, I do like the Nabi, there is a big learning curve, but once you get passed that, it really is a fun/safe device for kids, and definitely worth the money.

I highly recommend checking out Nabi by clicking here!!!

Google Play for Education

Google Play for Education is a new dedicated online store that looks to be competing w/ Apple in using Android apps on Google tablets.  I've known about Google Play for awhile but recently read on ClassThink that Google Play is now available.  This is fantastic curated site for educational Android apps.  Best of all, a school using Google Play for Education can purchase an app online and then push them out to other devices.  Or they can create a "image" of a tablet and using a built in service on the tablet to transfer it to another.

I highly recommend checking out Google Play for Education by clicking here!!!

Below is a brief demo...

Gus on the Go

Gus on the Go is a fantastic iOS/Android app for students wanting to learn a language.  This is all done through a wide variety of games and exercises such as: matching, bubbles, horse racing and more.  All in all there are over 10 fun filled activities that students can do while exploring different maps and unlocking more and more features.  Just to give an example I let me 6 and 7 yr old try this app out first and they played it for about an hour before I could even sit down to check it out.

I highly recommend checking out Gus on the Go by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Foreign Languages click here.

Recycle Hero

Recycle Hero is a great Android/Google Play app that was formerly known as the iOS app Trash Chaos.  This is one of my favorite games for my kids that teaches them about recycling in a fun and engaging way.  There are lots of levels, characters, and worlds to play through.  Other versions such as iPad, Nook, Kindle, etc will be here this friday.

Click here for more info on Recycle Hero.

Appshed

Appshed is a site that reminds me a lot of Conduit Mobile which is for building mobile apps (iPhone/Android) in a few steps.  All a user has to do is select a template, customize a few things, add social media, and then publish.

I recommend checking out Appshed by clicking here!!!