Then we got my mom a Kindle Fire for Mother's Day. Approximately two seconds after they saw her the next day, Jason discovered it and began to play. He loves that thing. Then he remembered mom has an IPad...and well, you all can guess where that led us.
Now IPad time is a nightly reward. Sigh. (And gone are the days I had it all to myself.)
Anyway, I thought I'd document some of the Apps we've been using.
The first Apps are leveled learning games. Shawn works on the Preschool/Kindergarten level (although I imagine he'll outgrow that level before too long) while Jason plays the first grade level.
It's amazing what the boys do on these programs! Shawn is working on spelling three letter words--the program calls out a word and provides the letters while Shawn decides which letters go where in the word. He is also working on matching, simple addition, and subtraction.
Jason's level is pretty mind blowing. For someone who has yet to enter school, he is doing some pretty advanced skills. Today, he was working on creating compound words. Granted, he was hit and miss with his success level as it was his first try, but still. He was doing it. I KNOW it won't be long before he has it mastered.
Another App that Shawn likes is the Team UmiZoomi App. I think more than anything, he likes this App because it has characters he recognizes. Frankly, it is more appropriate for younger preschool age kids, but he likes it. Jason played it once and hasn't asked for it again.
The Teach Me Kindergarten App is one we have just started. Shawn is not a totally convert yet, but what I like about this App is that it keeps a record of the kid's progress on various skills as he works his way through the different activities. Hopefully Shawn will start to be more enthused about it if for no other reason than it's cool (for me) to watch how much he's learning.
Jason likes to play this Reading Raven Vol 2 App. No, we do not have any idea what volume 1 is, but it hasn't mattered. This App is truly language based. It asks for kids to be more discriminating as they work (by asking him to find the word "file" while providing words like "fine" and "tile" as other answer choices). The reward for the various tasks he completes is a digital sticker, which Jason is all over even though it doesn't seem all that exciting to me. lol. That just shows you what I know, right?
As we were scrolling through the App choices, this one, Jake's Never Land Pirate School, caught their eyes. We HAD to have it only to find they are not interested in it in the least. Lesson learned.
Jason is in love with the Snail Bob App. Bob is a snail that must make it through various scenes/obstacles as he works his way to finding his grandpa. Jason thinks it is HILARIOUS to watch poor Bob succumb to electrical shock frying him to a crisp or wind storms turning him to dust or aliens eating him. Together we try to figure out how to get Bob safely through each level all while Jason laughs hysterically. :)
The last App is not exactly a learning game, but Jason loves it nonetheless. The character is chased through a temple by a bird monster type creature. If it catches you, the creature tears you to shreds and eats you. Um, yeah it isn't all that educational or anything unless you take into consideration that you earn coins as you play and can redeem the coins for various upgraded characters.
One of them he has named Foxy. Jason was quite proud of himself when he "bought" her.
He settled on Foxy because he wanted to buy something but didn't have enough coins to buy his true love, Karma.
With grandma's help he eventually earned enough to buy her, too. Oh that was a happy day!
I don't even want to think about what moral implications this will have on his psyche! Ahem.
