The other day, I was thinking about just how far we have come with technology. Back in September, I saw a video that demonstrated what Corning is doing. I wonder how soon those technologies will be commonplace in our homes.

I have seen computers start as room-sized behemoths. Now, their are itsy bitsy hold-in-your-hand size.

For the last twenty years, children started learning keyboarding skills in grade school.  (I didn’t learn how to type until I was in the 9th grade.) Now, with the advent of the iPad (and other technologies that are copying Apple), children learn touch and swipe skills.  Much easier than typing for wee fingers to learn, don’t you think?

And in today’s world, there are educational apps galore.  When my children were growing up, books, flashcards, and Sesame Street were the options.

These apps make learning way fun for children, parents, and grandparents.  For instance, take the app Pre-K Letters and Numbers by BrightStart.

With this app, pre-kindergarten children learn their upper case and lower case letters.  They learn common phonemes (letter combinations such as ‘ch’ and ‘sh’) and numbers.

As you can see by the picture to the left, the app displays numbers that give direction as to the correct way to ‘write’ it. Your grandchild simply follows the number and traces the letter with her finger.

When she successfully completes it, a corresponding picture is shown.  With the uppercase letters, the pictures are of fruit. Lower case letters show pictures of animals.

The app displays an assortment of items when your grandchild works on numbers and phonemes.

Here are two of my favorite pictures in the program. (That’s because I love elephants and I love cherries.)

This app teaches and reinforces visual recognition of letters and numbers. It helps children develop their fine motor skill. Their counting skill is reinforced.

I like the soft pastel colors of this app and the pictures for the numbers and the letters.

I do have a small concern. Some of the examples used are not common. How many children are familiar with xiguas or narwhales or wildebeests? (How many parents and grandparents are??)

Parents and grandparents are probably familiar with newts and huckleberries but these items are not common for children in the pre-k age group. I know how hard it is to find example of words for letters like q, x, and z. However, I would suggest that the developers see if they could replace their uncommon examples with something a little more familiar.

Another suggestion I have is that it would be nice to be able to choose different melodies. The same one over and over and over gets a tad annoying. (I wonder if children would get tired of hearing the same tune all of the time . . .)

You can have up to 5 users for this game. You can register (for free) and then see a report card for them. The report card tracks total plays and time spent on the game. It shows the rate that a child successfully ‘writes’ the letters or numbers. It identifies spots where children have struggled. (I have a problem keeping my fat fingers within the lines when going around curves…) It even shows how many tries it took to complete the letter/number.

I really like the report card. Parents and grandparents can see where a child is struggling and then have the child practice more on the problem spot.

There is a free version of this app but it only has a few numbers and letters.  For only $0.99, you can get the complete application.

I would give this app 4 stars out of 5.

This app works on an iPhone or an iPad. It would be a great little Christmas gift to give to your grandchild’s family.  Or put it on your own iPhone/iPad for your grandchildren to play when they come for a visit.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this application for reviewing purposes. However, that did not influence my opinion.

The other day I was contacted by a sweet Russian mother, Irina, who has a 7 year old son.  She shared with me how her son sometimes had nightmares from the stories she read him at bedtime. She didn’t like that so she decided to do something about it.

She co-founded AppGrade, a company that develops applications for the iPhone and iPad. Their team of writers, artists, and developers from around the world (Russia, Holland, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the U.S.) developed Clever Tales, a collection of 40 tales (with original artwork) for children.  The stories are divided into two groups — one for preschool age and one for children 7 years and older.  The stories teach good values such as cooperation, kindness, working together, and selflessness.

My favorite story was The Two Chefs.  Here is a screen shot of the story and some accompanying pictures. (I love the pointy nose on the skinny chef!)

Here is a screen shot of A Tower of Bricks.

Here’s a screen shot from a story about hedgehogs. Our youngest son was enamored at one time with hedgehogs.  He wanted one for Christmas.  Hedgehogs were not available in the local pet stores.  (What a relief!)  I think he would have enjoyed me reading this story to him!

This application also has music to accompany the tales.  You can put it on sleep mode.  After you finish reading, the gentle music will play for twenty minutes and then shut off.  I really like this feature!

You can bookmark your favorite stories for easy access.  You can personalize it: change the size of the font, set it for day mode or night mode (which has a dimmer light so the light isn’t so bright), have larger sized images, change the background color, and the theme.

I think that the stories for younger children should have a wee bit more images.  I personally think that it’s hard to hold the attention of preschoolers with lots of text and not very many pictures.

If you have an iPad or iPhone, this would be a fun application to have when your grandchildren come for a visit.  Especially if they are spending the night with you!

You can get it for $4.99 in the Apps Store in iTunes.

(Disclaimer: I was given a promo code so that I could review this application)

Last week, a wonderful lady contacted me about an app for the iPhone that she has created.

Let’s pause here for a moment.

I took a computer programming class eons and eons ago (well at least a long time ago in technology chronology).  I learned lots.  Like the fact that I didn’t want to spend my life looking for errant semi-colons and brackets in computer programs that I wrote.

However, I thought I was a pretty hot shot beginning programmer when I created a fun little program that was like the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books that my children enjoyed while they were in grade school.  But that programming euphoria dissipated as I realized programming wasn’t for me.

While I don’t know the exact age of the woman who created the application that I’m going to talk about, I do know that I can claim her as a peer.  I am SO impressed that she (at her age) knows how to develop applications for the iPhone.  I’m even MORE impressed to know that she taught herself how to code for the iPhone.  Let’s bow down and worship her — and give her a big round of applause.  (Clap, clap, clap.)

Now.   Back to our regularly scheduled post.

Dawn has created the application ItsAGranddaughter with companion programs for a grandson, son, daughter, niece, nephew, and twins.

The idea is that after you’ve been snapping photos with your iPhone of the new darling little grandchild, you can add one of twelve background designs, all of the birth stats, and then e-mail the photo to all of the folks in your contact list on your phone.  (That’s grandma’s bragging on steroids!)

I don’t have pictures of our new granddaughter, Kaylissa, on my phone (because I had my camera there that took higher quality pictures).  However, I did have a couple of our other granddaughter and used those pictures to try out this application.  They weren’t taken when she was born but that’s okay.  They will still work.

The pictures here are examples of what the program creates.  (The cute pink background is my favorite background!)

This program is exceptionally easy to use.  Maybe I’d better qualify that a little.  If you know how to use your iPhone it is easy.  (I know people who only know how to call out and receive calls on their phones.  Those folks might need someone to provide a wee bit of tech support at first. But just a little bit because the program is so simple to use.)

You can find these wonderful applications at http://www.dawnkempf.com.

There’s only one eensy weensy bug with the program in my humble opinion.  You can’t have a weight that is in even pounds (like six pounds even).  You cannot set the ounces to zero.  While that really isn’t a big deal, it doesn’t let you give the correct birth weight if the baby weighed say an even seven pounds.

Don’t have an iPhone?  (My sympathies go out to you.)  However, do the parents of your grandbaby have an iPhone?  If so, you could give the gift of this application at a baby shower or before the baby was born so that the proud parents can be ready to shout out to the world that their little bundle of joy has arrived.

Now, I just need to get the application ItsAGrandson and then I’ll be set for the arrival of our next grandchild regardless of what flavor it is.  (My phone is ready, are my children ready to give me another grandchild???)