Today’s English & French Freebies

Here are few apps for kids that may be of interest to families with younger children. All are available today for free.

The English freebies are:

Montessori ABC for Kids HD: Learn and Trace Alphabet Letters

Here’s a YouTube video that give you a sneak peak. Oh how I wish this was available in French!

and The Trip Little Critter GamePac

Here’s a YouTube video of the Little Critter app. This would be a great find for children learning English! Once again, I really wish this was available in French.

 

The French freebie pick of the day:

Expand It! More information and a sneak peak available in this YouTube video. From the looks of this video, there unfortunately doesn’t look like today’s only French freebie will provide my children with much language input. It does look like there will be some written text, but I don’t seem to hear much language in the app. It does look like a fun thinking game for young ones, though.

 

I’d love to see more apps available in multiple languages that provide language input! I’m alway disappointed when I see an app available in French (or Spanish), but then find that there is very little language involved once launched.

If anyone can point me in the direction of more fun French or Spanish apps, please send them my way! Thank you!

Today’s Multilingual Freebies

Just found a few multilingual apps on Apps Gone Free, so I thought I’d share!

Viking Rudi has a 4.5 star rating and is and educational entertainment app available in a whopping 25 languages!!! (See picture below for languages). It is available for free today only and normally costs 99 cents. Here is more information about this app!

I have downloaded the app and have yet to figure out how to change the language. I have tried the parents section of the app and changing the entire iPad to French. No luck so far, so I have contacted the company. Will update with the information when I figure it out!

Pepi Tree is an adorable educational game app available in 15 languages (see picture below). Pepi Tree is free today, but normally costs $1.99. I have downloaded this app and the kids love it! The only thing I’m not liking about it is that there is no language input. I am always disappointed when an opportunity in L2 passes us by. The kids, ages 5 and 4, adore the app, so a little bit of language would be awesome! Here is a YouTube video of a young child playing the app.

Also of interest could be Word Book and Puzzle Box: Kids Favorite Activity. Free today, normally $1.99. This one is available in English, Greek and Spanish.

We will see which of these apps above deserves a future blog post! If you have any input, please share! Thank you!

Le goûter de Miss Spider

Le goûter de Miss Spider is a wonderful French freebie! The language used is quite advanced, but my 4 and 5 year olds were able to sit tight and give a listen. I’m thinking that with time, this story will become more comprehensible for them, but in the meantime, the animation provided by the “regarder” button helps them for sure! You can choose to watch the animation, where the text is highlighted as it’s being read. The animation runs like a movie, so you can pause, rewind or fast forward. You cannot, however, interact with the “regarder” feature. When you choose the “lire” button, children have a chance to touch the pictures in order to make parts of them animate. There is also some fun to be had with the “Memory,” “Colorier,” and “Puzzle” buttons. I love the story and the lesson it teaches…don’t judge a book by its cover!

Since the level of language being used in this story is so complex, I wouldn’t recommend this app for teachers with novice learners. I would, however, recommend it to parents raising their children bilingual children who have had previous exposure to the language for some time. The app is also available in English and Spanish. All versions are free. Here’s a video review of the English version. I’m looking forward to using this app again with my children soon!