Monday, April 16, 2012

N is for Nook

Nook as in Nook Tablet. Nook Tablet as in the most awesome invention ever...how did we entertain children before the advent of this device? Beats me!

Here's what we use it for:

Alphabet
ABC Owl: Preschool...goes through the whole alphabet, matching the letter to the objects, it has lots of sounds (repeats every letter and will say the name of any object) and I thought Lila would get bored, as it is the same every time, but she hasn't...yet


Fine Arts
Drawing Pad...she likes this app soooo much that she actually calls the Nook the Drawing Pad
Piano for Kids...like those little keyboards in the 80s, you can change it to animals, piano, guitar and each key is labeled (Do, Re, Mi and so on) and in the colors of the rainbow, it also plays background music
Sounds for Kids...in the beginning this was cool as it was instrument, zoo, wild and farm animal sounds, nature sounds and transportation sounds...then Lila learned them all, so...


Games
Bubble Birds...kind of hard for her to do, but she does like matching the birds and she likes the sounds
Music
Cupcake Yum...make cupcakes and decorate and eat them
Dress the Cat...there are several "Dress the..." games, but she chose this one. Dress the cat, choose a background, animate it, repeat until your mother takes the Nook away
Matching Zoo...matching with zoo animals, kind of hard for Lila at first, but she's getting better
Shape Builder...which is just about 50 interactive puzzles, there's a free version of this, but it's only about 7 puzzles

Numbers
Five Little Monkeys...singing (three different versions: country, rock, pop) and then interactive, you can make the monkeys reappear, open doors, windows, play with toys...and, you can make the monkeys 'go' and 'stop'

Reading...lots of reading...
The Animal ABCs...a book with letters and pictures to go with the letters, lots more fun now that she knows some of her letters and lots of the objects in the book...this book does not read to you
Biscuit...cute little story about a little dog that gets into puppy trouble
The Monster at the end of this Book...Grover actually reads this book, VERY AWESOME if you are like me and remember this book from wayyyyy back
Digger the Dinosaur...cute story about a little dinosaur
Cowboy Camp...adorable with fun pictures and I think Avery is an excellent name for a cowboy!
The Little Mermaid...um, it's Disney's The Little Mermaid...I love it!
Maggie and the Trouble Monkeys...not a story that reads to you, cute
The Smurfs...awesome just like the movie, GREAT narration!
The Island of Bum Bum Baloo...fun to read or listen to, who doesn't like alliteration
Tangled...sigh, we love this...it's just like the movie
Fun Facts About Pets...cool facts about all sorts of animals, that's how we learned all about bunny binkies, who knew?
The Elephant's Child: How the Elephant Got His Trunk...cute story by Rudyard Kipling, magical narration and we quote this book often, "And, the elephant did exactly that!"
Axel the Truck...great truck and engine sounds, nice message
Bible Stories...short, great for night reading, lovely pictures, all the major Bible stories
Greatest Fairy Tales of All Time...25 classic fairy tales, no pictures, but classic fairy tales don't need pictures, they need interaction and imagination

All of the apps were either free or $.99 to a $1.99 when I purchased them. The stories like The Smurfs, Monster, and Disney books, which were like $2.99-$4.99, but so worth it, they have background sounds from the movie or show, we read them a lot or she just sits and listens to them or talks along with them! The other books were free or $.99.

3 comments:

  1. I still haven't made the leap to a tablet (not counting my ipod touch, which I don't, because reading on it is far from ideal), but I'm definitely thinking about it. I will keep this post in mind when it comes time to start making decisions :)

    ~ Rhonda Parrish

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  2. I haven't invested in a Nook yet, and I'm a little afraid to put it into the hands of my 4-year-old (as in I'm afraid I will use it way too often :) ) Those sound like great games for little ones.

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  3. I was really reticent to buy my kids some sort of electronic device thinking it to be too much of a expense that little kids do not value. There was also the thing of starting them too early in the whole video game fever. I finally buckled last winter and it has been the best investment of money EVER. The girls love the thing, there's a ton of educational stuff, so no need to go for video games and it makes for an amazing bargaining chip. I have it under key from monday to thursday and if they don't do their chores and homework, come friday there's no iTouch! They have never been so happy about chores and homework in their life. I could never go back.

    From Diary of Writer in Progress

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