January 1, 2010

Moms With Apps


Moms With Apps represents family-friendly developers who share best practices on making and marketing iPhone apps. What began as a small conference call has grown to over 50 members with 100+ fantastic apps for families. Any mom or parent who has published (or is thinking about publishing) a mobile app is welcome to join. For now, these are the apps I've got on my Phone, and I love the fact that they strive to provide a quality experience for kids and families.

[Update: There is now a blog for Moms With Apps at blog.momswithapps.com, and a full community for app developers at knowwhatsinside.com.]

MOMMAPS
Searching for kid-friendly spots on the go? Try MomMaps, @mommaps . 13,000+ locations and growing, with ski and beach locations being added for the holiday travel season. I've highlighted MomMaps on this blog as a helpful tool for family travel, and you will also see them on Mashable and Apple websites, blazing a trail.

PICPOCKET BOOKS
Need a portable library of children's books? Try PicPocket Books, @picpocketbooks . This review at the Book Chook highlights the great qualities of these apps, and the testimonials show how much of a hit they are with parents.

DUCK DUCK MOOSE
Need interactive books to keep everyone smiling? Try Duck Duck Moose, @duckmoose . These apps definitely set a benchmark in quality, and have been recognized by the NY Times, Wired, and the Chilren's Technology Review.

ANORAK MAGAZINE
Need a kids magazine that has reading, games, and activities (Gosh, it's like a little busy kit!) Try Anorak Magazine, @anorakmagazine . Kids have so many choices in this app: reading, games, and open ended activities, with a variety that accommodates multiple ages.

GREMBE
Is your child a little nervous about the upcoming change in routine? Try iCommunicate to help prepare for the trip, or iReward to reinforce good behavior. Grembe has recognized the iPhone as a platform that can make a difference for special needs and autism communities. Reading through their press & mentions list, and listening to the NPR story is beyond inspiring. Grembe is mentioned in a comprehensive list of iPhone apps for education. @grembe.

MY BUSY KIT
Need to get your kids excited about your upcoming trip? Have them pack their own suitcase with My Little Suitcase, @keepsmesmiling. We are hard at work on version 1.2, which will include more dressable characters and a fun surprise at the beach!

iKidNY
Planning a trip to the Big Apple, with kids? Navigate with iKidNY, @iKidNY. With over 2000 kid-friendly locations in New York, and recognition by the NY Times, NY Post and Fox News, this app is moving from the Big Apple to Big Time!

TICKLE TAP APPS
Need educational games for preschoolers? (our first DAD in the group!) Try Tickle Tap Apps. Sound Shaker is has already made it on Apple's hot list in Canada, and three more titles are rolling out: Field Flyer, Pattern Painter, and Color Collector. @zincroegames

iHOME EDUCATOR
How about sharpening your math skills? The iHomeEducator has got you covered. Version 1.1 of MathSpin1 includes a Chinese counting game (oh, that is too cool), and they've made available a FREE app for the month of December called MathSpinK for Kindergarteners. This article in the Examimer highlights these hits. @iHomeEducator

WEINER FAMILY STUDIOS
Weiner Family Studios created an app called Family Matters. These thoughtful conversation topics for families have modules for road trips, Dr. visits restaurants, and airports, with more modules in development for sick days, waiting in lines, homeschooling (and the list goes on). But there is more, they are donating proceeds from the app to the Ronald McDonald House. This is an incredible family with an incredible story to share. @WeinerFamily Congratulations Weiner Family on making it to the iTunes What's Hot List in December 2009 / January 2010!

POPSOFT
Popsoft, the creators of PopMath are also on board. Besides PopMath, their educational softward includes PopPegs, Pop Words Arcade, and PopGeo USA Geography (what a great idea for the next family roadtrip!)

MOBICIP
Concerned about Internet browser safety when you kids have a mobile device? Mobicip is dedicated to making a safe, secure, educational Internet possible for children and families. Their mobile parental controls protect your child on the iPhone, iPod Touch and Netbooks. @Mobicip

LYN AND LINE
Two aunts have joined our group who make interactive stories for the iPhone and Android platforms. Their company is called Lyn And Line, and their apps have fun characters like Madera Monkey and Figaro Frog with superhero powers. Take a look at the Rescue of Ginger, their first release for kids 2 to 5 years old. @lynandline

ALT 12 APPS
The creators of Baby Bump, a pregancy app from Alt12 Apps, have chimed in to the group. Their app offers a pregnancy countdown, journel, kick counter, contraction tracker, and automated updates to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. They specialize in health and lifestyle apps for women, and know what they are doing given their place on the iTunes What's Hot List last November.

PERCENTALLY
Created by a speech-language pathologist, Percentally is a tally counter that automatically converts tallies to percentages. Use it to track progress in education, athletics, and other activities. @egolfer6

DEVELOPEASE
DevelopEase is a company that creates software applications for special needs, and went to market with a timely app for the holiday season called Jolly Holiday. They also helped a school develop a translation app for international travel (with proceeds that benefit the school) called Global Roos. @DevelopEase

LEARNING CUBED
Learning Cubed is family-run company devoted to handcrafting educational children's apps. Their first app is called Word Cub Letters and Sounds which uses letter block graphics + phonics to help letter recognition, sound matching and word building. @Learning_Cubed

SUNDAY DRIVE NETWORK
This app highlights America's backroads and hidden treasures by rekindling the spirit of Sunday drives with the family. Another fun example of how iPhone apps can be catalysts for family interaction. Check it out on the Sunday Drive website. @SundayDriveNet

TALES2GO
Storytime, anytime. Would you like access to a thousand streaming audio stories, straight from your iPhone, on your next road trip? This is your answer. Tales2Go is all about entertaining your kids with great audio stories that will make them giggle, laugh, think and ask questions. @tales2go

EMMBOOK
Emmbook allows you to create a Baby Book from your iPhone! As you take photos in the Baby Book ‘Edit’ mode, each photo is added to your baby’s Book. With a single tap of the screen you can flip to your baby’s Photo Book to share pictures with family and friends. Keeping a record of milestones and activities has never been easier! @emmbook

NEWBORN (for Android)
Newborn is an application for Android mobile phones to help keep track of breastfeeding times. Knowing when baby's next milk is due can help breast-feeding moms to plan their day with a simple, easy to use application. @kytkafromSM

iMAGINE MACHINE
iMagine Machine makes musical coloring book apps for your iPhone. Their first, Itsy Bitsy Spider, has a huge virtual canvas, over 70 elements to paint, and jazz music to play along. @imaginemachine

I'll keep this list updated as more developers come on board! ...

But they are coming so quickly, it's hard to keep up. Here is the short list of the latest:

Touchoo
Reading Rhino
Story Please
Mobi Stories
Kids Math Fun
Arithmaroo
Circle of Moms (app in progress)
Okenko Books

13 comments:

Lynette said...

Thanks for the collection of family-friendly, kid-pleasing apps!

Jill said...

Great List. Thanks for posting all these in one place!

Unknown said...

Thank you for the list of apps for kids!!

Susan Weiner said...

Really nice job. I look forward to chatting more about family-oriented apps.

Regards,

Susan

Anonymous said...

Really useful list. I have just given you a 'Love Your Blog' award. See this post to see details and pick up the 'Love Your Blog' image: http://travelwithkids-familytravel.blogspot.com/2009/12/photo-friday-snowy-muskoka.html

Unknown said...

Great list of apps! Another favorite is Match and Learn, since I love that kids can learn a different language as we travel. That's neat. Really liked your recommendation for Mommaps. That's perfect too.

laurent said...

Thanks for adding a mention to PopSoft http://keeness.net
I noticed a little typo in the naming "Pop Words Arcade"

Unknown said...

Dress Jinjee – A Children’s App On The iPhone For The Festive Season Which Allows Dressing And Decorating The Gingerbread Man And Sharing It With Loved Ones. Make A Yummy Gingerbread Man - http://www.punflay.com/dress-jinjee-appstore.html

Hope you gift a "Dress Jinjee" to your kid

Eric Sailers, M.A., CCC-SLP said...

Thanks for posting educational apps. I'm always looking for apps to update my list of iPhone and iPod touch apps for (special) education: http://www.scribd.com/doc/24470331/iPhone-and-iPod-touch-Apps-for-Special-Education.

I also want to mention that I have a data collection app called Percentally (http://www.percentally.com/). Percentally is a tally counter that automatically converts tallies to percentages, then easily shares the data to the clipboard, an email, or to a Google Spreadsheet. The app was specifically designed to track progress on special education goals, but it has many more uses for education, athletics, and other activities.

Sisterlisa said...

We are working on an APP for Pix-O-Sphere. I'll keep this in mind for when we're ready. Thank you for sharing all these family friendly companies with us. We are one such company.

Jitka Adeleke said...

Lorraine, great list, thanks. And a great idea, the whole group, I am watching every step though I am not responding directly to each post. It's very encouraging and helpul.

I'll let you know when our first original children books for mobile platforms by Okenko Books are out, we're working really hard right now:) http://okenkobooks.blogspot.com/

Good luck and many thanks, Jitka (kytkafromSM)

Tracey said...

Rock Star collection of family-friendly apps!!! Many thanks for putting together such a useful list!

Perfect Helen said...

Talking about the best educational and interesting iPhone apps for kids I would like to mention about Kinder Hangman - http://sharkfuel.com/kinderhangman.html that is specially designed to improve vocabulary of kids and help them remember new words. iTune link is http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kinder-hangman/id375734517?mt=8 This iPhone app works to improve child's development and can be used to prepare kids for school. It is intended for kids of 4-6 years.