Bootstrap

I was looking for new programming projects for Avril because Scratch was a bit too limiting and I found Bootstrap. It's a very interesting program that teaches algebra and computer programming at the same time. Today we finished Unit 1. I will try to modify the rest of the program to make it appropriate to an 8 year-old but I'm encouraged by the fact that the goal of the Bootstrap program is to develop a video game like the NinjaCat example they provide and Avril and I have already developed a very similar game in Scratch: Run, Scratchy, Run!
The new game will be about a mermaid dog fighting a shark:

Avril's iPhone favorites for March

I wrote a month ago about Avril's favorite games for iPhone.  She added two new games to her top 5 list.  She still likes Rolando, Cute Math, and the built-in Weather app but now there are two new games she really likes:

• PopGeo USA Geography.  Avril likes to find countries of the world and US states on the map, so she really enjoys find the states in this game even though she can't read all the names of the states and usually asks for help reading the names.
  
• Shape Builder.  Avril plays this game all by herself and really usually can complete 5 or so shapes before switching to another game.

iPhone games for toddlers

There was recent news about how video games are good for kids.  This reminded me that I wanted to write how Avril enjoy playing games on the iPhone.  She started playing them before she turned three and by now she has tried a few.  Here are a few of those games and the experience of one three year-old girl:

Cute Math
This game is designed for small children and Avril really likes it.  Counting and addition of small numbers are easy for her and the cute animation and sounds are a lot of fun.  She also likes the game of shaking apples from a tree even though she doesn't really know subtraction yet.  Cute Math is better than PopMath for children who are beginning to count since it uses animation to show the result of addition and subtraction.

PopMath
Another game specifically designed for small children and we had it before Cute Math.  PopMath is for kids who already know how to count because it doesn't help you visualize the operations.  But once the child doesn't need visualization anymore, PopMath is better than Cute Math because it progresses from simpler math to more complex math and eventually lets you deal with slightly larger numbers and more operations (it lets you use the four basic operations) and it is more addictive because of its competitive aspect.

Drawing applications
There are many of those available on the iPhone and we tried quite a few.  Kids love them.  My recommendation is to try the free ones first before (if at all) paying for drawing apps.  Of the free ones, we liked Colors! Lite and DrawR.  You can see a longer list here.  We also ended up buying Y.Painter+ which Avril liked most of all the drawing programs.

MazeFinger
This game is great for small children because it starts with very simple mazes and it has appealing graphics.  I usually turn off the music though.

Rolando
This is an excellent game for grown-ups too.  I am really impressed with how well designed it is.  The full game is $9.99 but so far we just got the free Rolando Lite.  Avril can only complete the first two levels anyway.

Weather
This is a built-in application on the iPhone and Avril loves to check what the weather will be on the phone.

Clock
Also a built-in application.  I have set up a few cities in Asia, Europe and the US.  The app shows time for each of those cities and make the city dark or not depending whether it is night or day in that city.  Avril often checks this app and says that it is night now in Shenzhen or that it is day now in Poland.

If you know any other games that are good for young children, please let me know.