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{App Reviews} 4 more great apps from PlayToddlers: Sweet Home Stories, Dress Up Professions, Animal Puzzle & Shapes Builder

I love using well designed apps in therapy! Here are four new additions to my toolbox at OMazing Kids:

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Sweet Home Stories: I have a couple of patients who LOVE this developer’s daycare app so I was thrilled to try out this newest app with them. Just as I expected, they love this app too! Open-ended play apps are a fun way to teach vocabulary, actions, spatial concepts, turn taking & more. This app has really cool 3D cartoon-like graphics, several fun areas to explore (front courtyard (with a fountain, birdhouse, gate, potted flowers, mailbox & tricycle), living room playroom (with chairs, TV, coffee table, phone, blocks, skateboard, feather duster, lamp, etc.), a kitchen (with realistic food items, sound effects for eating/drinking, stove, dishwasher, silverware, refillable water pitcher, refrigerator, toaster, cat bowl with cat food, drawers/cabinets that can be opened and closed, etc), a kids’ bedroom (with two beds, blankets that send the child to sleep when pulled up, stuffed animals, desk with lamp books and laptop, relaxing color scheme and mobile, etc.), the parents’ bedroom (similar to the kids’ bedroom with the addition of a crib and toys for the baby), a bathroom (with shower, toilet, sink, washing machine, mop, hair dyer, electric shaver, etc.), and a second outdoor area (with seeds, shovel, watering can, garden bed, clothesline, garden cart, rocking chair, guitar, etc..), the option to toggle off separately from most sound effects (but have to toggle it off every time you open the app), and an intuitive interface (arrows make it clear his to get to the next area). The only wishes I have for a future app update would be to allow the parents and kids could “hold” the phone, that the parents could “hold” the baby, for the music player to work when the app background music is toggled off and for the background music to stay toggled off when you close/reopen the app. This app is chock full of great language opportunities and will definitely get LOTS of use in my therapy toolbox!

* Sweet Home Stories – Family playhouse for kids. by Guillermo Fernandez Gonzalez, https://appsto.re/us/xSXMhb.i, $2.99

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Dress Up Professions: Adorable illustrations, includes a boy and a girl and outfits for 15 occupations. After the character is dressed you get to paint a picture of it. The app has an intuitive interface and will provide lots of opportunities for language related to occupations, clothing & body parts. My wish for a future update would be for all external links to be hidden in a parent area. They are protected but easily seen at this point. I would also like the option to toggle off the background music while leaving other sound effects on.

* Dress Up : Professions – Occupations puzzle game & Drawing activities by Play Toddlers (Full Version for iPad), https://appsto.re/us/onYMM.i, $2.99

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Animal Puzzle: Adorable animal illustrations, includes 48 easy puzzles with options for 4, 6 or 9 pieces organized by subcategories on a bookshelf, the animal is named and after you complete a puzzle it is named again and the animal is shown in a field of 3 choices with the prompt “Where is _______?”. If you tap on the wrong animal, that animal is named without any aversive negative feedback (yippee for no buzzing or no “no, try again”) and the child can keep trying until they tap on the correct animal. Background music can be toggled off separately from other sound effects but it would be nice for it to stay toggled off rather than having to redo that every time you open the app. The app has a nice intuitive interface and will be a fun way to work on animal vocabulary and subcategories of animals.

* Toddler Animal Puzzle – Game for children (Full), https://appsto.re/us/NetIE.i, $2.99

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Shapes Builder: Build 36 different items out of easy shapes presented in groups of 6 items on a map on 6 different fun themed islands. I like how the boat travels to each island, the items start out very easy and increase gradually in difficulty, if you try to put a shape in the wrong spot a cue is provided regarding the correct place, the fish is fun to “catch” in each level, that the items are unlocked as you complete them in order but once unlocked can be completed again at any time, you are prompted to swipe a wand across the completed item which then transforms into a 3D “real” item that can be rotated. The way the items are presented on a map provides an incentive to explore to see what other treasures you may find on each island. It is fun to try to guess what the item will be based on the colors of the places for shapes and the overall design. The app provides lots of opportunities for language and could be used with kids individually or as a collaborative game in therapy. Although I liked the music it still would be helpful to have the option to toggle it off separately from other sound effects. It would also be nice to have a way to “reset” the app without having to delete and reinstall it. Ideally this should be added to a secure parent area.

* Shapes Builder – Educational tangram puzzle game for preschool children by Play Toddlers, https://appsto.re/us/bSbOab.i, $2.99

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See my reviews for three more of this developer’s apps at: https://omazingkidsllc.com/2017/01/14/app-review-3-great-apps-from-playtoddlers-my-first-words-happy-daycare-stories-find-it-hidden-objects/

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See more of their apps at: http://www.playtoddlers.com
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Follow them on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/PlayToddlers
https://www.twitter.com/PlayToddlers
http://instagram.com/playtoddlers

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Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC – inclusive wellness & educational activities for kids of all abilities
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Angela Moorad is the founder of OMazing Kids, LLC and is an ASHA certified & licensed pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and Kids Yoga Teacher with 27 years experience working in a variety of settings (early intervention, schools, teletherapy & a nonprofit pediatric rehab hospital for children with developmental disabilities). She is an app beta tester for educational & therapeutic app developers and loves sharing info about great apps, products, books & toys to use with kids of all abilities.