Starting this morning you should see a button toward the top of your iPhone/iPod Touch App Store “New” Featured Apps section that says, “Apps for Kids”. Pictured above is a screenshot I took of the button. Apple has compiled a set of applications that they believe are great for kids. There seems to be a healthy balance between skilled based educational games as well as a fun dose of entertainment applications (ex: Doodle Jump). There are some insanely popular apps mixed with lesser known applications.

This “Apps for Kids” feature is similar to the “Apps for Toddlers” feature back in October. Only this time the age range is obviously reaches higher (into elementary school) and it seems as if the total number of applications listed is a bit more than what Apple posted in the fall.

Below are some specific applications that I have purchased for my own kids and some I have reviewed or mentioned here on edu.Mac.nation…

To see the applications in iTunes click on the title links or the images:

FirstWords: Animals

This was one of the earliest applications that I reviewed here.

http://www.edumacnation.com/2009/03/toddlerwords/

My son still loves “making” words with this app. It is easy to use for a small child and certainly is a must have for parents of a toddler entering Pre-K or Kindergarten.

Wheels on the Bus was featured here back in March of 2009…

http://www.edumacnation.com/2009/03/newtoddlerapps/

I get a kick out of going back and listening to some of the old recorded sections of the “Wheels on the Bus” song. Hearing my son’s voice from almost a year ago on some of the portions melts my heart a little (sappy… I know.)

My son and I get a lot of laughs from this application. From the day we first bought it we started recording little bits of our conversations together. I would ask my son questions and he would respond. Sometimes the questions were silly and other times they were simple, “How are you doing today?”. At the end of each silly sounding recording you can hear my son grab the phone and ask to hear what we just recorded played back. We both love the “Witness” effect.

Out of all of the applications my son has on my old (deactivated) iPhone this is the one that annoys my wife the most. I find it hilarious. It is very cute but there are some song parts that loop over and over again. Any child under the age of 3 (as well as Dads too) will love this app.

This is another application I wrote about back in March of 2009…

http://www.edumacnation.com/2009/03/newtoddlerapps/

I have always liked how the “Preschool” series of applications allows for my son to make selective choices between the different components of the application. My son has specific parts he may like one week and then all of the sudden a month later he might use another “arcade” part of the app. Applications like this do not get old and have a much longer shelf (screen) life than some single function apps.

Again, another application that is part of what I call the “Preschool” series. I wrote about this application back in January of 2009 as well…

http://www.edumacnation.com/2009/01/applications-my-2-year-old-loves/

Many of the sentiments I mentioned above regarding “Preschool Arcade” can be restated for this application. You really cannot go wrong with any of these “Preschool” apps!

This application works on many of the skills my son uses daily in Preschool. It teaches colors, letters, counting, shapes, differences, and matching. The best part for my son are the little rewards he earns as he finishes each section. The navigation is super simple and the artwork is engaging and lively!

KidCalc is an application that just gets better and better over time. New sections seem to be added with every new update and the options for customization are superb.

What do you think?

So those are a few of the applications I like from Apple’s list.

What would be some of your picks?

What do you think is missing?

Feel free to comment below and don’t forget to check out the new edu.Mac.nation page on Facebook!

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It has a been a little while since I last updated my favorite paid and free application lists. I try to make the lists reflective of the applications that I use on a regular basis. There are so many other applications that I carry daily on my phone but these listed applications are my personal favorites.

Here are the additions:

Paid List

Instapaper Pro

Downloads

WriteRoom

Pastebot

Free List

Simplenote

Dragon Search

Remote

IMDb

Now Playing

To see the complete list of edu.Mac.nation Favorite Paid Applications go here…

http://www.edumacnation.com/iphone/top-paid-applications/

To see the complete list of edu.Mac.nation Favorite Free Applications go here…

http://www.edumacnation.com/iphone/top-free-applications/

What are some of your favorite paid or free applications?

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photo credit: 1Happysnapper

These are some amazing numbers…

The Argument for Free Classes via iTunes – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com

“Apple now says it has about 250,000 individual classes available to the public. That’s everything from the ‘The Biology of Autism’ from the Stanford School of Medicine to ‘A Global History of Architecture’ from M.I.T. Tuition may be sky-high on those campuses, but on iTunes, the lectures are free.”

(Via NY Times)

This is very impressive for a 2 year old service that is clearly overshadowed by the headlining iTunes content (music and movies). I wonder what these numbers will look like in 2 more years as more colleges and universities begin using the service.

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