Picture this; Day one of the school hols and your precious little person is already ‘bored’. Whether you’re trying to fill up those hours (in between camps – make sure to read up on some of our faves this year), you’re facing a mammoth journey and need to keep the kids distracted and entertained or you’ll need to rely on the iPad as an occasional babysitter this summer just to get some peace and quiet – these new apps are not only fun but also a good way to keep the brain cells engaged when school’s out! Happy downloading!

Jump to:

For Littles Up To Age 5
For Middles: Ages 5-8
Older kids: age 8 up

For Littles Up To Age 5

Thinkrolls: Kings & Queens

An epic adventure of logic, physics and fun! With 228 physics puzzles, 12 fairytale castles, toothy crocodiles, goofy ghosts and a friendly dragon, your little ones are guaranteed hours of fun-filled play and brain training (in fact this app is loved by older kids too). Unleash the magic and let your young knight or princess embark on an epic quest of twists and turns.

Toca Nature

Experience a little of Mother Nature’s magic. When the outdoors is scorching your little ones can still be planting trees, growing forests, feeding animals and making friends with a fox.

Metamorphabet

A is for Apple, B is for… BORED! Yup, most of the alphabet games don’t get our kiddos super excited but this one’s a little different. Users will be encouraged to poke, prod, drag, and spin each of letters to reveal fun transformations. A giant ‘B’ appears with a bushy beard and a beak – and then starts belching an endless stream of colourful bugs.

My very hungry caterpillar

Eric Carles brilliant little story comes alive in a 3D interactive app which will have kids nurturing the little caterpillar from its egg stage right until it becomes a butterfly, feeding fruits, playing and more – a kind of virtual pet!

Peek-a-zoo

Anything which involves animals is always a huge hit in our household and this new little game is going to be a guaranteed winner! The basic game involves your kiddos identifying the correct cartoon animal based on clues including emotions, actions, sounds and more. Once they pick the right character, a new scene appears.

For Middles: Ages 5-8

Weather by tinybop

Yup, we’re obsessed by the weather – especially when we live in the desert so any variation on hot is super exciting! Through interactive scenes, the kids can do anything from melt ice to help someone fish, cool the temperature for a panting dog or unleash all kinds of craziness through tornados and storms plus learn how to tell what kind of weather it’ll be outside (um…hot?!) .

Toca blocks

A fun world-building app for the pre-minecraft crowd that allows kids to create worlds, play in them and share them with friends too. Perfect for children who are into digging and building stuff.

DNA play

What could be cooler than creating your own monsters while learning about the concept of DNA (see, there’s an element of learning in here too, mamas!). And once they’re made, the kids can get their monsters doing everything from skateboarding to dancing and more.

Foldify

Literally one of the most genius app ideas I’ve seen in ages – and one that’s perfect for kids who love making/crafting. All they gotta do is select a template (human, car etc) then use the app to decorate it either by importing photos, painting, adding stickers etc. The app will then create a 3D model which can be printed out, cut and folded so that it exists in the real world too.

Squigglefish

There’s a room at OliOli (the kids museum we’ve long raved about, check out our review here) which allows kids to watch drawings of their sea creatures come to live on a giant interactive screen. Well now they can do the same at home (or in the car/on a plane etc) by drawing a fish on a white paper, coloring it in then holding the iPad over the drawing and watching as their fishy friend comes to life.

Older kids: age 8 up

Namoo: Wonders Of Plant Life 

A kind of virtual forest school where kids can engage in and explore the life of plants, learning about everything from how they make food to experimenting with underground root systems. Perfect for curious minds.

Earth Primer

How about making volcanoes with your fingers? Or sculpting mountains and controlling the forces of nature?! This beautifully designed app combines aspects of science books, toys, simulations, and games in a new interactive experience that’ll prompt lots of thought and knowledge about our world.

Solar Walk – Planet Explorer

Mini astronomy lovers this one’s for you! Solar Walk is an amazing 3D model of our solar system bringing the universe to the palm of your hand and allowing you to interact with planets, satellites, moons, comets and other space objects. Hitch a ride on a comet, spin Saturn around to take a good look and just zoom around our universe. Super cool.

Operation math

Yes I know, the idea of getting them to do math during the holidays might seem like a crazy one but this app makes this often uninspiring subject quite fun (honestly!). Defeat Dr. Odd and earn the latest spy gear in a game that transforms math drills into a global learning adventure. From the streets of Paris to the pyramids of Egypt, Operation Math includes more than 100 timed missions that help players learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Universal zoom

Another for all those curious kids and endless question askers! Universal Zoom provides users with a superpower of seeing the invisible so that you can discover the world from the tiniest subatomic particles to the most prominent space structures plus learn how to measure size and compare objects too.

The post Some Of The Best New Apps for Kids of All Ages appeared first on Sassy Mama.

We live in a world dominated by tech – and when everything from your phone to your fridge (and don’t even get me started on the TV!) is smarter than you, it’s time to jump on (key)board. Because while us mamas can probably just about get away with not knowing how to do much more than internet shopping*, it’s not the same for our kiddos. Coding and computers are going to be a part of their daily life in ways we can’t even imagine (driverless cars and computer co-workers anyone?) So how can a parent who can barely turn on a computer without hollering for her husband (cringe) help make sure her little ones are speaking the language of the future? I asked the expert (yes mamas, that would be my daughter’s IT teacher!) and this is what he said…

Read More: How to Teach Your Kids to Cut Back on Plastic

• Kodable – is a FREE downloadable app that you can download on any iPad or tablet. Set in outer space, kodable helps kids as young as three or four learn to think in sequencing, which my IT insider informs me is the best way to get little ones engaged. I tried it on my four yo and she loved the games, characters – and the iPad access. On a personal level, the sounds of the game made a nice break from the dulcet tones of Peppa Pig.
• Apple – another cost-effective way to crack coding, the Apple store offers free coding for kids at the Mall of the Emirates. Probably better for older kids – a friend of mine’s seven yo was all over this! the hour long sessions are designed to inspire kids to explore the basics of coding and robotics. For mamas in the know, they’re also offering 3-day summer camps for 8-12 year olds.
• Bee-bot – Mr IT’s final tip was to invest in a ‘Bee-bot’ – a cute robotic bumblebee that kids can programme to make basic forward, backwards, left or right movements. Since we got our Bee-bot, it’s kept both my Mr Me and my mini-me busy for hours. They’ve drawn maps and designed entire obstacle courses for the bee-bot to whizz around, leaving me time to get back to the important things in life. Like internet shopping. It’s technology, right?

Read more: Star Wars Paper Plate Mask Activity + FREE Star Wars Arts & Crafts Printable

* if you’re a computer whizzkid, I applaud you – also please can you come over and teach me the basics so my fridge doesn’t have to do my thinking for me anymore…

The post Coding For Kids: Free Apps & More appeared first on Sassy Mama.

There’s no shortage of amazing things that our kids can be learning from technology – even when it seems that separating them from their iPads can be a challenge and a half. Yup, we might look back at our own digital-free childhoods with rose tinted glasses but the reality is that structured screen time is mega important in todays day and age – and we’ve found the perfect way to combine their love of technology with learning (but not in a lame way!).

Alphalearners is an awesome brand set up by a Silicon Valley educator which offers tech-based activities in a cool co-learning space. From programing robots (to do the chores perhaps?!) to creating stop motion animation movies with LEGO characters and special effects (um…how cool is that?!), this brilliant start-up is all about empowering kids to make their own choices and creations – we love!

The next Stop Motion Animation Lab will be running at DUCTAC, Mall Of The Emirates throughout the month of May, is suitable for ages 5-12 and is ideal way to stay out of the heat, have fun and learn a thing or three using custom Animation Platforms designed and manufactured especially for Alphalearners. Your clever kiddos will be exploring the art of storytelling and exploring skills such as set design, character development, adaptation and those aforementioned special effects that they’ll go wild for! Oh and their projects will be emailed to parents at the end of each class so that you can delight in all that your little darlings are doing and share with proud grandparents too. Perfect.

Taking place on Saturdays (May 5, 12, 19 and 26), you can sign-up and pay per session or for the entire four weeks according to what suits your schedule – YAY! Each lab is designed for kids to learn and produce a movie so they won’t miss out or be left behind if they can’t attend all four (although they’ll really want to!). And sessions are totally affordable too (see below for deets). Sound good? We think so. Earn yourself the coolest mama ever award and sign your kids up for some screen time with Alphalearners.

DUCTAC
Mall of The Emirates
Studio 12
www.alpha-learners.com

Single Day Pass – 200 AED (covers one lab)
Session Pass – 700 AED (covers all 4 labs)
10% Sibling Discount

The post Hey Kids, You Can Learn How To Make Your Own Animation appeared first on Sassy Mama.

Life gets pretty chaotic right? What we really, really need is a personal assistant or maybe a life coach – you know, to sort our lives out, keep us up to date with all those saved articles (that we never have time to read), tackle our fitness goals, organise the house, the baby and the kids. Luckily, there really is an app for pretty much everything you and your family might need help with! Here we round up 18 of the best apps for 2018.

Personal Reading: Pocket (Free)
When you are browsing the web and see an article or video you like but don’t have time to read/watch it then – use Pocket. It saves anything interesting from Facebook, Twitter, or email (across all your devices) so you can read it later – even offline! Pocket can even read aloud to you with its handy text-to-speech feature, making the school run so much more productive!

Storing Kids Art: Keepy (Free)
You know all those sweet pictures your little ones come home with that you can’t bear to throw away (but really you need to declutter!)? Well Keepy is the app for that! Keep and organize your children’s artwork and schoolwork – just upload photos and videos and Keepy will keep it in your own private website. Each family member can get their own timeline; you can also share with grandparents and even order prints.

Wardrobe Manager: Stylebook (US$5.98)
Stylebook presents the ultimate way to organize and make the most of your wardrobe. Snap pictures of every outfit in your cupboard and you can put together looks from the office, make packing lists, and utilize every piece in your wardrobe to the max.

Fertility and Personal Tracking: Period Tracker Lite (Free)
This discrete app (called P tracker on your homepage) tracks your period by calculating the average of your past 3 months’ menstrual cycles so you can predict the start date of your next period. It’s also a great way to keep track of ovulation and fertile days, moods, and other menstrual symptoms.

Nursing/Baby Tracking: iFeed Baby Timer (£4.99)
iFeed Baby Timer keeps track of nursing sessions. This app is super useful for busy mamas to remember when they last fed their baby! The app is pretty basic and straightforward, but also has functions to track things like diaper changes, sleep patterns, bottles, and growth.

Read More: Control the Clutter: 5 Easy Ways to Keep your Kids’ Toys Organised!

Sports:  Nike+ Run Club (Free)
We love the Nike+ Run Club app, even though we barely scrape the surface of its capabilities. It’s great for tracking runs, including GPS maps, breaking down pace by mile or kilometer, and chiming in along the way to let you know how you’re going. The app also does fun trophies and badges that celebrate achievements like “fastest mile”, “longest run” or “fastest 10k”. One of the app’s newest features – guided runs – includes all sorts of cool guided workouts from world-class runners and coaches.

Meditation: Headspace (Free)
A few years ago Sassy Mama interviewed Andy Puddicombe, the founder of the meditation and mindfulness app Headspace. With meditation sessions as brief as 10 minutes long, it’s great for tapping into when stress gets on top of you. The basic version is free, although you need to buy a subscription to access its in-depth and popular “packs”, which include Focus, Anxiety and Motivation.

Household: Tody ($6.99)
Tody is the app that manages your to-do list for household cleaning routines – categorizing things that you have to do weekly (like change your sheets, check for drycleaning), or every 3 months (maybe descale the iron, ‘defuzz’ the dryer) so that you can remember when to do what. You can get the whole family involved, too: Tody can be synched across different devices and users can check in to claim credit for chores they’ve done! Definitely a great one to get older kids involved in chores.

Shopping: OurGroceries (Free)
OurGroceries keeps grocery lists synched on all the smartphones in your household. No more hubby calling you at the shops asking you what groceries you need. Updates are instant so if you change an item on your list – all other devices reflect this change. OurGroceries keeps track of the items you’ve entered before and lets you search through them when adding an item so writing lists is that much easier.

Read more: 6 Life Hacks To Make Parenting In Dubai Easier

Photos: Google Photos (Free)
You can’t go wrong with Google Photos, which has free unlimited storage and syncs easily with your phone and computer. It’s a lot more intuitive and easier to use than iCloud, and we like that you can get automatically created movies and collages from your photos.

Personal Postcards: Touchnote (Free)
Touchnote turns your holiday snaps into postcards with the option of having a personalised message, too (printed on thick 6” x 4” cards and laminated to protect each side), which it then will send on to friends and family — postage included! No more schlepping around looking for the perfect postie then figuring out where to buy stamps when you are on holiday in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere!

Travel Planner: Google Trips (Free)
Google Trips turns your smartphone into an all-in-one travel assistant (everyone needs own of those!), consolidating travel itineraries, flight details and hotel reservations from your emails. Google Trips also recommends related local attractions based on your interests. We love having the ability to save trip details so they can be accessed offline as well (goodbye, crazy roaming charges!).

Translation: Google Translate (Free)
If you could never get the hang of that second language but love to travel around the world, never fear. Google Translate can convert words, phrases and short sentences from one language to another at the click of a button. You can have the translation in text or as a short voice message, plus there are also visual translation features so you can read road signs and other visuals with the help of your camera!

Read more: 10 Half term/Spring Break Holidays For Your Family

Finances: Spending Tracker (Free)
Spending Tracker is a super simple and user-friendly way to keep track of expenses (and thereby make it easier to stick to a budget).

Bill Splitting: Cost Split (Free)
For when you are out having dinner with friends or buying movie tickets plus munchies and there’s that ‘Who owes who what?‘ question at the end of the night. Cost Split gets rid of any cost-share headaches by keeping track of everyone’s communal spending (thanks to the cloud sync) and working out who owes who what. We are hearting this app big time.

Transport: RTA Dubai App (Free)
Gotta know how to get from A to Z via F? The RTA Dubai App will help you do just that and more. From renewing your vehicle registration to topping up your parking account, pay salik or fines (eek, hopefully none!), you can do it all here.

Read more: 5 Realistic Tips For Budgeting In 2018

Directions: Waze (Free)
Waze is the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app. Join other drivers in your area who share real-time traffic and road info, saving everyone time and gas money on their daily commute -you can’t get better than that! Time to beat the traffic.

Taxis: Uber (Free)
Uber is a reliable app to have when you are looking for a taxi in a foreign city (as long as you can get a Wi-Fi connection). It’s especially handy when you’re wary of driver safety in a foreign country, as Uber vets all their drivers and it also takes away that awkward haggling for a fee in countries where this is commonplace.

So consider this your “get organized” to-do list, people! Let us know if you have a favourite app that we need to know about!

Read More: Best Educational Apps For Kids of All Ages

The post Life Hack: 18 Apps to Help Sort Your Life Out for 2018 appeared first on Sassy Mama.

When we are travelling with kids, we gather every trick in the book, pack all the travel accessories we can find and let our kids use the iPad for videos and apps.

Here’s our list of the best (mostly educational) apps for kids and why we love them as parents.

 The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Friends First Words
Age appropriate: 1 and up (although 2 if you’re super strict about screen time!)
Why my kids like it: Any child who loves the Eric Carle classic will get something out of this app; from the time our daughter could point and swipe she enjoyed looking at the different animals (when you touch each one they make their respective sound). As she’s gotten older she’s been able to respond to the instructions (“Touch here”, “Turn the page”, etc.)
Why this parent likes it: With calming music in the background and bright illustrations that bring the book to life, it’s as book-like and low-tech as apps can get.
Cost: AED 10.99
– Kate

Monkey Math School Sunshine
Age appropriate: 3 and up
Why my kids like it: Very interactive and varied games covering topics such as shapes, number recognition, counting, patterns, addition, subtraction, comparisons, writing numbers, and recognizing sets. For the prize when your kids answers something correctly they can choose a prize (fish, plants, and decorations) for their aquarium.
Why this parent likes it: Kids learn Maths while having fun!
Cost: AED 7.99
– Gemma

The Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Collection (4 apps in one bundle)
Age appropriate: 3 and up
Why my kids like it: My daughter loves any and all things Daniel Tiger, and these four apps cover every facet of the emotionally intelligent tiger’s life, whether she’s helping him go potty or brush his teeth, singing along to her favorite songs from the show, or exploring his extensive neighborhood.
Why this parent likes it: Daniel Tiger is just about the only TV show we allow our daughter to watch, as it teaches amazing life skills in a thoughtful and respectful way that little kids can totally relate to. There’s seriously a jingle or little song that helps toddlers manage any number of challenging times, from picking out appropriate clothes, to going potty, to dealing with angry feelings. These apps just take it a step further and if they keep our daughter happy, we’re happy, too!
Cost: AED 24.99
– Kate

Dr Panda Series 
Age appropriate: 3 +
Why my kids like it: Dr. Panda has so many games, from the airport game to the kitchen game but my daughter’s fave is the vet of course. And the daycare. She loves it cos she gets to do all the different steps to “achieve” the goal and then go to the next step. It’s just simple good fun!
Why this parent likes it: This app keeps my daughter engaged while I read a book on the plane. You can turn the music and sound effects off in the settings menu too for quiet play.
Cost: FREE
– Nadia

Where’s My Water?
Age appropriate: 4+
Why my kids like it: This is a very clever game for little ones. The purpose of the game is to guide water to a shower by navigating through dirt through increasingly challenging scenarios!
Why this parent likes it: It’s fun plus each level is a challenging physics-based puzzle so I like that it’s educational too.
Cost: FREE
– Emilie

Toca Train
Age appropriate: 3 and up
Why my kids like it: Your kid gets to play train driver in this fun and friendly train simulator. The controls are intuitive and there are no written instructions to encourage kids to explore themselves. Just pull the levers, push the buttons and start exploring the island with your train!
Why this parent likes it: Cute game from award-winning play studio Toca Boca – check out their other games too.
Cost: AED 10.99
– Emilie

Cut the Rope
Age appropriate: 5 and up
Why my kids like it: The games are problem solving and challenging yet fun to play. Plus the little frog eating candies is super cute.
Why this parent likes it: If a game has an educational aim I feel better letting my kid have screen time. Cut the rope is a series of physics-based puzzle video games so that gets the green light from me.
Cost: FREE
– Gemma

Thinkrolls
Age appropriate: 4+
Why my kids like it: This app has a great interface and really cute characters. Plus it’s easy to navigate and is a great puzzle game.
Why this parent likes it: Thinkrolls are the 26 smart characters in this award-winning app that is part physics platformer, part puzzle game for logical thinking.
-Amy

Build a Truck – by Duck Duck Moose
Age appropriate:3 and up
Why my kids like it:  Kids get to design their own truck by selecting inventive parts with which to construct trucks, spray-paint and decorate and then they choose a race course, complete with obstacles.
Why this parent likes it: Great for strategic thinking and creativity.
Cost: FREE
– Emilie

LEGO® Juniors Create & Cruise
Age appropriate: 3+
Why my kids like it: My kids love this app, it’s not particularly educational I must admit but it keeps them busy for hours. They have to build a car and then take it on the road. As they play they get coins and the more coins they get the more options the unlock to customise/upgrade their ride. It’s very easy to use and both my daughter and son love it.
Why this parent likes it: It keeps them busy for hours.
Cost: FREE
– Emilie

Old fashioned games turned into Apps like Chess & Scrabble
Age appropriate: 7 +
Why my kids like it: These are great travel games for the whole family. We play the board games at home so the versions on the Apps just make it easy and portable. The App versions have options to play with another family member or solo versing the App.
Why this parent likes it: These are games I used to play with my brother or sister growing up. Just good old fashioned games that mum and dad can play too.
– Andrea

Minecraft
Age appropriate: 9+
Why my kids like it: My son in particular loves this and tends to only play it when he goes on holiday as it can get quite addictive. He loves building his worlds using building blocks and resources. He is forever building houses and terrains for the family to live in. We each have our own room and pet!
Why this parent likes it: It doesn’t come with instructions, kids need to just figure out what to do by themselves. It encourages creativity in building, exploring and problem solving. Much better than those mindless shooting and racing apps that are out there for this age. I would recommend being careful allowing kids using a public server (as other players can create something potentially offensive that younger kids might come across online), but the game can be played solo too.
Cost: Various options from AED 24.99

– Andrea

The post Best Educational Apps for Kids of All Ages appeared first on Sassy Mama.

This time of year is all about creating magic. I love the excitement, the fact that my kids are attempting to be on their best behaviour so as not to jeopardise their place on Santa’s ‘nice’ list (although their idea of best behaviour and mine is very different), lots of family time, lots of food and the countdown to the BIG DAY! With kids who very much believe in Father Christmas I want to maximize on the magic for as long as possible! In addition to putting out the mince pies and treats on Christmas Eve, there are 2 amazing apps that can help put even more sparkle into the festive season.

Read more: Dining In At Christmas: Where To Get Your Takeaway Turkey

Portable North Pole

This awesome website/app allows you to create video messages from Santa to your kids, using information that you ‘plug’ in (their name, photo, details of the ‘thing’ they’ve been working on this year – i.e being kind to their brother/sister plus a hint at what might be in their stocking if they’re good!). There are various video options so if you have more than 1 kiddo you can choose different ones for each – and you can also decide if the children are currently on Santa’s ‘naughty, ‘nice’ or ‘not sure yet’ list. But be warned, I put my little boy Arthur on the ‘undecided’ list last year after a bout of bad behaviour and the look on his face plus seeing his bottom lip tremble and big tears in his eyes will stay with me forever – massive mama fail! You can also get personalised phone calls from Santa plus games, ornaments and books.

www.portablenorthpole.com

Capture The Magic

How about showing a very realistic picture of Santa delivering his gifts in your home to the kids? This amazing app allows you to do just that, merging a sticker of the big man himself with your pictures to create magic – my 3 were absolutely convinced that I had caught him in the act! Simply take a photo of the area as it will look on Christmas Eve for Santa then follow the prompts to upload to their website for editing – so easy. This year I’m going for reindeer outside the house – can’t wait to see their little faces.

www.capturethemagic.com

Read more: 5 Places For Your Kids to Meet Santa in The Desert

The post 2 Easy Ways to Create Even More Magic This Week appeared first on Sassy Mama.