A wonderful company that produces many fun learning tools, these games encourage experimentation and are simply fun but can be used in an educational context too. I have used Toca Boca Hair Salon with the children to write a descriptive character piece. The video below is for Fairy Tale creator, a new app that looks like it could be brilliant. Check the video out!
As a long time fan of the 'Fighting Fantasy' series of choose your own adventures I had to flag this up. An app that immerses you in a world, much like the revered series, but with atmospheric graphics and music. Imagine using this with your class on the IWB! I'm going to try it out and see how it goes!
Video editing is always a great lesson for the children but getting clips that are available freely and legally can be quite a strain, especially when you have to download the clips into the correct format. But worry no more, all you need for a fun filled series of lessons is a video recorder (flip cameras are great but anything will do really) and an ipod with the Cassius ‘I <3 u so’ app. The app is free and fun with 8 characteristic mouths to use, find the one that suits you, put it front of yours, and voila... pure fun! Watch it now and spread the digital love! I did this with my children and they enjoyed filming each other and staff around the school. It was a good exercise for the children as they learnt how to use the Flips but also how to take the clips off of the recorder. Once they had enough clips collected they had to imported them into Windows Movie Maker and put the clips into order, muting the sounds from the video and placing the Cassius song on top. The results were great and the children really enjoyed these series of lessons. Below I have provided the link for the original Cassius video:
