If you like the Charlie Brown Christmas special then this app is a must have. The app is a book of the story we know and love, Charlie Brown finding the true meaning of Christmas. The app is very well done and includes the voices for the original cartoon. Also it is narrated by Peter Robbins who is the original voice of Charlie Brown. To go along with the story you can play Schroeder’s piano and finger paint with the gang and more. I bought this app when it was $5.99 and thought it was worth it but now it’s only $.99. For that price it’s a must have for everyone that loves Christmas or Peanuts.

Magic Santa has one purpose and that is to make a special video message from Santa. The app will ask you several questions like the persons name, age, is they are a boy or girl, if they have been naughty or nice and a few others. It will also ask for a picture of that person and a picture of a special person in their life. The ones I’ve made have been for our kids and one of the things it says is that they were asked to listen to the parents. It then shows a picture of us during that time. One thing on the name is they try to say the name during the video and have several canned names for you to pick from. I’m not sure what it does if the person you are making the card for name is not on the list. The app is free and so are the videos. This close to Christmas this is a fun app to play around with and give someone a special message from Santa.

iTunes Store

I meant to review these next several apps last week but let’s get to them now. The first one is an iPhone app the Portable North Pole. The app has several sections likes Santa’s Videos, where Santa answers some popular questions like how reindeer can fly, Santa’s Radar so you can track Santa, Countdown shows you how many days are left until Christmas and has special message from Santa and Wishlist. In the wishlist section you can make serval wishlist for different people. This section can come in real handy for keeping up with what kids want for Christmas. Not only can you type in what they want but you can record audio and take a picture. The audio and picture are a nice touch to make sure you get the exact right thing.

Then there is the parent section, in the section you create a special message from Santa. You will need a picture and some information like child’s age and what they want for Christmas. You can also choose to have them on the naughty list or the nice list. After the video is made you can download it to your phone or e-mail a link to someone to watch on the internet. My 4 year old loves watching the video and has watched it everyday for the past week.

While this app is nice it comes up short in many ways. Most videos you can turn your phone into landscape mode and watch them however the video you make from Santa you can not. Also the app is $2.99 and with that they allow you to download three videos but after that you have to pay. This is pretty lame. I could understand if the app was free but for $3 you should be able to make as many videos as you like. There are other apps that allow you to do this including one I will review shortly, Magic Santa. For $3 I would probably find another app but if you do download this one, your kids would enjoy watching the videos.

iTunes Store

The Official Lorax App is a very basic app but it’s still fun.  Based on the Dr. Seuss character the Lorax App is an orange mouth with a mustate that you cover your mouth with and talk.  The mouth on the screen moves with you words making it look as if it were talking.  Very simple and basic but the kids still love it.  This is one of those apps that looks silly but seems to get more play time than you would think it would.  The app is free so it’s worth downloading and getting a few laughs.

iTunes Store

Dora’s Rhyming Word Adventure has Dora and Boots trying to get across the Grumpy Old Trolls toll bridge. To this this they have to collect seven coins by playing a game. The game has a picture in the middle like a cat and will ask you to find that word that rhymes with cat. Around the cat picture are five or six other pictures that go in a circle around the middle picture. When a picture is touched the word that the picture represents is said. To see if you have chosen correctly drag the outer picture over the middle picture and Dora will tell you if you are right. Once you get seven right there is a mini game of throwing the coins into the basket.

When my four year old started playing this game she didn’t know what rhyming words were but after playing for a short bit picked up on it. She now can go through the rhyming part of this game pretty quickly and not miss one. To add to the game there are also games with words that start with the same sound, end with the same sound, or have the same sound in the middle.

If you have a little one who likes Dora, this game is a must. It’s very much like the learning games they play in the cartoon. My four year old loves it and plays it all the time. It has helped her learn words that rhyme and words that start with the same sound. We have used it to help teach her what letter words start with. As of this post the app is $1.99 in the app store.

iTunes Store

Star Walk is really an amazing app. In fact it could be the most amazing app I barely ever use. What you do with Star Walk is walk outside at night a lift you phone in the air, then Star Walk will show you the stars you are looking at and all the constellations around you. This app really is amazing. As you move your phone around it shows the stars that are directly behind your phone and what constellations they make up. Not only that but I lowered it and it showed my neighbors house as well. I really don’t know how it works but it does and works really well. It is a little pricey at $2.99 but if you love looking at stars then this is the app for you.

iTunes Store