Smart Application - Lego Fix The Factory

Lego Mindstorms Fix the Factory is a free application yet of high quality which can not be said for many free applications. It teaches basic programming/coding skills to children in a game environment. Children help EV3RSTORM, a humanoid robot, to navigate the massive NOGO factory maze and put the dislocated batteries back in place to proceed to the next level. Each puzzle introduces new skills to master for example logic gates, functions etc.

Price: Free

Links for:
IPad/Iphone
Android

Smart Application - Fresh Pick

Fizzy's Lunch Lab Fresh Pick is a game application developed by PBS Kids. In this application children age 6-8 years can practise their math and problem solving skills by solving 8 challenges. Challenges include navigating your way through the grocery store, coming up with right amount of change in the check-out line, and successfully serving food to a room full of hungry customers. 

Links for:

IPad

Android

Smart Application - 10Monkeys

10Monkeys is a fun game for elementary aged children to practise their multiplication skills. The objective of the game is to free the monkeys by correctly answering multiplication problems. Children get points on speed and accuracy. While in essence it is yet another drill type game, the graphics are cute and for some reason kids seem to enjoy it better than other drilling games.

Links for:
Ipad
Iphone
Android

Smart Application - Star Walk

Details by developer

Star Walk is specially designed for amateur star gazers but will also pleasantly surprise professional astronomers. Star Walk is fun & educating at the same time!

Star Walk is an excellent guide to stars, planets, and constellations. You can play and learn them all while sitting comfortably in the arm-chair at home or during actual star gazing outside.

Unrivaled smooth 3D graphics
Full coverage of celestial bodies
Moon phases, sun rises, sun sets
Location based star gazing
Wiki knowledge base
Night view mode
Meteor showers
Time Machine

Links for:

IPhone

Ipad

Currently StarWalk is not available for Android but you can give Google Sky Map a try which sounds similar.

Light Bot

Light Bot uses a game interface to teach basic programming/coding skills to children as young as 4 years old but can be used by older kids as well. very interesting interface and teaches the skills like logic, step by step commands etc. without being overwhelming. an option to turn music off, and my girl had to literally snatch the device from my hand in order to play herself

there is an IOS version, an android version and a web version as well. some puzzles are free, and some are a paid version but the price is very appropriate.

IOS free: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/light-bot/id749337888

IOS paid: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/light-bot/id657638474

Android free: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lightbot.lightbothoc

Android paid: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lightbot.lightbot

Web: http://light-bot.com/

Smart Application–Move The Turtle

Details By Developer

Move The Turtle is an educational application for iPhone and iPad that teaches children the basics of creating computer programs, using intuitive graphic commands. a friendly Turtle will introduce your child step by step to the basic concepts of programming in a colourful graphic environment. By completing the tasks, one after another, your child learns:

• how to plan complex activities composed of simple elements
• how to reuse previously completed work
• how to use graphics, spatial orientation and sound in programming

Your child will also become familiar with the notions of loops, procedures, variables and conditional instructions.
Programming is about more than completing tasks, it is also about implementing your own ideas using your imagination. With this in mind we give you the opportunity to create your own programs from scratch or based on our inspiring examples.

Links for:
Iphone
Ipad

Price:
$ 2.99

(Currently unavailable in South Africa)

Smart Application–Picle

 

Picle is a free app for iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch that works well for putting images and audio together to create digital stories or multimedia projects. Images can be imported from the camera roll. Or, pictures can be taken directly by the app with the iDevice’s built-in camera. Then by clicking a record-button you can attach audio narration or other desired sounds to the image. You can also record whatever sound is present when the picture is taken while taking a picture to capture. Each image, with attached audio, is known as a ‘picle’. Individual picles can be woven together into movies that tell a story. These movies can be uploaded and shared on Picle’s site. Or, movies can be saved to the camera roll and sent from there directly to Youtube, on your blog or emailed. Individual picles can also be shared on their own.

I particulary like to use this application in language learning and reading. Children can take pictures of different things and say a few words about them in the language they are learning. As a fun way to teach reading, they can take the picture of some text written in other languages and record themselves reading it. My children are also using it in making tajweed videos by taking pictures of different words and verses from the Quraan and explaining the tajweed rules in the voice recording. children can also take pictures of their art work and record themselves explaining it. This application presents many wonderful opportunities and since it is so easy to use, it can be used by even very young children.

Price
Free

Link for
iphone and ipad

Smart Application–Project NOAH

Details by Developer

Noah stands for networked organisms and habitats. Think of Project Noah as a tool people can use to document and learn about their natural surroundings and as a technology platform research groups can use to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere. Read on to find out how it all works.
The Project Noah application has 3 modes:
Spottings: Grab a photograph of a plant or animal that you find interesting or want to learn more about, select the appropriate category, confirm your location, add some descriptive tags, and submit it. If you need help identifying species, no prob, just select the check box and the community will suggest species IDs
Location-based Field Guide: See what kinds of plants and animals have been spotted near you and learn more about them. Search through a map view, list view, or grid view of most recent spottings all based on your location. You can filter wildlife by categories so you can explore what you’re most interested in.
Field Missions: We work with labs, environmental groups, and various organizations to help them gather important data for their research projects. Missions can range from photographing squirrels or mushrooms to tracking migrating birds or invasive species. Missions allow users to contribute to ongoing research projects, but they can also be for fun and exploration.

Links for:

iphone
ipad
android

Price:

Free

Smart Applications–al Quran

I start this series of smart applications with the Holy Quraan. Al Quran is complete Quraan al Kareem on your smart phone.

Details by Developer

Introducing a highly optimized and searchable Holy Quran application for iPhone. alQuran will enable you to read entire Holy Quran as well as translations and commentary in various languages. Listen to verse by verse recitation of the Quran and recitations of many other famous reciters. Search the Holy Quran text and translations easily and quickly.
Features:
* Searchable Holy Quran
* Over a 100 translations in more than 30 different languages & adding...
* Bookmarking and References to verses
* Easy scrolling
* Verse by verse Recitation
* Recitation of many famous reciters
* Easy to use interface design
* Book Style Reading Experience
* And much more...

Links for:

iphone
ipad

Smart Applications

Hand-Sculpted iRetrofone Base By Artist Scott Freeland Fuses Art With Function

Smart phones are fast becoming a part of life. With the emergence of technologies like augmented reality and QR codes, education is taking a different shape. Smart phones have a vital role to play in 21st century learning. I will post resources for smart phones, which are suitable for Muslims, as I find them from now on Insha Allaah along with ideas on how they can be used by home educating families. You can find all the posts in this series on my page on Smart Applications on the blog.