App Friday: Roxie, Splingo, ABC Zoo, Cupcake Run, Gwaii, & Penelope Rose

Welcome to App Friday, our weekly link exchange of family-friendly apps. What a big week for tech news! Meg Whitman becomes CEO of HP, Facebook is on a path to archive your life, the FTC is updating Children’s Online Privacy laws, AND it’s App Friday! Writing you live from the SheStreams conference in New York City – let’s go download some apps! 

What are your apps about?

Roxie’s a-MAZE-ing Vacation Adventure is an interactive journey – an exciting combination of a maze solving and i-spy game that the whole family can enjoy. You start by car, find your way through the different land- and cityscapes, and stumble upon challenges where you might have to use planes, boats or balloons to continue into this a-MAZE-ing adventure. Along the way, search for letters, penguins, numbers, ice cream trucks and lots of other cool surprises. Touch all different objects on the different screens and awesome surprises will appear. The app was completely hand-drawn by autor and illustrator of many children’s books; Roxie Munro.

Roxie’s Doors – The award-winning storybook Doors, by Roxie Munro, is available as a lift the flap 3-D search iPad book. A 3D experience with hand drawn graphics. Tilt the screen and reveal hidden corners of the screen. Find and animate over 90 little things and objects that are hidden behind doors, in drawers and in cabinets.  Activate a multitude of funny sounds and increase vocabulary by searching for objects that might be new words. Stimulate curiosity with this fun search-and-find lift-the-flap book which is written in rhyme and narrated by Roxie herself.

Splingo’s Language Universe – Designed by specialist Speech and Language Pathologists, Splingo’s Language Universe is a fun, dynamic game which capitalises on children’s natural fascination with technology to help them develop the listening and language skills that are fundamental to learning. It is uniquely it is customizable to suit a range of ages and learning abilities, including special needs. It allows children to focus on specific word types; nouns (naming words), verbs (action words), prepositions (position words) and adjectives (describing words), and includes four different levels of difficulty. So its challenging enough for typically developing children as well as children with additional needs, not to mention motivating and fun!

ABC Zoo – Learn the alphabet with animals on your iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch. Each animal is professionally illustrated and has a fun sound effect. Designed by parents for babies and children. Its easy for even very young children to use.

Cupcake Run is an endless (as in endless fun!) game where you play as a cupcake character, running and jumping through the countryside to collect as many magic toppings as you can! But it isn’t as easy as it sounds- the jealous Cookies are blocking your path, and you need to shoot at them with gold dragées to survive! Cupcake Run is family friendly and good clean fun.

The Gwaii – 3D Comic Book The first 3D comic book for iPad & iPhone 4, The Gwaii is a three part, 84-page graphic novel following the adventures of Tanu, a young sasquatch lost in the wilderness who must face the Fearsome Creatures in order to find his mother. Experience comics like never before with 3D depth and movement that does not require visual aids of any kind – just tilt the screen and the images jump off the “page”. NOTE: This app includes In App Purchases – an IAP warning appears at app launch with instructions for disabling it on the device. Parts 2 and 3 are $1.99 each

The Penelope Rose is a 3D fairytale of how roses were saved and fairies became the artists of the winged world. It has been named one of the 50 best apps for kids by Babble.com and an Essential Children’s Book app by Digital Storytime. Featured by Apple who said, “Every click within this colorful tale unlocks magic and wonders, as its pop-out three-dimensional visuals will mesmerize kids and parents alike.”

What’s in it for me this App Friday, Sept. 23rd?

Please note that the standard App Friday promotional pricing is over by 8pm US Pacific Time.

• Roxie’s a-MAZE-ing Vacation Adventure, for iPad – $.99 (from $2.99)
• Roxie’s Doors, for iPad – FREE (from $2.99)
• Splingo’s Language Universe – $.99 (from $2.99)
• ABC Zoo – $.99 (from $1.99)
• Cupcake Run – FREE (from $.99)
• The Gwaii 3D Comic Book – Part 1 is FREE (from $1.99 – includes In App Purchase for parts 2 & 3)
• The Penelope Rose, for iPad – $2.99 (from $6.99)
• The Penelope Rose, for Mac – $2.99 (from $6.99)
• The Penelope Rose – $1.99 (from $3.99)
• MORE APP NEWS!!!!
• Injini Child Development Suite on Sale – $29.99 (from $49.99)
• Mugtuk’s Launch Party – Live on Facebook! (They’ll be giving away codes and prizes for their fuzzy new apps)

The Link Exchange

App Friday is an opportunity for developers to share the news about apps and special promotions. If you have news – please post it in the Simply Linked Widget down below (include the app name & details in the “link title”, your email, and a URL to the app.) Thanks for your participation.