What We Talk About When We Talk About Apps

The Photoshop of apps. Procreate is an amazing app that let you transform the iPad into a tablet version of Photoshop. You can import and export work in multiple formats including Photoshop files. This app is great for so many different library art programs.

This app isn’t really an app. It reminds me of a plastic layer my parents put on top of the keyboard when I was a kid so the letters we more child friendly. This app adds a fun looking keyboard for small children with colorful animal letters. This is great for small children, but not so great for universal iPad used with older kids.

I love this app because it’s great for making sprites for games. It can also be used for making pixel art which is very popular right now.

Floors is a great way to teach level design. Using either a piece of paper with a grid or on the the iPad itself you can make really fun side scrolling adventures. The app teaches the importance of symbols and taking your time and not rush the job. It’s great in out game making programs.

Hopscotch is a great way for tween and teen game developers to start learning drag and drop coding. Until Scratch becomes available as an app in the iTunes store Hopscotch is the best drag and drop coding app available for iPads.

Codea is great if your coding programs have gone beyond drag and drop game design. With Codea, you can write and export code to become apps.

Ticket to ride is an amazing board games and now it’s also an amazing app. Play on the same iPad or use multiple iPads in a Local version.

I created my first ‘Reading in the Dark’ program with the physical book and it’s interactive videos online. Now the entire book and videos are in app form, no need for book lights or a wifi connection. 

Probably the cheesest four player game I've run into yet. The objective is to steal the spotlight. You do this by bopping into other players to steal the spotlight.

Asana is a great management tool because of its versatility in our library. I can assign tasks to both myself and others. You can make multiple big projects and small ones and watch the progress as tasks are completed. Whats great about Asana is that its available on both hand held devices and the computer.

Scratch Jr. is a perfect introduction to drag and drop coding. Older kids will get bored quickly with the program, but its a great way to start early elementary school kids to the concepts. We have an all ages coding program and we use it with the younger kids when we’re teaching a lesson in scratch to the older ones.

Heads up is great for social games at the library. It gives the feel of a gameshow in your fingertips. We use it for storytimes to get the preschoolers the learn how to describe things, going beyond just taking things at face value.

It's silly but my storytime kids eat these apps up (the Millie ones). I don't use the whole book, but it's almost like a trick or treat game where Millie the dog does a trick or gets a doggy treat.