Archive for the ‘eBooks for Children’ Category
VINCI Tab II children’s tablet launched no comments
Rullingnet Corp has announced a new version of its VINCI Tab 7-inch children’s tablet, which is designed for children 18 months and older. The VINCI Tab II adds Wi-Fi and enables password-protected Internet connectivity. The pricing of the second generation tablet has also been reduced to $249 for the Wi-Fi version and $199 without Wi-Fi – the original model sells for $389. This is still rather pricey for a children’s tablet when compared to other devices from Vtech and LeapFrog.
The VINCI Tab II is available now from various resellers, including Amazon.
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LeapPad wins Platinum Award from Oppenheim Toy Portfolio no comments
LeapFrog’s new LeapPad tablet for children has won the 2011 Platinum “Best Toy Award” from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio. LeapFrog is no stranger to Oppenheim awards, with more than 60 to its credit.
"If you’re looking for the innovative product of the year, it’s really the LeapPad. Our testers loved the graphics, the games and the on-board camera and video recorder, but most of all, they loved that it was all for them — no need to share with mom or dad," said Stephanie Oppenheim, publisher of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio. "For $99, the LeapPad is pretty amazing."
The LeapPad is currently available direct from LeapFrog or other resellers such as Amazon in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland. It should be available in other countries by the end of the year.
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PBS and Jim Henson launch new children’s app no comments
PBS and the Jim Henson Co. have launched a new children’s edutainment iPhone app, Sid’s Science Fair, based on the animated preschool series Sid The Science Kid. The app is designed to interest children ages 3 to 6 in science.![Sids-Science-Fair-kids-learning-app_thumb[2]](file:///C:/Documents and Settings/Greenlee/Local Settings/Temp/WindowsLiveWriter-429641856/supfiles6877B6/Sids-Science-Fair-kids-learning-app[4].jpg "Sids-Science-Fair-kids-learning-app_thumb[2]")
Sid’s Science Fair includes three mini-games that help to improve science and math skills:
- Gabriela’s “Collection Inspection”: Choosing from several different exploration environments, children discover patterns in natural objects using an interactive magnifying glass.
- May’s “Chart It!”: Children use charts to explore a set of objects and then organize ten objects on a chart according to a shared trait, such as color, shape and orientation.
- Gerald’s “Time Machine”: Children explore how different objects – from food to plants – change over time. They first order the events in sequence, and then the events form into a timeline that players can move forward and backward in time to see the transformation.
Sid’s Science Fair is $2.99 at iTunes.
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Scholastic to launch children’s ereading app no comments
Scholastic will be launching a new ereading app for young readers this fall that will connect to the Scholastic Book Clubs for purchasing and downloading ebooks. Available content will include picture books, elementary series, middle grade chapter books and young adult novels.
Scholastic is negotiating with publishers to bring their catalogs on board, and today announced an agreement with indie publisher Sourcebooks. Both Sourcebooks’ frontlist and backlist of children’s titles will be offered in the Scholastic app.
Some of the first Sourcebooks titles to be available via the Scholastic ereading app when it launches will be the bestselling Horrid Henry series by Francesca Simon, Kristi Yamaguchi’s Dream Big, Little Pig and I Love You More by Laura Duksta.
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Oceanhouse Media children’s reading apps on sale no comments
Oceanhouse Media is having a Back to School Sale through Oct 2. 
Each week a new selection of the developer’s interactive children’s reading apps will be on sale. This week ten of the Dr. Seuss titles have been marked down to $1.99 each. Other weeks The Berenstain Bears, Little Critter, Five Little Monkeys and the Smithsonian Collection will be discounted.
The sale includes Oceanhouse Media’s apps for iPhone/iPad that are available at iTunes as well as the Android versions that are available at Amazon’s Appstore for Android and the Android Market. Oceanhouse Media apps are also available for the Nook Color at the Nook Color app store.
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VTech InnoTab children’s tablet available for pre-order no comments
Earlier this year VTech announced the InnoTab educational tablet designed for children aged 4-9. The InnoTab is now available for pre-order from several sources, including Amazon and Walmart, at a price of about $80.
The InnoTab comes with some pre-loaded apps, including an interactive animated e-book, motion games, creative activities, MP3 music player, photo viewer, video player, alarm clock, calculator, calendar and an address book.
Additional apps, interactive ebooks, learning games and other content come in the form of both cartridges and downloadable content. Popular characters and stories such as Cars, Toy Story, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob Squarepants and Disney Princesses are featured.
The InnoTab features durable construction and sports a 5-inch color LCD touchscreen, tilt-sensor for motion game control, USB port, SD card slot, headphone jack and comes with a stylus.
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LeapFrog LeapPad available again today no comments
LeapFrog has begun taking orders again today for its LeapPad children’s tablet. The LeapPad was available briefly for pre-order a couple of months ago but LeapFrog quickly sold out of its pre-order stock and stopped taking new orders.
You can purchase the LeapPad directly from LeapFrog where it is available in either pink or green bundled with two LeapFrog App Center download cards for $139.97. The LeapPad can also be purchased at Amazon and other sellers (Toys R Us, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, Target) on its own for $99.99.
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New Vinci tablet for young children incoming no comments
The Vinci Tab is a new tablet designed especially for toddlers up to four years old. The tablet features a soft cornered handle that provides an easy grip and the touchscreen is made with tempered glass (much stronger than regular glass and if broken breaks up into small crumbly bits rather than sharp jagged pieces).
Nontoxic materials are used in the handle and housing of the Vinci and are safe if chewed or sucked.
The Vinci Tab runs on Android 2.3 and will feature various activities such as story books, games and sing along music videos. The tablet will come preloaded with some content — additional titles are in the works and will be available for purchase at prices TBA. Vinci is designing its activity apps with the goal of encouraging play-based intuitive learning.
So that parents don’t have to worry about unattended web browsing, the Vinci Tab will come sans a Wi-Fi connection. Vinci provides desktop software that is used to manage the tablet and to transfer new apps and content to it over the USB connection. The Vinci Tab does include a 3MP video camera and voice recorder.
There are two versions of the Vinci tablet available for pre-order at Amazon, which should start shipping around August 10. The Vinci Tab is rather pricey — $389 or $479. The only hardware differences between the two models seems to be in the battery life (up to 3 hours vs up to 6 hours). The more expensive Vinci also comes with more preloaded content.
The video below is from Techlicious and was shot at this year’s CES.
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California libraries to provide free access to Scholastic BookFlix no comments
Library patrons in California will have free access to BookFlix from computers at their local library or from home, according to a press release from Scholastic.
BookFlix is a program intended for classrooms and libraries from Scholastic that pairs award-winning video from Weston Woods based on children’s picture books with related nonfiction ebooks from the Scholastic catalogue. Young readers can watch a video version of their favorite story book and then find related material in the accompanying ebooks.
Currently BookFlix features 95 fiction/nonfiction pairings, 25 of which are also available in Spanish, with more titles in the works. The program is designed for children in grades Pre-K3.
Some of the features of BookFlix include:
- A "read-along" option that provides word-by-word highlighting so children can follow along as the fiction video is narrated and the nonfiction ebook is read aloud.
- Narrated text and definitions of key vocabulary words to support beginning and reluctant readers, as well as English Language Learners;
- Educational games and activities that encourage children to show what they have learned and to reinforce early reading skills like fluency, vocabulary development and reading comprehension;
- Biographies and interviews that introduce young readers to their favorite authors; and
- Safe, age-appropriate web links to encourage children to further explore topics that pique their interest.
"BookFlix connects the library to the home," said Hugh Roome, President of Scholastic Library Publishing. "In adopting BookFlix, California is making cutting-edge e-reading technology available to families anywhere they have an Internet connection, and providing a tool that introduces young readers to classic books and stories in new, 21st Century formats."
Update: It might be hard to find the link to this on your library’s site — I finally tracked down the BookFlix link at the Los Angeles library, which I use, thanks to one of the helpful state librarians.
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HarperCollins launches digital versions of I Can Read! series no comments
HarperCollins has launched digital versions of the I Can Read! early reader program. The popular children’s series is now available at the Nook Bookstore and through the iBookstore for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The ebooks feature audio read-along and sound effects.
Barnes & Noble has a page dedicated to the I Can Read! series in its Nook Kids department. At both iTunes and B&N the first ebook in the series, Dixie, is free. There are 80 titles from the series available now, with more on the way.
Presumably the series will make it to the Kindle Store as well when Amazon releases a tablet, though B&N and iOS have a big head start when it comes to children’s ebooks.
