Tag Archives: children’s apps

Early this morning, I spoke to a friend in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through my webcam, the Skype video was still a little choppy, but clear enough to recognize that we were each settled into different parts our daily routines (the time difference is six hours). I took sips from a big mug of coffee, the orange-yellow sunrise glaring in through the window to the right of my desk. For my friend, it was midday and he was nibbling on pita.…

This partial transcript of the App Fairy podcast has been edited for length and clarity. Visit appfairy.org for more information about Nosy Crow. Carissa Christner: Hello and welcome to the App Fairy podcast. My name is Carissa Christner, and I’m a children’s librarian from Madison, Wisconsin. Each time that we have an App Fairy podcast, I interview a different app maker in a sort of meet-the-author format. Today I’m very excited to introduce you to Kate Wilson, Managing Director of Nosy Crow.…

The “Endless” apps by Originator (Endless Alphabet, Endless Numbers, etc.) all follow a reliable and effective formula: genuinely funny antics + solid educational content = learning that sticks.  Most of their apps feature a lovable and irreverent cast of cute monsters who help to illustrate the definition of words, the meanings of sentences and the value of numbers through silly animations.  I was pleased to be able to interview Originator founder Rex Ishibashi in this most recent episode of the App Fairy to…

Book publisher and app developer Nosy Crow has the best fairytale apps on the market today. Though many app developers lean heavily on the fairytale stories because they are in the public domain and therefore free to use, Nosy Crow is truly innovative in their use of mobile device capabilities and they truly use those special features to move the story forward, not just distract with bells and whistles. Tune in to episode #4 of the App Fairy Podcast to…

I’m so excited to bring you this interview with Sago Mini!  I’ve been a huge fan of their work since the early days of kids apps and after a chance to visit their offices in Toronto in the fall of 2015, I became even more impressed with the level of dedication they put into creating high-quality apps for the very youngest users. I love how they create “digital toys” that focus on pure play rather than insisting that all of…

Episode two of the App Fairy podcast features an interview with app maker Wolfgang Schmitz of the app company Ahoiii. The Ahoiii apps feature an endearing sailor in blue and white stripes named Fiete. I first encountered Fiete in Ahoiii’s advent-calendar-esque Fiete Christmas app when I bought it for my family, and was soon charmed by the its high quality and whimsical artwork. I was delighted to discover that there was a whole series of apps about this little sailor, covering early learner subjects like math,…

Everyone knows that books have authors and artwork is made by artists, but have you ever stopped to think about the people working behind the scenes to create some of the best children’s apps? Allow me to introduce you to some of today’s cutting edge media creators in my new podcast, App Fairy ! For the past several years, I’ve been using apps in my library programs and during that time, I’ve had many opportunities to e-mail questions to various app developers. I’ve discovered that, unlike…