More free iPad eduational apps

Five educational apps recently caught my attention. Three are by McGraw-Hill: Grammar Wonderland 1, Grammar Wonderland 2, and Word Wonderland. Two are from exploratoriaum.edu: Sound Uncovered and Color Uncovered. All five apps require students to read and interact with the app, and they should hold students' attention.
McGraw-Hill Wonderlands

Word Wonderland challenges players to match phonetic sounds with words (such as matching "shop" with short "o."). The title "Wonderland" refers to the maps students move along in different worlds. If you are teaching students phonetic spelling strategies by using a program like Reading Horizons, for example, this would be a fun review activity.

Word Wonderland

The Grammar Wonderlands are similar--players choose a character and world, and as they win each level, by flying a plane into plural nouns or feeding a polar bear the common noun, etc., they progress across a map. These games are obviously aimed at young readers, but with older students who struggle with reading and writing, this would be a fun review of basic grammar.

Exploratorium
The Exploratorium is "an interactive museum of science, art, and perception located in San Francisco." Their brilliant apps are educational for any age. One of my favorite Sound Uncovered interactive articles is "How Old are Your Ears," which allows students to measure their hearing on a sliding scale and then encourages them to read more about how loud music and age contribute to hearing loss. Color Uncovered also has several dazzling optical illusions and surprising facts.