Sam Phibian is one of those "I can't believe this is free!" apps.
It's a counting game that will appeal to a broad age range, it has just the right amount of quirky humor, lovely graphics and pleasant music. It's simple to play but skillful players will find it gets increasingly challenging. And as far as I can tell, it's always free!
** Only the app's developer can control when an app is free or not. All apps that we post as Good Free Apps of the Day are verified to be free at the time of this post. We make no guarantees otherwise. **
The premise of the game is very simple. Sam is a frog and your child's job is to feed him bugs. However, indiscriminate feeding won't work - the correct number of bugs of the correct colors have to be fed to Sam or he starts to puff up and gets too big for his lily pad.
Your child has to feed Sam breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each meal gets progressively more challenging and each day is tougher than the day before.
Before each meal your child is shown a screen with the bugs they have to catch on it but the game also keeps track of the bug count on the bottom left corner.
Tap on a bug and Sam's tongue whips out in that direction to catch it. I love the graphics - they're colorful and engaging and Sam is especially well done.
As the day progresses, the number of bugs that Sam has to catch increases. The bugs themselves also get increasingly difficult to catch they fly erratically and quickly across the screen. In addition, non-bug items start to float across the screen like... pairs of underpants?
The croc is always lurking, hoping that Sam will fill up by eating the wrong bugs and become too big and heavy for his lily pad...
Eating the non-bug items often has funny consequences for Sam...
From iTunes:
Sam Phibian makes counting fun.
Sam Phibian can only make it through the day by counting the bugs he eats. Eating too many bugs--or eating the silly things in his swamp that aren't bugs at all--will cause Sam to grow too big for his lily pad!
Sam Phibian combines attractive graphics, fun game play, and just the right amount of absurdity to create an interactive experience that makes counting practice engaging for young (and old!) learners.
Deanne Shoyer is the mother to twin boys on the autism spectrum, blogs at smallbutkindamighty.com, has two history degrees and looks a lot less hip than her avatar.
Every day we pick what we affectionately call the Good Free App of the Day, an app that we have downloaded, tested and certified: It can't have a ton of ads or just a little content with in-app purchases.
It also has to be good.
We then present them to you to read, download, and share and, based on which ones got the most hits from you, here are your Top 100 Free Apps for Kids! Enjoy!
Please also see our Top 10 Preschool Apps (staff picks), Top 10 Free Apps for Learning Letters, Deanne's Top 10 Free Apps for ASD Kids, Top 12 Apps for Mom, Editor's Top 10,Reader's Choice Top 10, and Top 10 Addition Apps.
(** indicates that the app contains in-app purchases/is very closely tied to a purchase or has ads)
1) LEGO App 4+ (build a vehicle and then use it in activities)
2) Open Wide Snap (we rated five stars)
4) National Geographic Explorer
5) ** Toddler/Preschool Flash Cards (warning! now has ads!)
7) Hide Run Growl (we rated five stars)
8) Little Stars - Toddler Games (letters, numbers, shapes, colors, words)
9) Play 123
11) ** Playful Minds: Math (5-8 years old)
12) Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally Appisode
13) ** Build a Word Express
16) Learning Games for Preschool to Kindergarten
17) ** Curious George at the Zoo for iPad (now only one area free, the rest in-app)
18) Rover (flash-enabled web browser for kids)
19) Disney's Jake's Never Land Pirate School
20) Scholastic's Sushi Monster (addition and multiplication)
21) I Can Write 2 (make sentences about images)
22) PBS Kids Video (all their favorites, U.S. only)
23) ** Brain Quest (from the people that make those card thingees)
24) ** Thomas & Friends - Engine Activities
25) Collins Big Cat Story Creator books (eight apps!)
26) Miss Spider apps (Bedtime Story and Tea Party)
27) Toca Kitchen Monsters (all kids need Toca Boca)
28) ** Goodnight Safari (baby animals!)
29) Rocket Speller
30) ** Toontastic (we rated five stars)
31) ** Scribble Press (make an book!)
32) ** Puzzingo
33) Touch the Sound
35) Lego Duplo Jams
36) Little Finder
37) Color Uncovered (please don't let your dog drive)
40) Bluster! (McGraw-Hill)
41) ** Math Vs. Zombies
42) ** Spy Mouse
44) ** Let's Color (drawings come to life)
45) ** Alphabet Tracing
46) eggzoo
48) Rocket Math Free (free version of one of our Top Picks)
49) Green ABCs (previously cost $30)
50) Monster Physics Lite (five star app)
51) ** BrainPop Featured Movie (No. 1 on our Editor's Choice list)
52) Story Creator
53) Kids Learning - Photo Touch Learning Concepts
54) ABA Flash Cards & Games - Emotions
55) ABC Mouse Zoo Sets 1, 2 and 3
56) Buzzle
57) 6-in-1 Children's Games (lite version)
58) ** Sock Puppets
59) ** Monkey Drum (do you need more than a monkey with a drum?)
61) ** MeeGenius (six ebooks for free!)
64) Lego Duplo Zoo
65) Scooby-Doo Whos Are You? by Hallmark (Zoinks!)
66) Feel Electric (The Electric Company is back!)
67) ** Booksy (one of our Top Picks)
69) Tim and Tom
70) Kids Learning - My First Numbers Counting Game
71) Wood Puzzle Brain Challenge
75) Jack and the Beanstalk (modern version of the classic tale)
78) Sprout's Good Night Star (nighttime routine, brusha! brusha! brusha!)
79) Stewie The Duck Learns To Swim
80) Chipper's Rainy Day Adventure
81) ** BrainPop Jr. Movie of the Week
82) ** Motion Math - Hungry Fish
83) Little Stars - Word Wizard
84) Adventures of the 7Wonderlicious Girls (girls doing their best, helping others, being brave, learning and feeling good about themselves)
85) Fisher Price's Laugh & Learn Animal Sounds
86) The Land of Me - Story Time
87) JibJab Jr. Books
88) Fisher Price's Lets Count Animals
89) Bean Bag Kids present Little Red Riding Hood
90) Astrid & Siri
91) The Lorax Truffula Shuffle (U.S. only for some reason)
92) Squiggles (bring scribbles to life, one of our Top Picks)
93) Kraft Macaroni & Cheese - Dinner, Not Art
94) The Icky Mr. Fox/Mr Fox and Mr. Rabbit
95) Hallmark's Christmas All the Way
97) Little Bird's Internet Security Adventure
98) PaddleDuck Color and Story App
100) Mini Mining
We've done our best to only include apps that are permanently free, but sometimes developers do change their minds, so please leave a comment if you find an app that's no longer free.
(** indicates that the app contains in-app purchases/is very closely tied to a purchase or has ads)
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