Fortunately, we’re pretty much a tech-connected family and we count the many blessings of ways available for long distance families to stay close. We do lots of pictures, Facebook updates, video calls and such and my girl loves being part of all of those.

We just recently tried out the SPOKEnPHOTO Album iPad app – the only app that lets you create and share talking photo collections with the look and feel of a real photo album. Basically, you can record your voice to any picture using either this iPad app or the iPhone app (only talking photo moments on iPhone, no albums) and then add the talking photos to any album you create and share via Twitter, Facebook, or email.

Since you can easily invite others to contribute to the album, it’s a perfect tool to get all your loved ones involved in creating special memories together and in any language they each prefer. Especially during the holidays when there are so many details to share and it’s so great to be able to hear someone’s voice and see their face any time you like. Since this Christmas is the first one in many years that we’re not traveling to see family, I’m planning on taking pictures of how my family of three will be celebrating in Los Angeles and have my daughter record all her favorite details in Spanish for her abuelitas and primos overseas to enjoy. What a lovely tradition to start!

In fact, we already tested it out by sharing with my mom this picture we recently took at Disneyland  during their Holidays celebration. You can check out the full experience (in Spanish) here.

Find SPOKEnPHOTO Album iPad app in iTunes

Available for iPad

Recommended for all ages

Price: Free

When Aidan (my now 4.5 year old) was 3 years old, he decided that he was going to refuse to do anything “Chinese”. He used to lower his head and shove his hands deep into his pockets when asked to speak Chinese. He one day declared that he didn’t want to speak Chinese anymore. My son decided Chinese wasn’t cool, or hip, or relevant to anything he was interested in. Everything fun was in English, his Chinese friends all spoke English with him, and I understood English too.

Over the years, I had searched for Chinese language resources for kids under 6, but couldn’t find anything that engaged long enough to benefit. I kept thinking there was a lost opportunity here, since the best time to learn/maintain languages is before the kids are 6. Since I’m conversationally fluent in Mandarin, I thought speaking to him at home would be enough, so I didn’t spend too much time worrying about the lack of language tools. But once I realized outside influences were competing for his attention, I knew I needed additional tools to re-spark Aidan’s interest in his mother-tongue. Forcing Chinese down his throat wasn’t an option for me, because I’ve seen how that type of influence leads to rebellion later on… parents speak to their children in the mother-tongue and the kids respond in English.

I’ve been in the videogame industry for over a decade, and after several moms approached me about the idea of leveraging the ever-so-popular tablet to become a language-learning tool, I jumped on board. This tablet-based tool is called Peach Ice Cream Adventures (PICA), and it will be a language-immersion adventure game specifically designed for 3-6 year olds, with Spanish, Chinese and French being the first three languages we are developing. What started off as a joint effort between three moms wanting a fun way to keep a mother tongue in the family has blossomed into a realization that there is a need for this tool extended beyond our own children and our own immediate needs: A Boston City Councillor of an inner city district wants PICA for his preschools/K1/K2.

If we raise enough money to make PICA, an awesome company called Isabella Products will be donating tablets pre-loaded with PICA to the schools so we can run a pilot next summer!!! And if that works, I have plans to roll out in other inner city schools as well. Kids from inner cities are usually have limited or have no access to the latest tools, but we want them to be part of the first.

We are using a fundraising platform called Kickstarter, which is a funding platform for creative projects. For a lack of better terminology, it is a pre-ordering platform that lets interested prospective customers pre-purchase (via pledges) to support the development and launch of the product. One catch is that Kickstarter is an “all-or-nothing” deal…you need to raise a minimum of the dollar amount or PICA can’t be made. We have 12 days to get enough pledges to get PICA into the hands of our kids and those in inner cities. Pre-order some cool Spanish (or Chinese or French) tools today to help us reach our goal. Folks pledging/pre-ordering as a gift for a special child in their life can let me know, and I’ll email a beautiful holiday card that states a purchase was made on the child’s behalf.

Click to pledge and pre-order by Dec. 17

Vicky spent the past 12 years in the videogame industry, and became passionate about making STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education more appealing and accessible to youth. Inspired by her older son (now 4.5), Vicky launched an early education enrichment program that uses STEM principles as a vehicle for Chinese language immersion. The success of the enrichment program has led her to start digitizing her curriculum by creating tablet-based language-learning games, specifically aimed at 3-6 year olds.

One of the most anxiety-ridden moments in parenting is when mom and/or dad must go back to work and feel, not only unwarranted guilt from leaving their baby, but also a sense of loss of not being there for all those important moments that happen once in a lifetime.

Care.com, an online platform that “provides a trusted place for families and care providers to easily connect, share caregiving experiences, and get advice,” has created Karoo, an app to help families stay connected with their children’s special moments, no matter where they are or with whom.

In a nutshell, Karoo is a free photo and video app that’s special because it’s designed for caregivers to send updates about the day-in-the-life of the kids they care for and have those cherished photos, quotes and videos be captured on a timeline that will be visible only to those you invite. That means you can go as crazy as you like sharing with the abuelos any pics of every little adorable minutia your baby does during the day without anyone getting annoyed by it. Yeah, it happens! But not with Karoo because only those who want to be connected with your kids will connect.

Caregivers will also have at their disposal a tool that allows them to give you fun updates and reports of your kids’ daily happenings like meals, siestas, diaper changes, medications, etc. The same updates can be seen by all allowed on the timeline so you can also save time by having all be in-the-know, just like you are! Cool, huh?

And what about those oh-so-necessary playgroups? Connect with other parents in your area and you can all check out the local activities happening in your area or let each other know when you’re at the park for an impromptu meetup!

Sounds like this is for you? Then check out the Karoo video below and download on iTunes for free.

This post was inspired by my participation in a compensated program initiated by Women Online/TheMission List. All commentary and opinions are, of course, my own.

We may have a bookshelf full of bilingual books in our house, but sometimes it’s fun to mix it up. The world of apps makes it easy to do just that. Instead of simply reading a story and maybe talking about it for a few minutes, we can extend the benefit of Spanish stories by letting our kids explore apps like Learn Spanish: Little Blue Jackal by Niyaa.

This iPad app is a high-quality learning tool that can be used to encourage both English and Spanish proficiency. Your preschoolers or elementary schoolers will love touching the pictures and learning over 50 Spanish words in Level 1, but it doesn’t end there. Then, they will advance to Spanish phrases in Level 2, and finally, listen to the story about the (un)importance of outward appearances in either English or Spanish in Level 3. After reading, they will get to play Memory and Feed the Jackal, as well as color some of the pages from the story.

What I love about this app in particular are a couple unique features: the Parent/Child Comprehension activity, which promotes excellent discussion of the moral in either language, and the Sleep Mode, which can be turned on if you only want to listen to the story without visuals. A great bedtime option!

Watch this video to see the app in action. Check out other apps from Niyaa by following them on Twitter or Facebook, or visiting their website.

The Giveaway!

FIVE lucky winners will receive a promo code to download this iPad app for free!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Like me, my daughter Vanessa is fascinated by maps, atlases and geography in general. And like most first-graders, she’s addicted to the iPad and it’s endless apps. So I was intrigued when I was approached by Barefoot Books — one of my favorite multicultural children’s book publishers — regarding a new app they recently launched together with Touch Press – the creators of some of the best apps out there.

I knew the Barefoot World Atlas app would be well done, but I honestly didn’t expect it to be so amazing. I mean, I have so many good things to say about it that I don’t even know where to begin. For starters, it’s available in Spanish, English and Catalan, which is a HUGE plus in my book.

As soon as the app finished downloading*, Vanessa took the iPad from me and started exploring it. There was no need to explain how to work it because, like most kids her age, she’s growing up in a world surrounded by tablets and smartphones. Even so, the Barefoot World Atlas is extremely easy to figure out. The first thing Vanessa did was spin the 3D globe with a swish of her little finger. She then zoomed in and started pressing icons here and there.

I decided to sit back and watch her play with the app and all I could hear was “Ooooh” and “Aaah” and “Cool!” as she explored the world.

The app is loaded with endless information regarding each country, including sound effects, animated icons and multimedia features, which allow kids to learn more about many particular features of each country. The written and spoken Spanish is flawless and the possibilities for learning are never ending.

It has quickly become both Vanessa and Santiago’s (he’s only 3, but he copies everything his big sister does) favorite app and it’s the first one they’ll go to when allowed to use the iPad.

This is the perfect app for parents with kids in dual language programs to reinforce what they’re learning in social studies. But it’s even better for parents who, like me, are raising bilingual children by teaching them Spanish at home. The Barefoot World Atlas app is available for the iPad, the iPhone and iPod touch for $4.99 at Apple’s iTunes store.

(*A word of caution: the Barefoot World Atlas takes a while to download because it’s a pretty large file, but it’s totally worth all the space it takes)

THE GIVEAWAY

Two winners will each receive a code to download the Barefoot World Atlas app for free (you need to have an iPad, iPod touch or iPhone) and a copy of the Barefoot World Atlas book.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We’ve all had a teacher who has inspired us during our school years. Whether it’s simply because of their kindness or because they inspired in us a passion for a certain subject , teachers have played a big role in our educational lives and in those of our kids.

That is why we are excited to tell you about the Teachers Rock Wall of Fame. Between now and September 20, you can honor an influential teacher in your life by nominating them to the Wall of Fame on the Teachers Rock app. What’s cool about nominating a teacher is that  each day a nominee will be inducted and given a $500 gift card. This is awesome for teachers because on average they spend $500 a year of their own money on items for the classroom, and dual immersion and bilingual education teachers spend even more to get language and cultural-appropriate materials.

So what exactly is Teachers Rock all about? Teachers Rock is being presented by Wal-Mart and Walden Media’s upcoming feature film “Won’t Back Down.” You can start by nominating a teacher to the wall of fame, then on August 14 the Teacher’s Rock Concert Benefit will take place and two-hundred deserving teachers from the LA area have already been invited to attend. All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit DonorsChoose.org, Feeding America and Teach for America. This concert will air on CBS on August 17.

There are many ways you can show our teachers your appreciation and even win great prizes yourself! Just check out Teachers Rock on Facebook and the Teachers Rock App !

The creators’ passion, perseverance, and love for learning about other languages and cultures shines through their product Tonji: The Musical Ambassador by Mommy Americana.  Designed to engage a child through international music, if you go to their website you will see that they have put together popular and traditional lyrics from around the globe. Each song includes language & visual repetition suited for specific age groups. For instance, my two-year-old daughter loved pulgarcito. She would mimic Tonji’s fingerplay and try to sing along. In fact, when I played the CD in the car she would ask for “más nene (Tonji), más avión.”

I am always so curious to share a product review with my daughter. I analyze the product from a bilingual educator’s perspective and from a mother raising a multilingual toddler. Most importantly, though, I look closely to how Sabrina will respond and to how I can play a part, too. This is definitely a product where parent and child will interact with the songs and eventually one where you will find your little one independently singing along and moving their body to the rhythm of the music!

One of the perks this Ipad app offers is the opportunity to record yourself and your child singing each song! Though the app is user-friendly, there is a link on their website that explains the purpose behind each icon. This is definitely a product worth exploring which will include songs in nine different languages from around the world!

I hope you enjoy the beautiful music Tonji (which means unity in Chinese) has to offer. What I loved most about sharing this experience with my daughter was how much the importance of exposing our children to other cultures, while nurturing the ones they come from resonated from the information I read about Karina Garcia Neffs’ MommyAmericana, the creator of Tonji.

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away a 25 CD set of Tonji: The Musical Ambassador to TWO winners to share with their classrooms or playgroups! That’s a total of 50 CD’s!

But that’s not all, all of you can download the Tonji: The Musical Ambassador app FOR FREE while this giveaway is running! Just click HERE .

a Rafflecopter giveaway