daily365: Icicle

daily365: Icicle, originally uploaded by @muntz.

Found this icicle that was broken from a vehicle, but still frozen to the ice and still standing. This is 037 in my daily365. The photo was processed in Format126 and Photoshop Mobile.

daily365: It’s the Chili Dog?

daily365: It’s the Chili Dog?, originally uploaded by @muntz.

Haha! That’s totally what my brother said when I told him that 036 would be the chili dog pic. Mmm…enjoy. The pic was processed in CameraBag and Photoshop Mobile.

daily365: The Blob

daily365: The Blob, originally uploaded by @muntz.

035 of my daily365 started with a sketch in Sketchbook Mobile. I painted in a layer undeneath the sketch. I tried to use a more common painting technique, using only one layer and building my image from the background colors forward. This little monster is inspired by Bob for Monsters vs Aliens.

daily365: My Evening

daily365: My Evening, originally uploaded by @muntz.

034 is a quick photo of my evening. Captain Morgan Private Stock and live TV. A little processing in Mill Colour, Photoshop Mobile & CinemaFX.

daily365: Colors Are Streaming

daily365: Colors Are Streaming, originally uploaded by @muntz.

Another digital painting in Sketchbook Mobile. It’s been the easiest solution when I plop in bed. I’ve been wanting to use this title for a few days, and I finally had a solution that worked.

daily365: Pi

daily365: Pi, originally uploaded by @muntz.

032 is a digital painting of a pi character. Painted in Autodesk Sketchbook Mobile.

daily365: Sea Color

daily365: Sea Color, originally uploaded by @muntz.

daily365:031 was taken at the Downtown Aquarium in Denver. My oldest boy turned 3 today so I took the day off to play with him today (it’s a cheap and easy gift). The photo was taken with my iPhone 3GS and processed in Mill Colour and Photoshop Mobile.

daily365: Flower

daily365: Flower, originally uploaded by @muntz.

030 is a digital painting Sketchbook Mobile. I thought I knew what sort of flower this was when I was painting it, but it seems I was wrong.

Toddlers & iPhones: The App List

There are tons of apps available for a toddler age group. In fact, Apps for Toddlers was a feature in the App Store a few months ago. Here is a quick rundown of which apps I keep on my phone for my 3 year old. If you’re nervous about handing your iPhone off to a toddler or preschooler, check out my previous post.

Topple: The boy calls this one “blocks”. It’s a pretty simple game. Blocks fall from the sky and you have to stack them. What kid doesn’t like stacking blocks.

Preschool Arcade: This app uses some traditional arcade games and teaches things like shape matching (crane game), counting (pinball) and letter recognition (space invaders). The 3 year old picked it up pretty easily.

Preschool Adventure: This is the first toddler game we bought for the iPhone and one of the first available. It has six different mini-games that teach colors, numbers and counting, shapes, body parts, matching, and animal sounds.

Bloom: Bloom is a music generation app. It’s designed more for adults, but it’s still attractive to a toddler. When you touch the screen it makes a bubble and a sound. Kind of like playing a piano. The music repeats every 10 seconds or so. This is the app we’re starting out the one year old with, since it offers sight and sound response when he touches the screen.

Lightsaber: How cool is it to have a lightsaber on your iPhone! It works with the accelerometer to recreate the lightsaber sounds from the movies. What kid wouldn’t like that.

Sheep Launcher Free: Push a big red button to launch a sheep into the air. Keep tapping the sheep to keep it in the air. It’s not super easy, but as my boy got older and played it more, he can now play the game effectively.

Mr Aahh Lite: This is the “swinging” game. The goal is to swing a guy from one pylon to another (kind of like spiderman). My 3 year old plays it occasionally and can do quite well with it.

Monkey Preschool Lunchbox: This is the current favorite. He learns colors, letters, matching, puzzles, big/small and difference. There is no “scoring” system in the game, but it does reward with in-game stickers after every four or five completed mini-games. It’s a lot of fun. The background music does get stuck in your head (since it’s a pretty simple loop), and the narrators voice can be a bit obnoxious.

Max Injury: Not all parents would be willing to pick this one up, but my boy seems to enjoy throwing a crash test dummy down the stairs. This game has zero educational value, but it keeps him busy for a while and adds something different in the times he might be bored with his learning games.

Color Collector: The concept of this game seemed pretty cool. It encourages children to see the colors in the world around them, and collect them using the iPhone’s camera. However, even in direct sunlight the game is pretty bad at recognizing colors.

Field Flier: One of our newest apps. The boy loves flying a little bird (Robin) around a field. The bird lands on different green dots and performs an activity (reading, sleeping, eating, dancing, etc). Control in the game is pretty loose, so it takes several tries to learn how to land Robin where you want him.

The standard apps

Don’t underestimate how fun it is for a child to flip through your Camera Roll to see pictures and videos of himself (herself). I know our boy loves it. Especially the videos.

Sometimes he finds it fun to send texts to family members. Most of them know the jibberish is from the three year old. He also enjoys typing in the notepad. Kids just love to push buttons.

What apps have you picked up for your toddler/preschooler?

daily365: 12 Monkeys

daily365: Monkeys, originally uploaded by @muntz.

daily365:029 is a barrel of monkeys. I know I’m another day behind, but I opted for rest rather than obligation. Photo was processed in Best Camera, Photoshop Mobile and FocalLab.