iPad Mums is my newest blog where I showcase some of the best iPad apps available to help Mums get organised and have some fun and to bring you some of the best educational apps for your kids with an emphasis on iPad apps for Autism. Check out my latest post:

iPad Apps for Kids - iLuv Drawing People

iLuv Drawing People – iPad App for Kids

Your budding artists will learn the basics of drawing people in various different poses while learning to draw kids doing their favourite things. Color, decorate and “DRESS UP” the drawings they created and also send as greeting cards to the loved ones. This is a 3rd app in ‘iLuv Drawing’ series of apps! The first app ‘iLuv Drawing Animals’ is very well received and got 10s of 1000s of downloads.

Read more on iPad Mums!

iPad Mums is my newest blog where I showcase some of the best iPad apps available to help Mums get organised and have some fun and to bring you some of the best educational apps for your kids with an emphasis on iPad apps for Autism. Check out my latest post:

iPad App for Kids - Learn ABC; It's Munch Time

Learn ABC; It’s Munch Time – iPad App for Kids

Let the cute food and fruit characters in Learn ABC; It’s Munch Time teach your child their alphabet. Kids have so much fun interacting with this application while they learn! Toddlers and young learners love singing along, practicing their letters and more. Click “…More” to learn why you should download this App today!

Your little one has just started learning the alphabet. You sing the ABC song, which he or she likes. Unfortunately, your youngster gets bored with it or distracted after a few minutes and prefers to run off to a favorite toy. If only, there was a way to combine learning the alphabet with having fun!

Well, there is.

Read more on iPad Mums!

A little while later, Sophie picked up Chloe’s chocolate bunny and ran to her room with it. I followed, explaining that she could have it as long as she didn’t take the wrapper off. She said “OK Mummy!”

Silly me got caught up doing things and forgot to go back and check on Sophie. Chloe came in a little while longer with this

and Sophie had the chocolatey evidence all over her mouth I had to be a little proud of her though, because the only chocolate she will eat is Freddo frogs. I think she has a thing for chocolate animals

Anyway I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Easter and hope you all have a safe holiday!

I first heard about Kimochis (KEY.MO.CHEES)  just after Sophie was diagnosed with ASD last year and bought one for her for Christmas.

What are they?

Kimochi means ‘feeling’ in Japanese and these toys are loved by both parents and kids for their colour, their unique characters of strengths and challenges and the valuable social/emotional lessons they teach. There are seven plush Kimochis characters to identify and relate to.

Who are they?

‘Bella Rose’ is sensitive and insecure. Whilst being sensitive can be a blessing, sometimes it can be a challenge for this beautiful character.

‘Clover’ is a four leaf clover with bad luck. He’s a bit absent minded but always means well and has a great sense of humour. Clover teaches persistence and optimism and comes with his lucky (removable) lady bug, Howard.

‘CloudTM is a bit moody and unpredictable, and can be happy or sad by turning his head to display a grey sad face, or white happy face. He teaches kids that it’s okay to be angry but never okay to be mean.

‘Bug’ is a rather timid caterpillar who is afraid of change, and tucks his wings away when uncertain. Turning into a butterfly, his beautiful wings come out when he’s feeling brave.

‘Cat’ is a natural leader but can be somewhat bossy and is known to get into a few cat fights! She comes with a set of her own replaceable bandages to heal physical or emotional wounds.

‘HuggtopusTM is very loveable, but sometimes overly friendly and needs to learn about personal boundaries.

‘Lovey DoveTM is nurturing and patient and like all doves, keeps the peace! Lovey Dove comes with her little baby Turtle Dove, a grey dove specifically designed in a different colour to help children who feel a little different – whether that be for adopted/foster families, mixed race families or even because a child’s hair colour may be different to that of the rest of the family.

What do they do?

Kimochis help to encourage children to express themselves, build self-esteem, confidence and resilience, Kimochis® are helping children develop a ‘feelings vocabulary’ and emotional literacy in already close on 180 Australian schools, in Playgroups, Occupational and general therapy clinics, hospitals and homes across the country. Kimochis® provide ‘teachable moments’ around emotions, conflict resolution and social interaction.

Feelings can be messy…. Kimochis® can help!
And now Kimochis are an approved product for ‘Helping Children with Autism’ package.

What do you get?

Each Kimochis character comes in its own box with three little feelings characters, which vary per character and a detailed Feel Guide.

Also available are additional Mixed Feelings packs. Each has five different feelings, including a blank ‘make your own feeling’, with a washable pen, mini Kimochis and Kimochis books.

Where to find out more

To find out more, including all prices, stockists and to order online go to www.kimochis.com.au

You can also see a really cute video of the overly friendly Huggtopus, teaching kids about personal boundaries and social cues on YouTube!

Like Kimochis on Facebook

and follow them on Twitter

Here are some photos of Sophie playing with her ‘Bug’ :

I am really happy to announce that I have one of the Kimochis, Lovey Dove to give away to one of my readers.

Lovey Dove™ is sweet and nurturing and is always there to help smooth out a lumpy situation. If the Kimochis® had one mum they could all share it would be Lovey™. Lovey Dove™ is a great cuddler.

Lovey™ is calm, wise and lives psychology. She is a successful problem solver because she is great listener. On rare occasions, Lovey’s™ patience can be put to the test.

When the Kimochis® get a bit out of control, Lovey Dove™ will give a shrill whistle in an effort to bring back the harmony of the group. Lovey™ knows in her heart that she can’t always please everyone, but still feels a little sad when someone feels let down. Lovey Dove™ has a big generous heart and is always there to help the Kimochis®. Lovey™ comes with her baby, Turtle Dove, tucked gently underneath her wing.

To go into the draw simply fill in the form below.

I will draw a winner using random.org on Sunday March 25th at 8pm.

After some testing by our Speech Therapist we discovered that Sophie too was confused by prepositions, so I went in search of some apps to help her and found two really fun apps.

Preposition Pets

Description – Hurray for Preposition Pets! Now there is a fun way to practice prepositions while playing the classic game of memory. Silly, colorful animals are used to demonstrate sixteen prepositions with four game boards. Play with two sets of 4×4 boards each containing 8 prepositions or mix it up with a 4×5 or 5×6 board containing a mix of each. Choose up to four players and see who can score the most matches and win the game. Settings include the option of audio descriptions or text below images of the prepositions.

Prepositions included: in, on, over, under, behind, in front, between, beside, above, below, up, down, around, through, out and off.

My Thoughts – Preposition Pets is a really cute app, the graphics are bright and colourful and the sound effects add to the fun feel of the app. Preposition Pets takes the game of memory that we all know to a whole new level. Incorporating graphics of animals in, beside, between and in front of different objects helps kids to understand and learn about prepositions. It’s also a handy tool to practice turn taking. Sophie and I give it a thumbs up

Cost: $1.99  ~ Check it out in iTunes

Speech with Milo: Prepositions

Description – “Speech with Milo” apps were created by a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist, and have been downloaded over 50,000 times. “Speech with Milo: Prepositions” was created as a versatile and entertaining speech therapy tool for children. Milo is for speech therapists working with children, or parents who want to teach language skills to their children. The app offers an enjoyable tool used in therapy at a cheap price.

My Thoughts – Speech with Milo: Prepositions is another cute interactive app featuring the popular mouse Milo. The graphics are bright and colourful and I love how Milo taps his food and looks at his watch while he is waiting for you to tap on him to start. Milo acts out each preposition needing the user to tap him to start each time. He acts out the preposition with a voice over announcing what he is doing and then you can either repeat the action or move on to the next one. This is another app that get’s our tick of approval

Cost: $2.99 ~ Check it out in iTunes

Create a list of everything that went “right” in 2011

Even though 2011 was a tough year for us, there are many things that I feel went “right”! Here they are in point form:

• Sophie started working with a fantastic Speech Therapist and Occupational Therapist
• The Luke Priddis Foundation opened a special Playgroup for kids with Autism at our local school
• We have met some wonderful people through the Playgroup – especially Kari who has given us much needed advice and support
• Sophie’s FaHCSIA funding finally came through, helping us with her therapy costs
• Chloe continued to impress me with her mature attitude towards her diabetes – she never complains and just does what she has to do to look after her health
• Chloe again spent her school year productivily earning many academic achievement awards including a 1st in course in Creative Arts
• Clare finished primary school with a bang, earning herself many school awards including the schools Citizenship award
• Caitlin once again earned a class award for her consistant effort throughout the year
• Riley surprised us all by earning the class achievement award and medal for the year
• Rob always works long hard hours to provide for our family
• My good friend Jess and I start The FunRaising Girls, hosting movie events to help raise funds for organisations in our community

I’m sure there are many other things but these are the things that come to mind right now

One of my goals for 2012 is to stay organised and one way I am planning to do that is by making weekly meal plans. Not only is it going to eliminate the 6pm “what are we having for dinner” drama, but it will also save us money and by sticking the menu on the fridge it will stop my kids from asking me “What’s for dinner?” over and over again

So each week I am going to post my families menu with links to the recipes I use.

Here is this weeks menu:

Monday – Crumbed Fish, Mashed Potato and Steamed Vegetables
Tuesday – Meat Pies, Chips and Salad
Wednesday – Lemon Pepper Chicken, Wedges and Salad
Thursday – Satay Chicken and Rice
Friday – Leftover Spaghetti
Saturday – Tacos

It’s been almost 3 years since I joined in with I’m an Organizing Junkie‘s  Menu Plan Monday Meme  and I was really excited to see that she is still going strong with it. So if you want to see more great menus, go and check it out

It has been especially good for Sophie with so many great apps being created to help autistic kids.

Many of my friends have gotten iPods and iPads for Christmas and have asked what apps I use most, so here is a list of my favourites as well as a list of Sophie’s favourites.

Over the next few months I’ll go into more depth about each app and why we love them but for now here are our lists.

The Apps I use on a daily basis are:

Flipboard – a great magazine like aggregator. It pulls feeds from Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter and more.

Cost – Free

Google Search – kind of obvious I know, but I use the Google app alot. I like it better than apps Safari web browser and it has alot of the Google functions I use daily, like Google Docs and Gmail.

Cost – Free

Facebook – another obvious one but I use it daily, so I had to list it. I wasn’t a fan of the Facebook app when it first came out, but the latest upgrade has made it much more user friendly.

Cost – Free

WordPress – if you have a WordPress blog, this app is a must. I use it mostly to draft blog posts and read and reply to comments on my blogs.

Cost – Free

iBooks – iBooks is a great app for ebooks. You can purchase books from iTunes straight from the iBook app or sync PDF’s from your library.

Cost – Free

The Coeliac Society of Australia Ingredient List – This is a handy app for anyone with Coeliac disease. There is lots of information and an ingredient list built in, so it’s quick and easy to check a product for gluten if you are not familiar with it.

Cost – $8.49AUD

Snapseed – Snapseed was iPad App of the Year and I was luck enough to get it when it was free but I still think it is well worth the $5.49. It is a great app to use to modify your photos. The effects are great and are perfect to touch up your photos.

Cost – $5.49AUD

Feedly – a great RSS reader. You can pull in content from your Google Reader account. I use Feedly more than Flipboard because it has some really great sharing options.

Cost – Free

Twitter – another obvious one, but I really wasn’t a fan of it when it first came out. Now after a few upgrades it is much cleaner and nicer to use. Pus it’s great if you have multiple Twitter accounts, it’s very easy to flip between accounts.

Cost – Free

170,000+ Recipes : BigOven – a great recipe database and now has a menu plan option.

Cost – Free

Awesome Lists – perfect for any list maker. It’s easy to use and is capable of making multiple lists.

Cost – $2.99AUD

eBay – the eBay app is another one that has gotten better since it was launched.

Cost – Free

Now here are some of the apps Sophie uses most:

First Words: Deluxe – provides endless fun for the toddlers in your life, all while giving your child a head start on learning their letters and learning to spell words.

First Words: Deluxe is toddler-tested and approved, with a user-interface designed specifically for the littlest of fingers. The game includes 174 words, including: animals, vehicles, colours, shapes and words from around the house.

It has a wide range of options let you tune the game to match your child’s current skills and abilities.

Cost – $5.49AUD (there is a free version here – First Words Sampler)

Bob Books Reading Magic – Start your child reading with this phonics-based interactive game. The simple drag-and-drop interface can be used by the youngest children. Your favorite Bob Books characters and full-color animations encourage kids along the path of learning to read.

Bob Books Reading Magic continues Bob Books’ commitment to bringing children a satisfying, successful first reading experience, with easy first steps, wholesome values, authentic hand-drawn illustrations, and beautiful full-color animations.

Cost – $1.99AUD (There is a free version which includes 3 scenes and 8 words here)

iLuv Drawing Animals – iLuv Drawing Animals is a unique art app designed for anyone who wants to learn to draw. Unlike many other coloring book & drawing apps in the App Store that provide you with a limited library of images to work with, iLuv Drawing Animals includes 40 unique animals to choose from!

Built to work as a learning tool, this app perfectly balances fun with education, and is intuitive enough to ensure its accessible to kids of almost any age.

Cost – $1.99AUD

Old Macdonald Had a Farm – All In One activity center and full interactive sing along book for children. Carefully designed for babies, toddlers and children of all ages this application is a unique, new and high quality musical production of the song joined with fabulous animated activities and games.
Ideal for an engaging, educational, visually and audibly exciting experience.
Cost – Free

My PlayHome – My PlayHome is the original and best dolls house app. Massively interactive, your kids can explore and use everything in the house. The characters eat, sleep, shower, brush their teeth and more. Want the room to be darker? Close the drapes! Fancy a change in music? Pop a different CD into the stereo!

Cost – $2.99AUD (there is a free version here – My PlayHome Lite)

Magnetic Alphabet HD – It’s an infinite source of fun and a great way to stimulate their imagination and creativity.
It comes with a rich set of colored pieces that can be placed freely on the board: letters, numbers, symbols and funny figures.

Cost – $3.99AUD – (there is a free version here – Magnetic Alphabet Lite)

Toca Tea Party – Invite your friends to a tea party around your iPad! Set the table, choose your favorite cookies and cakes, serve the tea and you’re good to go! Simply eat and drink with your finger! With Toca Tea Party, you can play together with your kids in a way that stimulates their imagination.

Cost – $2.99AUD

In the Night Garden – Let your children meet up with Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka to explore the enchanting world of In the Night Garden. Featuring many of the locations from the show including the Stepping Stone Path, the Daisy Patch, Makka Pakka’s Cave and the Tombliboo Bush. Dance with your favourite characters or play counting games with the Pontipines, help Upsy Daisy catch her bed or even dress the Tombliboos!
Make new friends in an interactive playground filled with the sights and sounds of the world famous TV show.

Cost – $1.99AUD

CBeebies On the Go – CBeebies On the Go is all about fun and taking a little bit of CBeebies with you wherever you go. It’s a brightly coloured world full of games, activities, wonder and a selection of the favourite CBeebies characters from the TV channel. With simple touch controls designed specifically for young fingers, children can explore and discover delights and surprises throughout CBeebies On the Go.

Cost – Free

What are you favourite Apps and what Apps can’t you live without???