My Favorite FREE Learning Apps for Toddlers on Android

We live in a society where you can’t get away from technology. It’s everywhere and trying to limit screen time for your children is almost impossible when there are TVs and computers everywhere. Instead of limiting screen time, find more educational programs and games for your kids. Be aware that since these are free apps, they’ll probably come with advertisements. A good way to avoid having your child buy things with your phone is to put it on airplane mode. The downside is that you won’t receive any calls or texts but it saves your wallet and your phone bill. Plus the apps won’t be able to access the network and use up your data on unwanted ads.

I’ve come across a company that makes apps for Android that are not only fun, but educational as well. I find that the more fun J has, the more he learns without realizing it. This company, Intellijoy, has developed a handful of learning games that are interactive and fun. My son really likes Kids ABC Learning Trains Lite. Since it’s the lite version you only get 2 activities within the game but it’s still fun and they’re still learning their alphabet. One of the activities is using the train to trace the letters on the track and the other is connecting the dots between each of the letter train stations. They’re both a lot of repetition and they say the alphabet out loud to help your little one register the letter and what it looks like. Another one that J likes is the Kids Reading Sight Words Lite. It’s this little tadpole in a tank and you have to match the words in the pitchers above the tank with the word they’re saying. After each correct match, the pitcher adds water to the tank until the tadpole turns into a frog and takes you to another screen where you play the matching game again but you have to match the word twice in this level. We’ve sampled all of Intellijoy’s games and those two are the ones that my son would always go to first and play the longest.

Another fun learning app is Alphabugs: Super Fun Alphabets by Lazy Androids. The object of the game is to keep the letter filled in before time runs out while battling bugs who want to eat what you’ve colored in. The only problem is that J doesn’t just color the letter, he colors the entire page and yells “Oh no!” while squishing bugs so he’s never actually beat a level. Not that it matters because he is learning and it keeps him happily occupied.

The first app I ever downloaded for him is called Toddler Lock by Marco Nelissen. The cool part about this app is that it locks your phone when it’s activated so your child can’t get out of the app without touching each corner going clockwise. Toddler lock lets them draw on the screen in bright colors or if they just tap the screen it brings up bright and colorful shapes while making a wind-chime noise in the background. When J was smaller, that app would keep him occupied for a long time.

Sprout Games and Videos by Sprout is another great app. It has free episodes of your child’s favorite shows on Sprout as well as their favorite songs that can be heard on Sprout. The games section keeps expanding as new shows come onto the station. J likes to color in the scribbler and I just noticed that they’ve added new activities such as tic-tac-toe, mazes and connect the dots. The only downside of this app is that it uses data to stream so you can’t use this app on airplane mode.

These next few apps are not technically educational but they help your child learn strategy and thinking outside the box.

J’s favorite “non-learning” app is called Cut the Rope by ZeptoLab UK. The reason I put non-learning in quotes is that this game is a thinking game all about puzzles and strategy. It teaches kids problem solving while having fun at the same time. I call this “subliminal learning”. The object of the game is to get the piece of candy into the frog-looking guy, Om-Nom’s mouth by cutting the ropes in strategic order. I have a heck of a time with this game, but J can whip through levels. There are 4 different versions of this game and each game has 20+ levels so they won’t get bored with it fast. All of the levels are free on your Android phone, but only certain levels are available on IOS.

Another app J really likes is Angry Birds by Rovio. This is another strategy game because you have to fire these birds with your slingshot at different structures to squish the Bad Piggies and get your eggs back. Some of these levels are very difficult and you have to fire your birds at the right spot to get everything to crash down and squish those piggies. There are 8 different versions of the game with the newest one being a racing game called Angry Birds Go!. These apps are perfect for long car ride because there are so many different levels in each game for them to choose from, they won’t get bored being stuck on one level.

I hope you enjoy these awesome apps!

The Life of a Working Mom

I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t always my dream to be a mom. It was my sister’s dream to have a bunch of kids and be a fun stay-at-home mom while I wanted to go out and see the world. Who wouldn’t want to be a free-spirit and roam the earth seeing everything that nature and man have created.

When I found out I was pregnant with my son I was blown away. I remember staring at the digital screen on the pregnancy test willing the “not” to show up on the screen. I wasn’t ready to be a mom. I was unmarried and living with my grandma at the time and helping her while she healed from her knee-replacement surgery. I dreaded having to make the phone call to my boyfriend (now husband). He could tell something was wrong just by my tone of voice when he answered, so I just blurted it out. “I’m pregnant” and was instantly in tears. He immediately starts laughing this joyful belly-laugh that I had never heard out of him before. I was so confused! I thought he was going to be angry and start yelling but I never expected laughter. Boy, was the weight lifted off my shoulders. Telling the rest of the family was a piece of cake after that. I’m not sure why I expected the worst out of him and the rest of my family, but they were all so excited at the news of a new person coming into the family. My mom was finally going to be a grandma!

Pregnancy was pretty much a piece of cake (besides gaining almost 70lbs) and labor was better than expected. At some point I remember telling the nurse that I thought I was going to die and she patted my shoulder and said “I haven’t lost one yet and I’m not about to lose you, do you want me to call the anesthesiologist?” I was so disappointed in myself that I answered “yes”. I wanted to have this beautiful, unmedicated birth with candles and peaceful music in the background (CRAZY fantasy, right?). I felt like I was letting myself down. I didn’t want to be a wimp, I wanted to be tough and push that baby out without any drugs. My body had other ideas. I was just so exhausted that if I didn’t get the epidural, I wouldn’t have had the strength to push. As soon as I was numb, I drifted off into this nice, peaceful sleep and woke up to sunlight streaming into my room and the nurse and doctor hovering over me asking me if I was ready to meet my son.

The rest of that day was a whirlwind of Drs, nurses and visitors. My little guy had inhaled some of his amniotic fluid so we were sent up to the NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit) for a week of antibiotics and observation.

After that, I had a week until I had to go back to work. Yes, I only had a 2-week maternity leave. The main reason was because I wasn’t getting paid for my time off and my husband wasn’t working at the time. Somebody had to pay the bills. Do I regret going back to work so early? Yes and no. I think getting out of the house helped me not get postpartum depression, but I had such a hard time with breastfeeding. My boss was a man who didn’t understand anything about motherhood and was always cracking jokes about my boobs and the milk in the freezer. It was very awkward and uncomfortable for me. I had to move from office to office to pump because they wouldn’t designate a place for me. When I got laid-off it was a blessing in disguise. The only sad thing was that my baby was already 1. I had already missed out on first steps, first time crawling, first words, etc.

Since my husband was working part-time, I was able to stay home and collect unemployment but we soon found that it wasn’t cutting it and I had to go back to work. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job but I miss being at home with my little guy, which is one of the reasons I started BeeBee and Jack. I want to be able to work from home so I can spend time with my son and do things that I love to do while getting paid for it. Who wouldn’t want that?

Meet BeeBee

I always hate filling in the “About Me” section of anything. I hate talking about myself. I rather hear about you! Anyways, here goes...

I’m a hard-working mama who loves to craft.  My little guy just turned 3 and has way more energy than I could muster up with 3 monsters and quad-shot latte. I’m currently working for the corporate offices of a bunch of retirement homes and crafting on the side. I’ve held quite a few different jobs in my life from Ballot counter at the Auditor’s office to being a Barista, Receptionist, Payroll lady and I was even a model at one point (although Bethany is getting me back into this and I am LOVING it!). I do have to say that my favorite job is being a mommy. The best feeling in the world is opening my front door and hearing "MOM!!" getting tackled with hug and a slobbery kiss. Best. Feeling. Ever.

Love these guys!

Since I’m the one who works full-time, my husband stays home with our son to save us on childcare. It’s been enjoyable for both of them but I feel like I’m missing out sometimes. It does make every moment home with my family that much sweeter. Even though I’m tired at the end of the day, I seem to get a second wind when I walk through my front door. It’s always just enough energy to rough-house for a while, build a fort, feed the kitty (and sometimes the rest of the family), make it through bath time without getting too soaked, usher my little peanut off to dreamland before I collapse onto my own bed.

Baby George and Alice

I am also a proud fur-mom of a beautiful orange kitty named George. When we got him and his sister, Alice, they were going to be barn cats to deal with the rodent problem in the barn on the property we were living at. Right after we got George neutered and Alice spayed, Alice disappeared and we were devastated so we decided that George would not be a barn kitty after all and stay inside with us. He seemed to be pretty OK with that and would stick very close to us when we were out on the property. We had a coyote problem so we think that is what got Alice and George probably saw since they were always together. When we moved into our apartment, George became a completely indoor kitty since he’s never been near cars before. (He’s a big scaredy cat anyways.) George is unlike any cat I have ever had in my life. He is loving and snuggly and craves attention. He’s become J’s little brother. We even tell him all the time that George is his brother. It’s funny because they play like siblings. One will walk past the other and swat at him or they’ll hide and jump out at each other. It’s really cute.

Kitty in the box

George is also special because he is my Emotional Support Animal. I was involved in a pretty bad car accident in June of 2012 and suffered severe depression, anxiety and PTSD. George always knows when I’m having a bad day and he knows how to make me feel better. It’s hard to stay in a funk when you’ve got a gigantic purring ball of orange fur in your lap. (Although it does make it tricky to craft)

Our first New Year's Eve

I’ll bet you’re curious about my husband. He is a wonderful man. We first met at the mall with one of our mutual friends and I have to say right away that I was not super impressed. Yes, my husband is very good looking, but he used to drive this green riced-out Honda. It had gigantic rims, a loud ass exhaust and windows so dark that you couldn’t see a flashlight if you held it up against the glass. I did not want a boyfriend who was going to spend more time with the car than he would spend with me. Turns out my husband is irresistible. I don’t know when it happened but I fell in love with him. Instead of being ditched for the car, I spent time with him in the garage and learned SO much about cars.

Even though it’s not the fairytale that every little girl dreams about, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. We’re a very down-to-earth couple who doesn’t waste time on the frivolous and petty crap that seems to ruin marriages. I’ll be the first to admit that we fight, but we don’t let it affect our relationship. He's very supportive of my crafting/photography business and helps out however he can. His goal is to be able to help me quit my job and focus on BeeBee and Jack. We'll get there but it'll just take some time.

I think that coming home is my favorite part of the day. That moment where I’m getting my big squeeze and slobbery kiss from my little guy is pure bliss. He seems to always keep me laughing even when I know I really shouldn’t be. He’s started saying “shit” and I know I shouldn’t laugh when he says it but it’s so funny and cute that I can’t help it. It comes out “Oh. Ssit.” and he looks so disappointed when he’s saying it. I kinda feel bad for reprimanding him but his response to that is even cuter. I’ll say “Hey, you shouldn’t say that” and he’ll walk over and give me a hug and say “soowwy”. I don’t think that my in-laws or parents have picked up on his little swear word but I’m sure they’ll pick up on it soon enough.

He's got the best laugh!

Having a 3-year-old has definitely taught me patience. J likes to go open the fridge and survey everything in there before grabbing something he knows he can’t have and then when you tell him that he can’t have it and why, he has a nuclear meltdown like you just kicked his imaginary best friend. He likes to do this every time you tell him no as well. It doesn’t matter where he is, he will lay down in the middle of the store and flop around like a fish screaming. It’s totally awesome when you’ve got your arms full of groceries and your toddler sits down in the middle of the parking lot because you told him that he can’t go play on the playground right this minute because mommy’s hands are full. I’m sure I look so angry when I have to put all my groceries down, toss my kid over my shoulder and load up the groceries again while he’s flailing and trying to smack me in the face. Yesterday he did this and asked me “why” through his tears. “It makes mommy look bad if I leave you in the middle of the parking lot and I don’t want anyone to steal our milk while I’m making sure you’re safely inside since you decided that your legs don’t want to work anymore. Now we know why mommy’s back hurts.” He looked at me and put his little hand on my face and said “oh, soowwy” and gave me a big kiss. It didn’t make my load up the 2 flights of stairs any lighter, but it sure got rid of the anger and frustration.

Just mowing the sidewalk

Life is not perfect but it is sure fun. I hope I can inspire you with this blog to create some awesome crafts and have some great time with your kid(s).  
Thanks for reading!