The Top 10 Dr. Seuss Apps + Review, Giveaway and Sale

There are more than 50 Dr. Seuss digital book apps, all of them created by Oceanhouse Media. Just search the app store (available on iOS and Android) for SEUSS and you’ll see them all.  Oceanhouse uses the official Dr. Seuss illustrations staying true to his work and keeping that classic Dr. Seuss feeling as you read.  I still don’t think they’ll ever completely take the place of real paper books –at least I hope not- but apps bring a whole new interactive element to a child’s reading experience.
I was curious what the top 10 downloaded Dr. Seuss apps are, so I asked Oceanhouse. Here is the line-up:
Top 10 downloaded Dr. Seuss apps on iOS are… 

1. Cat in the Hat
2. ABCs
3. Green Eggs and Ham
4. The Lorax
5. One Fish Two Fish
6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
7. Dr. Seuss Treasury
8. Hop On Pop
9. Dr. Seuss Bookshelf
10. Fox In Socks

GIVEAWAY

To get you started with these book apps, we've got a giveaway for 5 classics (3 Winners will be selected).  Giveaway has ended. Winners have been notified.

Oceanhouse Media has offered to give away the Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1 (see my previous review of these apps here.) to three of my readers. It includes 5 classic Dr. Seuss books for iOS: The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, The FOOT Book, Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?, and Fox in Socks, all in one convenient place.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Regular price value of $14.99. This giveaway runs Feb. 26 – March 1, 2015. 3 winners will be randomly chosen at midnight MST on March 1, 2015.  I will email the code to the winner after confirmation. The code is for iOS apps.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of 3 Dr. Seuss omBooks and the Dr. Seuss Senders app for review. I’ve previously purchased many on my own too (because I love them). All opinions and experiences are my own.

I will also be giving a few Dr. Seuss ‘Happy Birthday’ book apps away on my Instagram feed this week so follow along (@victoria_obSEUSSed) to try to win a code.


Dr. Seuss Apps Review:
As I mentioned I have quite a few of the digital Dr. Seuss books already but I was happy to try out a few new ones. You can see my review of Oh the Thinks You Can Think app here.
We tried I Can Read with My Eyes Shut and Oh the Places You’ll Go.  They are the classic story, taken straight from the book. You can read it yourself, have it read to you and you decide when to turn the page or have it auto play where it turns the pages for you.
The ability to tap on the words or illustrations and have it say the word helps developing readers associate the words and pictures with word sounds.  All the sound effects are fun for kids too.


A great feature I’ve seen on most of the books (possibly all of them) is the ability to record your own voice and you become the narrator.  I like to record my voice so my kids can hear me reading the books to them as they play. My older kids like to take turns recording their voices every other page and adding sound effects at the end of their sentence.


Both of those apps are just like the books so you know what you’re getting.

I was able to try Inside Your Outside from The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library. My kids spent the most time with this app and were fascinated by all the fun facts about bodies, like having 206 bones in our body. I really appreciate this book because I have Ankylosing Spondylitis (a form of arthritis that fuses my joints together) and I have a difficult time explaining it to my kids. The section on bones and joints was really helpful to have a better discussion with my kids about my bones.



I also tried the Dr. Seuss Senders app.  It offers pre-created graphics with cute Seussisms that you can share through email or save on your device and share on social media. I did suggest to Oceanhouse that it would be nice to see some square graphics that would work better to share on Instagram. They could also have more sharing options right in the app so you don’t have to save them on your device then share.  But I did like the cute graphics and sayings. I think they would be cute to print a few out and send in your child’s lunch box.


Dr. Seuss App Sale
Now is the time to grab your Dr. Seuss apps.  Oceanhouse media has a huge sale going on this week to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America day.






 
 








This is a great time to get the Dr. Seuss Treasury (giving you access to all the Dr. Seuss book apps).  I already have a huge list of the books individually, but if you are starting out this is a great option to have access to 50+ Dr. Seuss book apps.  It is free to try for a week then the next time you access it, it will ask you to upgrade to the subscription.  Try it FREE for 7 days, then subscribe for unlimited access to a library of 55 digital books you can take with you anywhere.
This is really great for teachers to have in the classroom to reuse year after year. 
If you download the Dr. Seuss Treasury (iOS) app now you can choose..

• Free Book of the Month, available without a subscription
• 1 month: $4.99 (NEW!)
• 3 month: $10.99
• 1 year: $34.99 (regular price $49.99)
• Unlimited: $69.99 (regular price $99.99)

5 Best-Selling Titles - Just $0.99 each (Normally $3.99 - $4.99)

• The Cat in the Hat
• Green Eggs and Ham
• One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
• Dr. Seuss’s ABC
• Oh, the Places You'll Go!

All Classic Dr. Seuss titles - $1 OFF
All Learning Library titles - $2 OFF
Collections

• Beginner Book Collection #1 - $9.99 (regular price $14.99)
• Beginner Book Collection #2 - $9.99 (regular price $14.99)
• Dr. Seuss Short Story Collection - $6.99 (regular price $9.99)

App Bundles (iOS only)

• Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Apps - $19.99 (regular price $29.99)
• What’s in the Water? - The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library (Dr. Seuss) - $13.99 (regular price $17.99)

Dr. Seuss Book Apps available here:
iOS App Store: http://bit.ly/iosDrSeuss
Google Play: http://bit.ly/googlePlayDrSeuss
Amazon: http://bit.ly/amazonAppsDrSeuss
Nook: http://bit.ly/nookAppsDrSeuss

Celebrate Dr. Seuss Games Giveaway and Review

To celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week, we are giving away five Dr. Seuss games by Wonder Forge. Five lucky people will win one of these games. See below for entry details.  This contest is closed March 8. The winners have been selected.


  We have most of the Dr. Seuss games made by Wonder Forge and my kids have enjoyed them all and played them over and over. See my review of What’s in the Cat’s Hat and the Cat in the Hat I Can Do That! game here.
One Fish Two Fish Search Game Review
This week we tried the One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish search game. My kids, ages 6 and 8, played it with their cousin all on their own after I explained the general rules.  You get to pick a card with an object on it then spin the spinner telling you your options of where to search. If you find the item you get to collect the card (there a few more details). 


The only rule I changed was that we played until everyone had collected enough pie-shaped cards to make a circle (six). The rules say the first one to six wins but that normally makes my kids upset, they each want to finish the game.
 

They had so much fun making waves (shaking the box).   Of course we had to eat some swedish fish for our snack while playing the game.

Younger kids may need more direction with finding what puzzle piece to remove from the search box, but they’ll love spinning the spinner, shaking the box and searching for the toy pieces.  Even my 19 month-old had fun looking in the search box. I like that the little pieces are contained which makes for a quick clean up. We will be playing this game over and over. It is simple for kids to understand and entertaining to keep them occupied for 20-30 minutes.

GAME GIVAWAY

Wonder Forge has generously offered to give away five of their games to five different readers of obSEUSSed. Here are the games they are giving away.
Dr. Seuss games by Wonder Forge

• Dr. Seuss 1 Fish 2 Fish
  
• Dr. Seuss Matching
  
• Dr. Seuss 4 in 1 Games Cube
  
• Dr. Seuss Wood ABC Puzzle
  
• Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat Deluxe

To Enter: (Contest Closed March 8)

1. Click here to Visit Wonder Forge to see all of their Dr. Seuss games and puzzles. 
2. Come back here to enter, tell me (in a comment below) which game you’d like to try if you had your choice (include your email address in the comment). If you have played any of these games, I’d love to hear which one is your favorite too. Only one comment/entry per person.

• Contest runs March 1- March 8, 2012. Five winners will be randomly selected to win one of the five games mentioned (winner and game will be randomly matched). Contest ends 12 pm EST March 8, 2012. This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. Wonder Forge will send the winners a game after their email has been confirmed and address received. If there is not a response to email within 48 hours, another winner will be selected. Thank you for entering!
• Disclosure: I received a free copy of the 'One Fish Two Fish’ game from Wonder Forge for review. We previously owned many of their games because we love them. All opinions and experiences are my own.

Wonder Forge games can be found online or at local stores like Toys 'R Us, Target and Wal-mart. They also offer many other pre-school and grade school appropriate games such as Richard Scarry's Busy Town, Curious George and Chugginton series.

Thanks for stopping by. Take a look around for more Dr. Seuss celebration ideas.

Dr. Seuss Book Apps Review and Free Game {Giveaway closed}

To celebrate the upcoming birthday of Dr. Seuss (March 2) and achieving the status of #1 in the app store for music games, the Dr. Seuss Band app is now FREE for a limited time – so hurry and download it to try out this whimisical instrument on your iDevice.

We’ve had the game for about a month now.  Oceanhouse Media, creators of all Dr. Seuss digital book apps and games, has made another entertaining Dr. Seuss game. This one is a little like Rock Band (which my kids love) so they picked up the idea quickly. Watch for the colors streaming down the screen and hit the note that corresponds to make the instrument play a song. Watch this example on YouTube.

So far, my kids have been happy with the free portions of this app (a few basic songs and you can swap parts of the instrument around). As they get older, and for grown-up players, they may want to purchase additional songs and instruments for a more challenging game. Click here for more details about the game or where to get it FREE for your Apple device. (Remember you can turn off the option for in-app purchases on your device if you don’t want the risk of your kids buying anything during play time.)

NEW DR. SEUSS BOOK APP COLLECTION

Oceanhouse Media  recently released their first Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1, which includes:

• The Cat in the Hat
  
• One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
  
• The FOOT Book
  
• Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?
  
• Fox in Socks

By buying it as a package you basically get one book free because you’ll get 5 books for $11.99 instead of $15 (normally $2.99 each).

WHAT DID I THINK?
If you haven’t bought any yet this is a great starter set.  I have been so impressed with Oceanhouse Media’s commitment to keep literacy it’s top priority. They don’t add over-the-top special effects. They keep it simple for kids to focus on the rhyming stories and they use all of Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations (which are entertaining enough themselves).  All of the Dr. Seuss omBooks include features of zooming in or out on pictures as it scans a page, highlighting the words as a narrator reads aloud, and the option to read at your own pace while swiping the page to turn it. I enjoyed the sound effects or background music that randomly pop-up throughout the stories.
Many of Dr. Seuss’ books can get long for little children. I noticed Oceanhouse Media created these apps so if you go away then come back you can resume the story at the place you left off. Perfect for my kindergartner.

GIVEAWAY (contest closed 2/24/12)

I’m giving away a code for the One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish app from Oceanhouse Media (for an Apple device).  Plus, one $10 itunes gift card code so you can purchase 3 more books of your choice, from me.


Official Entry: Please take a look at all the Dr. Seuss apps available from Oceanhouse Media {here} and leave a comment below telling me your favorite Dr. Seuss omBook that you’ve tried, or you’d like to try.  Leave the name of the app along with your name and email in the comments below.
This giveaway runs Feb. 17 – Feb. 24, 2012. A winner will be randomly chosen at midnight EST on Feb. 24, 2012.  I will email the codes to the winner after confirmation.  CONTEST CLOSED.

Additional omBook Reviews
Our family has also been exploring the digital book app of ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,’ by Dr. Seuss. This was released in the last month as a digital omBook.  It is such a classic with wonderful rhyming rhythm.  Again, I’m so glad they used Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations because this book has beautiful pictures of the parade going down Mulberry Street.  If you have read the book, you'll know what to expect.  Again, you can choose Read it to Me, read to myself, or auto play.

Read how Dr. Seuss created his first book ‘And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street’ on NPR.

We previously reviewed the omBook Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! So far it is my favorite because it is a little more interactive than the other books. See our review here.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of four Dr. Seuss omBooks for review. I’ve previously purchased some on my own too (because I love them). All opinions and experiences are my own.

Remember to enter the giveaway for the free 1 Fish 2 Fish omBook and $10 itunes gift card by leaving a comment below.   Contest closed. A winner has been selected and notified.

Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat Game Review and Giveaway

---Contest Ended--- The Winner was #14, Coupon Person, for their comment about following Wonderforge on Facebook.  They said they would hide "lincoln logs, duplo blocks, trios, cars, and a tinkerbell" inside the hat.  Have fun playing the game! Thanks to Wonder Forge for giving it away. They'll send the game to Coupon Person.

Our family has played several of the Dr. Seuss games by Wonder Forge geared for preschool and grade school ages. We just tried “What’s in the Cat’s Hat” this month and my kids have had a blast finding things around our house to hide inside the hat.

The hat is about 12 inches tall. We hide small toys, crayons, silverwear and more inside.

When I first saw this game on the shelf at ToysRus I thought it was just like our mystery bag we used in preschool. We had a simple drawstring bag the kids would hide a secret item. Then we played twenty questions and sometimes it would take forever for the kids to guess what was inside.

What’s in the Cat’s Hat game really gets the kids more involved and prompts them to ask more helpful questions by using a deck of question cards.  It has a specially designed hat, with a flap on top, to hide objects from view and other secret flaps toward the bottom used for special purposes in the game (peeking, smelling and feeling).

I really loved the combination of using the unique question cards (Does it have a face? Would it float in a bathtub?) along with the action cards (smell it, feel the hat with your elbows). This stepped the mystery bag game up to a whole new level, plus it is Dr. Seuss themed and the kids are drawn to that. Who wouldn’t want to guess what is in the Cat’s hat?

GAME GIVEAWAY:
Wonder Forge will send a copy of this game to one lucky reader. Just in time for Christmas! This would be a fun gift under the tree.
Official entry:  To enter this giveaway please leave a comment below telling me what you would hide in the hat.
This giveaway runs Nov. 17 – Nov. 27. A winner will be randomly chosen at midnight MST on Nov. 27, 2011. If you do not have an email linked to your comment account, please leave your email address in your comment. Open to valid U.S. addresses only.
For extra entries, pick any of the following to do and leave a separate comment for each one below:

• Follow ObSEUSSed on Google Friend Connect found in the right column.
• Follow ObSEUSSed on Facebook
• Follow ObSEUSSed on Twitter
• Follow Wonder Forge on Twitter
• Follow Wonder Forge on Facebook

 
See more about the Dr. Seuss What's in the Cat's Hat? Game part of a series of ‘I Can Do That” Dr. Seuss games by the Wonder Forge.
Here are some of the other Dr. Seuss games we’ve owned for a few years now that the kids love to play:

• Horton Hears a Who - You to the Rescue
• Green Eggs and Ham Speedy Diner Game,
• Dr. Seuss Super Stretchy ABC's
• Oh The Places You'll Go Board Game
• and our favorite, Cat in the Hat I Can Do That! Game

“Cat in the Hat, I Can Do That!” game.  We’ve had ours a few years and the original “Trick-a-ma-stick” was very tricky to set up and fell over easily.  Wonder Forge has amazing customer service. See how they responded when they saw the negative reviews about the stick on Amazon. If you have this game and want the new-improved stick, click here to find out how to get a free replacement.  They sent us a replacement  and the kids easily set it up.

My son loves skipping around the trick-a-ma-stick with the Seuss toy man in his shirt. In this game they pick an action card, an item card and a how-to hold item card. Below my daughter has to crawl under the trick-a-ma-stick with the Dr. Seuss cake on her back.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of the 'What's in the Cat's Hat' game from Wonder Forge for review. All opinions and experiences are my own.

GIVEAWAY: Remember to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a copy of "What's in the Cat's Hat." (See rules above)

Thanks for visiting ObSEUSSed!
 

Oh the Thinks You Can Think Dr. Seuss Activities and App Review

“Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!,” a book originally written in 1975 by Dr. Seuss, is now an interactive book app kids can read and play on their Apple devices.



Oh, the Thinks You Can Think App Review:
My kids and I love reading the classic Dr. Seuss hardback books and now I can’t believe I can carry all the interactive books in my pocket or purse for my kids to read and play while shopping and traveling around town.  I’ve got my Dr. Seuss collection in my pocket! Instead of saying“There’s a Wocket in My Pocket,” I should say “there’s a touch in my clutch.” 

The Oh, the Thinks You Can Think omBook app has a variety of kid-friendly interactive elements. It can read to your child or your child can read it by themselves and go at their own pace. My kids, ages 5 and 7, easily flipped (swiped) through the electronic pages.

Oceanhouse Media,the creators of omBook apps, did an excellent job at keeping all of Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations. This specific story had question marks that would pop up for the kids to touch to progress the story on each page.  My kids have played with this book over and over making sure to tap each question mark causing pictures to move and pop up, and tap each picture on the page making the vocabulary word pop up. When it tells you to “think right” the question mark appears on the right encouraging the child to tap it, “think yellow” they tap the question mark and yellow birds appear.  Or my favorite, “Think about beautiful schlopp with a cherry on top” and you tap the schlopp causing a cherry to appear. How fun is that?

Get little ones excited about reading:
The great literacy connection for this story is that as your child thinks about the words, they tap the question marks to immediately see what they thought about. They make it happen. They think it, they see it. Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! 

The Oh, the Thinks You Can Think omBook app is a Seusstastic way to keep children imagining and exploring the world of Dr. Seuss while experiencing early literacy and thinking skills.



More Dr. Seuss Apps:
Oceanhouse Media, in partnership with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, plans to create 44 of the author’s books as omBooks (Oceanhouse Media Books). There are 34 Dr. Seuss apps available right now including a handful of free apps to get you started. Check out Dr. Seuss’ ABC’s and the Bday Camera (photo app). Oh, the Thinks You Can Think omBook app is available for $3.99.


Disclosure: I received a free version of the “Thinks” app to let my kids try for this review. We had already been playing with multiple Oceanhouse Media Dr. Seuss apps (they are on the top selling apps list and have an excellent reputation for great products) and have enjoyed the variety and interactivity of each one. 

They just released “There’s a Wocket in My Pocket” omBook app last week. What book do you think they’ll do next?

Giving Away 20 Dr. Seuss Apps:
Oceanhouse Media is giving away 20 of their Dr. Seuss apps to one random person who comments on their Facebook page by Aug. 31.  All you need to do is like their page and leave a comment of your favorite Dr. Seuss quote. Fun, quick and easy to enter. Take 1 minute now to share your favorite quote and enter. Contest details here.

Twitter Party:
Monday, Aug. 29 6 pm PST. Use hashtag #OMB2S to discuss back to school with @OceanhouseMedia and others on Twitter. These chats are fun and I am looking forward to participating.


 
Here are a few activities I came up with to go along with Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!


Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! Free Printable Worksheet:

Personal or classroom use only. Click on picture to enlarge then right click to “Save As” to your computer. You could also copy and paste into a ‘Word’ document.

Reality vs. Imaginary Thoughts:
Have children think up something real in the first thought bubble, then something pretend in the second thought bubble. Depending on their age they can draw pictures or write words. They could make a list or fill out several worksheets.  Get them thinking. They could draw pictures from the book (i.e. Schlopp or a Rink-Rinker-Fink) or make up their own.
 

A Great After School or Classroom Snack: Beautiful Schlopp with a Cherry on Top




Super easy to make Schlopp: Apple Sauce, 1-2 drops food coloring and an M&M for the cherry on top.



Balancing Activity:
Let the kids stack rocks or wood chips to see if they can balance them. Then ask if they would dare yank the tooth of a Rink-Rinker-Fink, see if they can pull a rock out of the middle of the pile to see what happens.



Zoo Field Trip:
We went to the zoo today and I asked the kids the question from the book, “How much water can 55 elephants drink?” My son answered, “I don’t know, maybe 135 tanks. Then they use their trunks to give each other showers.” Ask your kids that question too the next time you visit the zoo.


Posting this project at the following blogs with more great ideas: