Setting up an email account was very simple. I decided to go with the same account for all the iTouches which I have added to each phone with the password saved . I am not going to give the children the password so the only place they will be able to access this account is from their iPod Touch.
In the settings, where it asks for the name of the account, I have named it with the phones associated number so therefore I can, as a safety measure, track where any emails have originated from.
*Here is an excellent post from Oliver Quinlan which gives very clear instructions on setting up ‘dummy’ email accounts using gmail.
Now came the time for the fun bit…. Downloading Apps!
As it says on the Apple ads ‘….there’s an app for that!’ and I must say I certainly have found that if I wanted there to be an app for something… there it was!
I had already been using my iPhone with some of the children at school so I had some apps saved in my iTunes account. At the moment I’m still using this account for the iTouches but I am going to see if there is a way to transfer some of my purchases to a school account.
I have downloaded a mixture of paid and free apps and have an extensive collection to choose from, at last count over 200!
A word of warning about some free apps. Some have advertising associated with them which may not be suitable for younger children. You can set restrictions in the settings area for age ratings for Music/Podcasts, Movies, TV shows and Apps. You can also disable certain things such as YouTube, Installing Apps and other things. You can find this under Settings/General and then scroll down to Restrictions.
These are the apps I have decided to start with. There are apps for Sight Words,Reading, interactive Books, Maths apps, Collaborative drawing, Comic Writing, Comic books, Geography, Music, Communication and apps for ASD needs as well as a selection of games. I have also added some music and audio books.
Kindergarten.com produce some beautiful flashcards and in honor of Autism Awareness Month, all of their ABA apps are FREE for the entire month of April.
* edited 20th April 2011 to add email instructions
Adventures in Learning 