I am sorry that my days got away from me I'm posting this Sunday morning and not Saturday afternoon. I had a wonderful time at both app events this week. I loved hearing from Lisa Holton. I love the concept of the 39 Clues books - not just a book for reading but also a card game for the computer and a mystery to help solve on top of that. Readers/trainees could take the books to what ever level they wanted. The first set of the series didn't just end with a happy ending it ended with such a following that new books are still being written today. I hope that more books and apps come along soon before my children are too old to enjoy this new media! Now to the Apps from Thursday! We have great resources right here with our children's library team. If you are new to apps there are many resources for you: children's librarians and the share iPads, the apple app store has app store essentials kits - Starter kit/ Social networking/ Game starter kit/ Get in shape/ Etc. This week we also talked about coomonsense.org it is a great sight for beginners. I hope that they continue to review new apps as they are released. A great app for parents with young children is moms with apps - lots of different categories to look up. I like the information shared on appadvice - they share new release apps, discuss apps that work on jail break devices, and they share apps that work on 'universal devices'. I also find searching the app store by category turns up lots of hidden gem apps. Fun apps shared this week that are a hit in my home include stack the states, key ring, math dictionary and bartlby's buttons. I am happy with our children's librarians initiative for technology. I'm glad to see and participate for a second year in a row in the technology education and debate. We will always be playing catch up to our children the digital natives. We need to look to our personal beliefs and goals with in our families to answer the question what is too much and when. We know our own kids we can only project on to others the experiences we have had. So instead of 'yes all the way' and 'no keep them off' we need to speak of balance. Yes outdoor play time, time with friends and books BUT yes time on the computer with what ever media source you find acceptable in your home. As parents we must not forget our obligation - demand - that we too must be savvy in this new media so that we can teach our children as they grow.