David C Cook and Big Idea are offering free apps for the children's segment. Cook has released an interactive eight-page Easter Story App. It's tied to its best-selling The Toddler's Bible for the Apple iPad, offering it free for a limited time.

The interactive read-along app, which tells the story of Jesus's death and resurrection, includes a prominent button that links to the CBA store locator website along with encouragement for parents, teachers and volunteers alike to purchase the complete print version at a local Christian bookstore.

"We wanted to give people a fun resource to teach small children the importance of Easter, and at the same time use this as a tool to drive those parents and teachers to our retail partners to purchase The Toddler's Bible," said Ginia Hairston Croker, vice president of marketing, trade books for David C Cook.

Click here for the free iPad app, which is available via iTunes. A second interactive Toddler's Bible app is planned for Christmas.

Meanwhile, Big Idea has expanded its digital program for its VeggieTales brand by partnering with Playful Owl, an app developer focused on meaningful play, and social media development and marketing company GorillaSpot—which creates video applications across web, social and mobile platforms for producers of entertainment content.

Big Idea also recently partnered with mobile app developer Weeblets for The VeggieTales Spotisode Collection—available on Android and iPhone. Within the first few days of its exclusive launch in the Amazon Appstore in February, it became the No. 1 free app for kids, and reached as high as No. 11 overall, Big Idea said.

"We are delighted to see more than 1 million game plays and the very positive response of fans with the Spotisode app," said Brian Mitchell, vice president of marketing and licensing for Big Idea.

Click here for the free Android and here for the free iPhone app.