Category Archives: educational apps for kids

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Mini Adventures – Music

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This music app was developed for the iPhone/iPad to teach kids about different genres of music and instruments from all over the world. Over 120 musical words are arranged on a ABC grid. If you tap on a word – it brings it up on a full screen with a link to a featured You Tube video in the upper left hand corner. Access to the videos can be totally disabled if you wish but children cannot link from the featured videos to the You Tube website. Of course, internet access is required to watch the videos. And, I did find a few video links that no longer worked. Even though I did not watch every video in the app, the developer claims that they were all tested for appropriateness.

That being said, the app is able to be customized. For younger kids you can delete the genres of music and just have instruments available which is what I would suggest. I would not want my toddler watching a 9 minute acid jazz video or a punk version of The Monster Mash with bats and skeletons. You can also add your own cards with your own sounds, pictures, and You Tube links. Pretty cool app to teach kids about instruments from all over the world.  But, check it out to make sure that you are comfortable that the content is appropriate for your child’s age.

Recommended if you customize the app to fit the age of your child.

Mini Adventures - Music - Innovative Mobile Apps

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TapQuiz Maps World Edition

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This geography app is FREE for iPhone/iPad. It teaches kids to identify countries, states, or provinces of 22 major regions of the world using a fun game. Kids first choose the region that they would like to be quizzed on. The app names which area is to be found and the child taps the map in the proper spot. Hints can be enabled if you wish. Both accuracy and time are measured. Results are saved in the statistics section of the app which is fairly sophisticated. It gives the fastest time and keeps track of the overall accuracy. You can also see specifically which regions are known/unknown. Two additional games modes are available through an in-app purchase ($.99). Nicely done app!!

Recommended!

TapQuiz Maps World Edition - Rolzor

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Identifying Things

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This FREE app for the iPhone/iPad is geared towards toddlers and has two modes – game and learning. In the learning mode, kids are shown a picture then the word is pronounced. In the game mode, kids tap on the word to have it pronounced then choose the correct picture. Only about 20 animals from two categories (aquatic animals & birds) are available without an in-app purchase. It is supported in two languages – English and Vietnamese. A major problem with the app is that the English pronunciations are not clear – shark sounds like shrock, penguin sounds like pengin – not recommended for this reason.

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Rhyming Words

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This FREE app is designed for the iPhone/iPad to help kids build phonological awareness by identify rhyming sounds. Included are over 200 photograph tiles that match-up to make  100+  pairs of rhyming words. The app starts out easy (only 2 sets to match) and increases to matching 8 sets. The settings allow a lot of flexibility – you can turn audio hints on or off, you can turn tile magnets on or off, and you can add your own voice.  What I really love about this app is that you can add your own sets of matching tiles. The app allows you to take your own photos or choose existing photos then record your own set of rhyming words! So once your child can identify rhyming sounds, you can take it to the next level and he/she can create their own! Wow!!

Common Core Standards met:

  • K.RF.2 – Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).  Recognize and produce rhyming words.

Highly recommended!

Rhyming Words - GrasshopperApps.com

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SparkleFish

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SparkleFish is a FREE app for iPhone/iPad that works like a digital version of Mad Libs. Four stories are included in the app with others available as in-app purchases. Kids are asked to provide words from a specific category (animal, body part, etc.) or a specific part of speech (adjectives, nouns, adverbs, past tense verbs, etc.). If the child cannot think of a good word, he/she can get suggestions from SparkleFish by touching the word. Instead of writing the words, kids record their choices in their own voice. Their words are played back in the reading of the story. Kids can save their recordings and listen to them later. There is also a “Chum It!” feature that allows posting comments to Facebook. I am not sure why this is an option in a game seemingly geared towards kids. It would be nice if there were a way to disable it in the settings for use in schools. This app allows kids to practice parts of speech in a fun way. Kids love Mad Libs because the results can be hilarious. I am sure they will feel the same way about SparkleFish 🙂

Recommended with reservations (because of the Facebook link).

SparkleFish - Whosagoodboy Partners

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Toddlers First Words: 6 in 1

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This FREE app for the iPad has toddlers/young learners making 200+ words for objects in 6 different categories – animals, colors, shapes, vehicles, vegetable & fruits, and common words. A picture is show with the word spelled under it (in black). Under the black spelled word are all the letters that make up that word (in orange) but they are scrambled. The child is supposed to drag the orange letters onto the black letters to spell the word (the correct order is not required). As he/she does, each letter is named. When the entire word is complete the word is spelled and named. Nice features: If the child touches the picture, the word is spelled then pronounced. If the child touched a black letter, that letter is named and the corresponding orange letter below twists. I wish the app required the child to spell the words in order – that would help emphasize that words are written from left to right. Lots of letter practice is built into this app but I wish developers would also include lower case letters when creating an app for kids.

Worth downloading to see if this app is something your child would enjoy but the Common Core Standards for kindergarten require recognition and naming of all upper and lower case letters.

Toddlers First Words : 6 in 1 - Deepak Demiwal

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Letter School Lite

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This letter writing app for the iPhone/iPad has a FREE lite version (a – e) that you can preview before you decided if  you want to purchase full version for $2.99.  It is designed to teach 4 – 6 year olds how to write upper & lower case letters and numbers. It starts by showing the shape of the letter, naming it, giving its sound and a word that starts with that sound. The child learns where to start and end the letter. Then the child traces the letter. Finally, the child tries to write the letter from memory. At the end of these three exercises for each letter, there are fireworks. The graphics are simply done but very appealing. I like the size of the letters  – nice and big for little hands. The app has 3 typefaces (Zaner-Bloser, HWT, D’Nealian) in the settings. This app is nicely done and from what I see in this lite version, I am assuming that the full version is worth $2.99.

Common Core Standards met:

  • K.RF.1 – Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Recommended!

LetterSchool Lite - Boreaal

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Amazing Coin (USD) Free

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I downloaded the FREE version of this coin app for the iPhone/iPad. The iTunes preview says that it has 8 games included but there are only 4 – patterns, greatest value or least value, match the coins, and pay for items (see above). The screen shots featured in the iTunes preview show 4 out of 5 games that are NOT included in the FREE version. It’s disappointing to see such a disconnect between how this version of the app is presented on the iTunes Preview page and what you actually get to try in the free download.

Before I would recommend this app, I would have to see more of it.

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PBS KIDS Photo Factory

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Very cute FREE app for the iPhone/iPad from PBS KIDS. Add your favorite PBS character to your child’s picture in 3 easy steps. First take a picture or choose one from your photo library. The edit it as needed – zoom, rotate, or resize. Lastly frame it and decorate it by adding your favorite PBS characters. You can share the results on Facebook, Twitter, via email or save them into your photo library.

There are lots of fun ways to use this app. Take pictures of kids with the characters at a themed party based on one of the shows. Take pictures of students with Curious George, Arthur, or Clifford after reading books featuring those characters. Pull those pictures into a story writing app to create a new adventure of the PBS character and the student. Add the characters to settings – pictures of the school playground, pictures of the classroom etc. – use your pictorial creations as  springboards to creative writing. Pull your pictures into TellPic (see review July 31) and have the child explain. Fun !!

Recommended!

PBS KIDS Photo Factory - PBS KIDS

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123 Color, International Edition

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123 Color, International Edition Talking Coloring Book, With Words Spoken in 17 Languages for the iPhone/iPad is FREE today. It names numbers, letters, & colors and shows the spelling of numbers & colors (in 17 different languages). In the settings you can choose a primary & secondary language so each number, letter, and color will be spoken/spelled in both languages. Or, you can disable the secondary language option and choose only one language. Kids start by choosing 1 of 4 areas to practice – numbers, colors, upper case letters, or lower case letters. Then they can choose one of the 11 themed sets of coloring pages, photo painting, stationery, letter writing, or number writing. There are two color palettes available – 10 colors or 30 colors. The photo painting and stationery pages can be framed. All artwork can be printed, emailed or saved to photos.

This nicely done app was featured in Women’s Day and New York Times.

Recommended!

123 Color, International Edition Talking Coloring Book, With Words Spoken in 17 Languages - Steve Glinberg