Category Archives: FREE apps for kids

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Learn with Homer

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Learn with Homer

Released on August 1 and already listed as “New & Noteworthy” – Learn with Homer is an educational reading app for kids 3 – 6. The FREE download includes 30 stories and lessons (18 Learn to Read lessons/stories, 12 Discover the World lessons) as well as access to Homer’s Clubhouse and parent tools. Additional content is available through in-app purchases.

Homer, a gray pigeon, resides in an interactive world designed to help kids learn to read. The fun starts in the Hat Shop where kids have photos taken in the “thinking caps” of their choice. From there, kids can proceed to Story Time, Learn to Read, Discover The World, or Homer’s Clubhouse. The Story Time section includes 9 free stories representing 4 genres (rhymes, poetry, folktales, folk songs) as well as Homer stories.  The Learn to Read section teaches the phonemes (sounds) in sequence. Lessons start with sounds & letters, then move to words, and then to sentences. Discover The World is a series of adventures in science, history, art, etc. designed to increase kids’ basic knowledge and vocabularies. Finally, kids can go to Homer’s Clubhouse to draw and record what they have learned. And if that wasn’t enough… there is also a parent website to track your child’s progress and/or download printables  & book recommendations. This educational app seems to have it all – a well designed, comprehensive approach to learning to read with real kid appeal!!

For more information go to Homer: Parent Resources.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn-with-homer/id601437586?mt=8&uo=4

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Sago Mini Sound Box – Fun sounds for infants, toddlers and preschool aged children

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Sound Box

Listed as “New & Noteworthy” in May and FREE again – Sago Mini Sound Box – Fun sounds for infants, toddlers and preschool aged children. Toddlers choose from nine different sound makers such as chimes, horns, drums, animals and more. Notes are represented by dots that can be bounced around the screen. Kids can tilt the screen to hear sounds bump into each other, move sounds around the screen with their fingers, or tap and hold sounds for a silly surprise. The app works with multi-touch so that you can play with your child. There are no in-app purchases or third-party advertising so you and your child are free to play & discover without interruptions! Colorful, musical, and full of surprises – this app is great for little ones!

Sago Mini Sound Box - Fun sounds for infants, toddlers and preschool aged children - Sago Sago

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Brain Quest

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Brain Quest

36 million kids can’t be wrong!  Brain Quest® started as a series of flashcards that quizzed kids on academics – language, science, math, and more. Kids, parents, and teachers have loved it since its release. Their motto – It’s Fun to Be Smart!® still rings true 20 years later! And now, Brain Quest has been released as an educational app! Kids join Casey, Jake, and Gizmo on their quest to learn. The app covers 5 grade levels and includes 100 questions per level for FREE. Additional questions can be unlocked as in-app purchases. The game is fun for the whole family and permits the tracking of scores for up to 3 kids. We took Brain Quest® flashcards with us on many family vacations – it’s perfect for a long road trip! It also works well in the classroom when you have a few minutes to spare at the end of the day, before lunch, etc. Check out the FREE questions and see for yourself.

BRAIN QUEST - Workman Publishing Company, Inc.

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I Hear Ewe – Animal Sounds for Toddlers

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I Hear Ewe – Animal Sounds for Toddlers is a FREE educational app for toddlers. When your child taps on an animal’s picture, a voice says “This is the sound a ____ makes” and the sound follows. This app is very easy to use with big buttons for little fingers. 24 animal sounds and 12 vehicle sounds are included. There are 5 language options: English, Spanish, Chinese, German, and Japanese. This app is perfect for little ones who love naming animals and imitating their sounds. 🙂

I Hear Ewe - Animal Sounds for Toddlers - Claireware Software

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SpellingCity

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Spelling City  – a FREE educational app for the iPhone/iPad! I LOVE Spelling City. It is a phenomenal website where teachers can input their weekly spelling lists so kids can go online to practice their spelling in so many fun ways – hang mouse, match it, which word, sentence unscramble, etc. I used Spelling City in my classroom for the last several years and the kids & parents loved it. The app has several preloaded lists and the best part…..kids can access the their teacher’s list (providing that he/she uses Spelling City, of course) by using their zip code, school name, and teacher’s name. Practice spelling in the car on a way to a soccer game or while waiting in the dentist’s office. AWESOME!!

Common Core Standards met:

  • K.RF.3  – Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.
  • 1.RF.3 – Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
  • 2.RF.3 – Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences. AND Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
  • 3.RF.3 – Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
  • 4.RF.3 – Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context.
  • 5.RF.3 – Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context.

Highly recommended!

SpellingCity - SpellingCity

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Polk Street Press

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If you are not familiar with this developer, do yourself a favor and get acquainted 🙂 Here are two GREAT story apps – sweet stories with beautiful illustrations. The interactivity is purposeful. It adds to the story rather than just being there so that the developer claim that the app is interactive. And… they are currently FREE! Thank you, Polk Street Press!  Check out these great educational apps today.

FREE  for the iPhone/iPad, Goodnight Safari is a sweet interactive story for bedtime. Kids (ages 2-4) help the animals of the savannah complete their evening activities in 7 different scenes –  a giraffe eating dinner, a monkey climbing into bed, a hippo taking a bath, etc. Optional counting & color activities are available as an in-app purchase. Very sweet story for a peaceful end to your child’s day – highly recommended!

Goodnight Safari - Polk Street Press LLC

spatter & spark

Spatter and Spark is another cute interactive book for iPhone 4 /iPad 2 and later models.  Spatter (an artistic porcupine) and Spark (an inventive fox) team up to figure out how to get a look at Hubert, the baby crow, so that Spatter can paint Hubert’s picture. Kids are invited to help as Spatter & Spark problem solve their way through the story. There are 10 interactive scenes within the app. Each scene is beautifully illustrated by Luciana Navarro Powell, the illustrator of Goodnight Safari. The story (for 4 – 6 year olds) is very cute with purposeful interactivity that adds to the story. Spatter and Spark could also be used with elementary students to encourage them to think & write about their own inventions. I would have used it with my third graders when I was teaching 🙂 An activity pack (with 4 additional activities) is available as an in-app purchase. Nicely done and highly recommended!

Spatter & Spark - Polk Street Press LLC

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ClassDojo

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Recently updated, ClassDojo is a FREE & fabulous tool that helps improve classroom behaviors. Teachers are using it in different ways: to give feedback in real-time, to track behavior, and to generate reports. Reward good behavior in real-time – all it takes is a click. You need one device (computer, smartphone, a laptop, or a tablet) and an internet connection. It is very easy to set up with your class list. Each student is assigned a cute, monster-like avatar. Kids earn points for positive behaviors and lose points for negative behaviors. ClassDojo is also fully customizable so you can delete behaviors from the original list and/or add your own behaviors. As you use it, it automatically logs any data that you input. This data can be used to generate behavior reports to share with parents and administrators. How awesome is that? You can go into a meeting/conference with reports in hand!

If I were still in the classroom, I would enter my class list twice – once for data on work/study habits and the other for data on behaviors. I would make my habits/behaviors match exactly what was on my report cards. Then as I used the app, I would also be gathering data for my report cards. At the end of the grading period, I would just print out the date and enter it on the report cards – how easy!  I would also have the data (in a printed report) to be able to back up any grade on the card.  “As you can see Mrs. Doe, Jane only turned in her homework 56% of the time.”  Instant data would also be available for the RTI process, IEPs or any other team meeting on a child. Wow – a fabulous educational app!!!!

Check out the website for more information: www.classdojo.com

Highly recommended !!

ClassDojo - Class Twist Inc

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Pick-a-Path

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Pick a Path

Pick-a-Path is a FREE math game from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Kids help Okta the octopus reach a target number by choosing the best path from the top maze to the bottom of a maze in this educational app. There are 7 different levels with 7 puzzles in each level. The puzzles start with basic operations then move to fractions, negative numbers, decimals, and other more difficult skills. Kids have to plan out a strategy to reach the target which can be a specific value, a minimum value, or a maximum value. This app provides a lot of good skills practice. And… as an extra added bonus, kids have to think of a strategy!

Pick-a-Path - National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

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MathLands – Kids Logic Game & Brain Builder for Math and Critical Thinking

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MathLands

All I can say is WOW! MathLands is a completely FREE educational math app that makes kids THINK! Kids have to use logic, problem solving skills, and critical thinking to solve 5 levels of 5 different puzzles. Each puzzle is timed, has hints available, and has a section that tells the history of the puzzle. Kids can choose to start over. They can try again to get a better score or they can try again to get the BEST score (the app tells what is the best possible score). I love that this app challenges kids to be the best!! There is also a Math Comics section – problems are written in comic strip form. Kids solve the word problems by using the interactive manipulatives on the page. In a word full of math apps that stress practice and drill, this app is like a breath of fresh air. LOVE it !!!!

MathLands - Kids Logic Game & Brain Builder for Math and Critical Thinking - Mamanijo

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ABCmouse.com – A-Z Music Videos

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a to z

FREE – A to Z Music Videos. This educational app has 26 animated videos  – one for each letter of the alphabet. As kids watch the videos, they earn tickets to unlock other videos. There is also an option to purchase tickets to unlock videos more quickly. The videos are top-notch! They help children learn letter names and sounds AND develop vocabulary. Every video is produced in a different musical style, so kids are also introduced to a wide variety of musical genres. This app is a must-have for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teachers – a perfect introduction to the letters of the alphabet!

Common Core Standards met:

  • K. RF.3 – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant. Associate the short sounds with common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

ABCmouse.com 26 A-Z Music Videos - Age of Learning, Inc.