Best Apps to Use With Kids
Winter holidays bring lots of extended family time. It's a wonderful time to play and learn together, and for many families nowadays, that means using gadgets—tablets, smartphones, and game consoles. As families share a story, play a game, design a robot, or interacting with children in other fun ways, their curiosity and creativity are sparked. These activities can help children them develop their language, science, and math skills. They will also build important relationships between a child and his first and most important teacher - you! For inspiration on where to get started, see some of following suggestions for apps that you can try together this season, many of which are free or inexpensive to purchase
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SPARKING CREATIVITY
Book Creator (ages 5+): Want to coauthor a book with a child right on your iPad or tablet? You can. The art tools invite you to dive in. You can also add music, narration, and video—then save your creations or send them to family and friends. Available in several languages. (free, but the $4.99 version is a good investment).
Bug Art (ages 7+): Perfect for young artists! You can explore beautiful bugs with children and help them design their own. These original bugs then come to life in different games ($1.99).
ArtLab (ages 7+): developed by the Museum of Modern Art. This app makes it easy for you and a child to create your own sound compositions, poems, group drawings, paintings, and more, then share them with friends and family (free).
Strip Designer (ages 6+): For those who are into super heroes and graphic novels might enjoy the challenge of creating their own comic books. Beginners can experiment with templates, photos, cells, and words. Older children and teens (ages 8+) can try ComicBook!, which aims to unleash users’ “creative superpowers” and make it easy for them to add super effects ($2.99 each).
PLAYING PHONICS GAMES
Princess Presto's Spelling Bee and Martha Speaks! (ages 3+): You can share these games and activities with preschoolers at PBS KIDS Games (free).
Starfall (ages 3 - 4+): This website is a great place to play games that help beginning readers recognize letters and sounds, and share easy books with readers (free).
Endless Reader (ages 3+): Want to help a child learn letters and words in a fun format? This is a great way to have fun with beginning reading concepts ($4.99).
SHARING EBOOKS
Kandoobi Animales: Looking for Spanish-language resources for preschoolers? You can learn about over 100 domestic and wild animals, such as avestruzes and perros. Letters, colors, matching activities, and games abound. (Note that this is a Spanish immersion app; an English version is also available.) ($2.99).
The Monster at the End of this Book… starring Grover! (ages 3+): Preschoolers will be enthralled by this classic book by Jon Stone. Try taking turns at guessing what might happen next. The story will keep you and young ones guessing every time you turn the page. Then you can cap it off by watching Sesame Street episodes together and talking about your favorite songs and skits ($4.99).
Goodreads (ages 3+): Check out this website and read through their listings for “Best Free Kindle EBOOKS for Children.” Titles include favorites such as The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter, with original illustrations and a highlighted text feature (free).
Round Is a Mooncake (ages 3+) : by Roseanne Thong is a book about shapes and is an excellent choice for preschoolers ($2.99).
Reading Rainbow (ages 6-8+): Download this app for an “unlimited library of books and field trips.” Many of the selections can help children understand cultures and traditions from all over the world. As with Sesame Street, you may also want to watch a couple of episodes of Reading Rainbow with children and talk about them together (free).
TAKING ELECTRONIC FIELD TRIPS
Dinosaurs (ages 4+): Have a dino-nut in the house? Skip traveling through sleet and snow and, instead, visit this app developed by the American Museum of Natural History. The app invites you and a child to have fun exploring the Museum’s dinosaur exhibits from home ($1.99).
State Bingo & Road Trip USA (ages 7+): Take children on a virtual road trip through the US. Enjoy zooming through the states at three different levels of challenge ($2.99).
EXPLORING THE NIGHT SKY
Star Walk (ages 4+): Many children enjoy going outdoors with you after dark to gaze at the night sky. This is where the app comes in. This app has an augmented reality feature that helps you identify stars and constellations as you learn about space ($2.99).
The information in this article was adapted from information published by the Harvard Family Resource Project.
For more educational apps that engage parents and children together, check out the entries that the Harvard Family Research Project has compiled in this downloadable guide (PDF). And if you get stuck on how a particular app works, go to YouTube, which offers a vast library of “how to” videos for using apps. Just type in the name of the app you want to see someone demonstrate.
Other free resources you might find helpful are:
- Read, Write, Think. Parent & Afterschool Resources offers access to high-quality practices in reading and language arts.
- Reading Rockets offers parents literacy resources and activities, many of which focus on media.
- PBS Parents has a wealth of resources on parenting topics, including tips on children and media.
- Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College offers "Play and Learn” resources for young children.