The conversation is always going on about how much screen time is too much. Our kids are reaching for their Ipads or our phones at every opportunity, so when we finally say yes, they know that they need to use their time wisely. While there are so many amazing shows and movies on Netflix, the kids know that they need to save that choice for a family movie night and choose one of our amazing educational apps instead! Because let’s face it, education online can be a wonderful thing and even lead to a AACSB accredited online MBA degree one day. If you have children between nursery school and grade 2, these are some of our favorite educational apps.
Itrace
Itrace in an app that helps kids practice their handwriting skills. Kids can use their finger or a stylus to practice writing letters in the correct formation. As a teacher, I know how important it is for our kids to learn the proper formation and directionality of letters. I always remind my kids “where do we start our letters?” and they respond, “at the top”! This app gives them the opportunity to practice writing letters, upper case and lower case, practice writing numbers, words and even their name! We highly recommend this app to parents of kids learning how to write!
Counting 123
This app is great for one-to-one correspondence, meaning associating one number with one item. You ave probably seen your kids count a group of objects in front of them and miss an object or count to quickly not counting each item in front of them. This app helps children with that skill. After counting the items on the screen, a cute caterpillar crawls across the screen with the number word helping them identify the numeral with the spelling of the word. I also love the positive reinforcement that it gives the kids after each screen.
Toddler Alphabet Aquarium
Before your kids are ready to practice writing letters, this app is great! This app focuses on building letters. The little crabs walk across the screen holding parts of the letters like building blocks. Then, the kids can drag each part of the letter up to match its correct shape, like a puzzle, to build the letter.
ABC Magic Phonics
This app was recommended to us as my son was learning how to read. This app focuses on the sounds that the letters make. Part one of the game shows you the letter and a word that starts with that letter. It’s like a interactive flash card. The second part of the app shows you the letter along with 4 pictures that starts with the starting sound. It provides examples for all letters in the alphabet. The third part is a matching game. Choose if your child can match 3, 6, or 9 starting sounds to the letter. Then, the child drags the correct pictures words beginning with the letter sound into the boxes. This is a great app for kids learning letter sounds to practice daily.
Peppy Farm
Educational apps aren’t all about reading and writing. We love the Peppy Pals apps. Peppy Farm, Peppy Beach and Peppy Reggy are all about emotional education. The goal of the game is to help Peppy the dog feel happy whether that be by offering him a bone, or helping him cross the river. The app begins by matching the correct emotion to each animal giving kids a solid understanding of feelings. This is a great app to help your kids learn about emotions (and they love it as a fun game)!
Word Collect
As my son learned how to read and write and identify sight words, he started playing word collect. To play the game, the child need to create as many words as they can using the letter tiles they are given. This is a great game and can keep them occupied for a while as they use their brain spelling!
The Sight Word Adventure
Take your kids on an adventure as they build and identify sight words. The app focuses around the game of hide-and-seek as the player needs to explore to find sight words hiding around! This is a great app for kids when they are just learning sight words and great practice for kids who already know many of them! Whether your kids are in Kindergarten or grade 2, this app is great!
Kids A-Z (Raz Kids)
Kids A-Z is amazing! We were introduced to this by my sons teacher who sent us the app to practice reading daily! This app is filled with levelled books to read followed by comprehension questions. At the end of each book, they get points, which lets be honest, always is a good form of encouragement! This app is one that we pull out all the time and one that he knows he will get a yes to when he asks if he can have my phone!
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