Educational Apps: Kid Tested, Teacher Approved

I was thrilled to discover that my daughter’s 3rd grade teacher is a technology junky! Thanks to a grant my daughter’s elementary school received last year each child in the classroom has access to their own iPad they can use during free time. I asked her teacher what apps she had on them so that I could download them for my daughter to play at home. Here are the two best educational apps that she recommended:

Math Dojo

Math Dojo has vibrant and clean animation, and the interface is simple for kids to use. My daughter thinks the ninjas are “really cute”, but more importantly she said that this game makes math fun! There is a free version of Math Dojo available on Google Play and iTunes (for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad). It covers the beginning levels of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. For $2.99 you can get Math Dojo apps for higher levels of subtraction, multiplication and division; but only for iPad.

MEEGenius

MEEGenius is like iBooks or Kindle just for kids. Each book is beautifully illustrated with an audio narration which follows along with the words highlighted or if your child is old enough there is a read-to-self option. There are free books offered and most books range from $0.99 – $2.99. You can browse the books alphabetically or check out the categories by topic. Kids can even create a bookclub so they can recommend books to friends and get recommendations. If you get 5 friends to join MEEGenius you get $10 credit. You can also sign up to receive deals and free books. MEE Genius is available for free on iTunes and Google Play.

My daughter’s teacher also recommended www.freeapps4kids.com. This site has great recommendations for all types of educational apps. Sign up for their daily emails to find out which apps are offered at a free or reduced price through the site.

Meet the Author | Nicole

Nicole is a California native trying to find balance between being a single woman and a dedicated mom. She started her blog Red Lotus Mama when her daughter was born in 2005. Over the past 8 years her readers have experienced her life changes – working mother, divorce, single parent – while learning about events in Southern California, wellness and yoga. Her focus has always been about finding balance in life because being a mom is only part of who she is.