We are all familiar with the concept of photo editing thanks to the many photo editing tools and apps like photoshop. We can not only change the lighting and color of the picture, we can also add or take away parts of pictures, or combine several photos into one. You might think these photo editing is relatively new, but as I learned from Faking It, photo editing has been used for long time. Faking It is a free app from… Read more

I have heard of SimCity for a long time, and my son has played the game. However I have not really get the chance to really look into the game till now. It is a free app available for both iOS and Android. After spending sometime on it today, I like it. In the game kids will build a city and learn city planning and building. It is another simulation game I don’t mind my child playing. When kids start… Read more

Many kids have free access to internet. As parents and educators, we all know there are many good educational content out there, however, there are also content that are not kids appropriate and we don’t want our children to see. A lot of app developers and educators are working hard to create safe environment for kids, and today’s app WonderBox is a wonderful example. It is a completely free app, where kids can find articles, visual, videos on educational topics… Read more

Recently I met several parents whose kids have different levels of difficulties in handwriting. The poor penmanship is due to some handwriting disabilities, like dyslexia or dysgraphia. It could be very frustrating for both parents and kids when they have to write for the school projects or tests. Today I found a free app that can help kids with handwriting difficulties – SnapType. SnapType is designed by a Occupational Therapist who had a student with dysgraphia, a condition that impacts… Read more

Learning math is fun. It should be. Today we share an app that teaches kids math tricks for algebra: Mathemagics. It is the 2nd app in the series. The first Mathemagics app focuses on math tricks on mental math calculations, like adding and multiplying two digit numbers, or dividing a number by 7. This 2nd app in the series teaches math tricks on algebra. It is a great way to learn thinking differently and encourage kids to find better solutions… Read more

Recently I found another reading resource that is really helpful for kids, especially for teachers. It is a completely free resource, with reading materials, vocabulary sheets, and reading questions. The reading content subjects include science, social studies, original fiction and original reporting. All the reading materials are organized by grade levels. You can also search by keywords, Lexile level, skill and strategy. It is easy to find materials that fit your need. The site is readworks.org. You do need sign… Read more

I have seen many math drill apps in different formats, some are simple drills, some are in a game format. It is helpful for kids to get very efficient with these math operations, so when they solve more complex math problems they don’t have to spend time and energy on these fundamental operations, and can focus on solving the more complex problems. Today I have another app not only drill kids on these math operations, but also teach kids tips… Read more

Google Art Project is part of Google Cultural Institute. It is an online world art museum created by Google. It has high resolution images of artworks from more than 150 museums around the world, and many museums also have 3D virtual art gallery tours. It is a wonderful free online tool for art lovers and a free field trip idea for kids to see the master pieces around the world, while sitting at your desk. To access on mobile devices… Read more

DIY Lake Water is a free hands on science app for kids from UC Berkeley’s The Lawrence Hall of Science. We reviewed their DIY Sun app, which is also free. This new app DIY Lake Science is another fun science app for kids who are interested in natural science. Funded by NSF, it allows families and educators to investigate and learn about lakes and other freshwater ecosystems at home, at school, or anywhere you go. For those who don’t have… Read more

We all know today’s kids facing a changing world, that the knowledge base of human being grows faster and faster. It is crucial for kids to have the skills to be a self-learner. They can gather information from different sources and decipher the information, connect the dots, and form their own knowledge base and opinions on subjects they need learn. One big building block in this self-learning process is reading non-fiction materials. Reading non-fiction is very different from reading fiction… Read more

Are you learning a foreign language? It is not easy. English is not my first language, and I can tell you based on my own experience, that the hardest part is not vocabulary or grammar when you are studying in the classroom, the hardest part is when you think you’ve learned enough and try to communicate with the native speakers, and find out that you can hardly understand anything they are saying and can hardly make yourself understood by others… Read more

Every time when we travel I like to ask my son to keep photos and to make a travel journal by the end. While doing this, he practiced his presenting and storytelling skills. In the meantime, we have a keepsake for us to review and remember what we’ve done for each vacation. It’s been fun for us. I introduced some best storytelling learning tools for kids, and today I have one more to share — Shadow Puppet. Shadow Puppet is… Read more

While school coming to the end for the year, I start looking for fun games for the child – fun yet mentally challenging brain games. I just find out the free app of the week on Apple Store is a fun one — Quetzalcoatl fits my criteria of challenging brain games for kids. I have seen similar game concepts before, but the overall design of the game play is much more smooth in Quetzalcoat. It require visual identification of shapes… Read more

Drum sets are expensive, even just a small set of almost toy size, it is still a lot money. It also takes a lot space at home. If you have a child who likes to beat drums and make noises, you can now use this wonderful app and hand the iPad to your child. iAmDrums is a drum app simulating the real drum set. The sound effect is as good as real, if not better. When you start the app… Read more