Do you have pets? Do your kids like pets? Pets could be very good companions and friends. We’ve seen many wonderful stories about pets and kids. Today we share good movies and TV shows for kids featuring pets. As we are Netflix members, these movies are all available on Netflix. Good Movies for Kids Featuring Pets As usual, we list movie titles by kids age groups. Movies for younger kids are listed at the top of the list, and movies… Read more

We love Smithsonian. This institute has done so much in education! Recently I found an excellent non fiction reading program from Smithsonian. It is called Smithsonian Tribune. It collects appropriate news stories that will interest kids and deliver these stories on the website or the free apps, and invite kids take quizzes or post comments. All readings are leveled by Lexile score. The content includes passages, photos, graphics, and audio and/or video materials about current events, history, art, culture and… Read more

Teaching kids creative writing is a complex process. It involves many elements, such as idea generation, plot structure, vocabulary, character development, review and revision, … and many more. We are trying to put some learning tools we discovered over time that are helpful in our writing learning journey. Hope this is helpful to you as well. I’d also like to hear from you what tools do you use while teaching kids writing. This is part of our Best Learning Tools for… Read more

Is your child learning a music instrument or singing? Do you know how to play the instrument yourself? I have a child studying piano, but I had no knowledge of music. It is very hard for him to practice listening exercises at home as there is no one can tell him if his answers are correct or not. Practice like this is still helpful, but it is just not as effective as if you can get immediate feedback. A while… Read more

Link That Gugl is a fun app for any one, no matter how old you are. There are similar games on the App Store, but I like this one for the fun characters of the Gugls. Kids will gain visual pattern recognition and fine motor skills while playing. It is also a game for the family to play together. Gugls are the cute and round little guys in different colors and hues. With two big eyes, baby’ish voices, and bouncy… Read more

This week is Computer Science Education week. To correspond to the campaign Hour of Code, we are sharing a fun coding app designed for preschool kids, and it is Free.  The app is called The Foos: Code for an Hour. The app introduces programming concepts through exciting puzzle adventures. It is for kids or adults who know nothing about coding or programming. So get started, download the app, put in your hour of code this week! There are 24 levels… Read more

Critical thinking and problem solving skills are very important for a child’s academic and future career, or even life success. How do you teach a child critical thinking skills? How do kids get better at it? There are many elements in critical thinking, assesse, analyze, compare, question, create, … I find the best way to help kids improve the critical thinking skills is to present age appropriate challenging problems and encourage them to solve the problems in their own ways. Today… Read more

Things for iPad and Things (for iPhone iPod) are great productivity apps that help you manage the tasks, or things you have to do. They are chosen as apps of the week on App Store, and are free now, from the respective price of $20 and $10. I just downloaded the apps on both my iPhone and iPad and really like what I see so far. If you are looking for a task management app, don’t miss this opportunity. What… Read more

Learn World Geography is a free geography app from Brainscape. It is a flashcard app, but the algorithm is designed by learning cognitive scientists leveraging the latest cognitive science techniques, so you can master the content faster. From the surface, it is just a flashcard. After using the app for a while, you will find that memorizing the geographic facts is not that hard, and in fact it is quite easy. According to Brainscape, their objective of the app design… Read more

It is always good to start a 2nd language early, as kids are in the natural stage of grasping a new language. iGameMom has reviewed some good learning tools for kids to learn a new language other than English. As part of our best learning tools for kids on iPad series, today we have Best Learning Tools for Kids to Learn a Languages Other Than English. This is part of our Best Learning Tools for Kids on iPad series. For… Read more

We have been using the app iF Poems for a while and liked how easy it is to use and how rich the content is. iF Poems is an app carries 270 classic poems for kids. It allows users to search poems by categories and kids age. It is a gentle introduction of poetry for kids. On the opening page, you can see there are 12 categories of poems: Growing UP, Nature Seasons and Animals, Humour and Nonsense, Love and… Read more

I like storytelling activities and storytelling learning tools. Storytelling helps kids develop oral language skills, boost thinking skills, creativity, and imagination. While learning to put a story together, kids in fact gain skills in better listening and reading. Also storytelling helps kids express their emotions and feelings that many times are hard to do. Today we share top storytelling learning tools for kids on iPad, many are also available on other devices. This is part of our Best Learning Tools… Read more

I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf for Virgin Mobile. I received a sample device to facilitate my review and a thank you item for participating. Do your kids have cell phones? No matter when do you feel comfortable to give a cell phone to your child, the first several months when they carry the phone with them will always be a critical time for them to learn how to take care of the device, and how to use… Read more

With the weather getting colder, we start looking for more ideas to stay active inside. I was excited to see the app Go Dance is free today and gave it a little try. I like it! It is a great way to get kids moving in the house when it is too cold to play outside. The app is not perfect, but as long as you are not using it competitively, ie. not trying to get the highest score, it… Read more