Have you ever played tangram? The traditional tangram is a 7 piece puzzle game, each piece in a different shape, such as square, triangle, diamond. Using the 7 pieces, you can create endless pictures and patterns. We used to play with it a lot. There are many variations of the game now, and Dragon Shapes: Geometry Challenge is a great app that expands the original idea to a full array of 50 shape puzzles. Kids will learn to recognize different… Read more

Recently I had a discussion with a friend about games and education. I believe games are not all bad. There are many good games out there. As long as being used wisely, games can help kids learn in many areas. I have discussed this topic in several articles on iGameMom, two of them are How to Teach Physics with Angry Bird and Tiny Tower: What Can You Teach Your Child. Today I share more game apps that are educational and you will be happy kids are playing. 10 Free Game Apps that… Read more

Room on the Broom Game app is based on the beloved children’s book of the same title.  With its witch lead activities, it is a perfect game app for Halloween. There is no scary scenes in the app nor in the book, it is a great Halloween app for young children. It will be really helpful to read the book before playing the game. It is a charming book with repeating rhymes that children love. The story is fun: A witch… Read more

Gappys Mystery Letters is an educational alphabet app by Spinlight Studio. This app is fun and encourages letter recognition, it also helps your child with hand eye-coordination, writing skills, and matching. All these skills are fundamental keys in a child’d development. Educational games on the iPad are great tools in helping our children in this day and age. It’s how they learn and explore. This is a great choice to sneak in some learning while your child has fun playing on… Read more

Whether we like it or not kids love gaming apps. Thankfully the creators of Gozoa have found a prefect balance between fun and learning with Gozoa Play and Learn Math. Gozoa (a little blue critter) needs the help of your 4-6 year old! A sneaky villain with a cute vacuum cleaner has taken all the star numbers from Gozoa’s village. The only way to get them back is to follow the map of Math challenges and collect gold coins. The storyline continues throughout the game. The little villain pops… Read more

Do your kids like to help in the kitchen? Do they like baking?  BakingFun is a very interesting app they will love to play.  Although it is called BakingFun, the app starts the baking process from the very beginning – planting the wheat seeds.  With a series of mini-games, it shows what it takes to have a loaf of bread on the dinner table: planting the seeds, watering the plants, harvesting the crop, milling the flour, making the dough, baking… Read more

Today I have a very nice website to share.  It of course works on mobile devices, iPhone and iPAD included.  Oxford Owl  is a fun learning website designed for kids up to 11 years old. It has eBooks, Math games, learning activities ideas, and printables, all are free. To access the content, you need first sign up for a free membership. Then you can choose between Math and Reading. In Reading, there are over 250 eBooks, all can be read on… Read more

I always like simulation games, because they offer open-ended play, kids gain skills in problem solving and creative thinking. They are usually easier for parents to get involved and play together with kids.  Some of my favorites are Tiny Tower and Oregon Trail. I am really excited to find out Dinorama is free today.  It is a simulation game designed for kids, with no in-app purchase.  In the app, kids will create and manage their own dinosaur theme park: buy land; build buildings… Read more

Math In Action is a math app designed for kids from preschool to early elementary school.  In addition to math facts, it also addresses sorting by colors and shapes, fine motor skills, and fun math related games. There are 4 sections in the app: Sorting, Addition, Subtraction, and Transformation. Each section has 20 levels, and 5 are free.  There are also 3 game rooms for math related fun: Abacus, Music room, and Play Room. When kids enter a section, there… Read more

This app is a memory game with a cute twist the whole family can get in on.  The game can be played with up to four players who get to test their memory skills with a matching game of pairs.  Seems simple enough, but the twist lies in which pairs you get.  Ahhhh.  Each set has a specific character who holds a special power, maybe a plot twist, a bizarre characteristic or a setting.  Whoever wins has to make up… Read more

I love Face iMake apps, they are creative and fun.  Their newest app is Faces iMake ABC.  It’s an app designed to help kids learn letters in the same creative ways of their earlier apps.  It is free for limited time, so make sure check it out. There are two parts in the app: Learn ABC and Find ABC. Learn ABC: kids pick a letter from the letter tray at the bottom. They will see the letter come up and… Read more

Sid the Science Kid Read & Play doesn’t deviate from its name, it takes the best of book apps with the best of educational games and melds them into a fun and useful tool for preschoolers. It comes with two books (three if you count the joke book) all with the option to have the book be read to child or your child read it.  You can even record your own voice or your child’s to have the book read in… Read more

Little Digits by Cowly Owl is a great beginning counting app. It utilizes the users fingers to answer the basic addition and subtraction questions. Counting is a basic math concept and what better way to get your child excited about math from the beginning than with a fun app! This app teaches children about numbers and counting, but it doesn’t stop there. It is great for a wide range of children because it also covers basic addition and subtraction for… Read more

Have you watched the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?  There is a storybook app from a movie, and now with the 2nd movie coming out, the storybook for the first movie is free for limited time. Storybooks based on movies many times are effective in getting kids to read.  Plus it is good for them to get different perspectives of the story and storytelling via different media. If you are not familiar with the story, it is about… Read more