Weather has been a fun part of early education for kids. I remember those weather boards in my son’s classroom. We have a magnet weather board at home for him to play with also. Today we introduce a real weather app specially designed for kids. It is a real weather app because it tells kids the weather condition of major cities around the world in real time. Because it is specially designed for kids, it is more kids friendly and… 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

Love of reading is the best gift parents can give to their children. The most important factors that are shown with positive effect of children’s reading ability are the availability of books at home and parents reading with kids. Now children are spending more and more time on digital devices, it is a good idea to have reading apps for kids on your smart phones and tablets. Digital books on mobile devices have many advantages. Mobility is one, carrying many… Read more

We’ve heard it again and again that the best gift we can give to our children is the love of reading. But what can parents do to make kids enjoy reading and enjoy books? There are so many ways, and every parent is doing it differently. Here are some we’ve done that worked well for us. I’d love to hear your ideas and the books you used. How to Help Kids Enjoy Books at a Young Age Start from a… Read more

We have reviewed several Grandma Grandpa series apps. I love the fun grandma and grandpa and the interesting learning activities they have. Today they launched a new app called Grandma’s Preschool. If you have a preschool age child, check it out. Your child will love it. It is essentially a preschool on your tablet. Kids can learn and play preschool at home. When kids start the app, they will see a room like most preschool classroom. There are several stations… Read more

Learning numbers and counting could be really fun. There are so many things that we can count with kids no matter where we go. But how to count with a preschool or kindergarten kids? How to make the counting activities different and interesting? Today’s app Numbers and Counting with Teacher Tilly will show you 5 different ways to learn numbers. Numbers and Counting is a math app for kids age 2 to 6, helping them learn and practice numbers and… 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

Every year kids bring home a lot art works from school. We had a closet just to store child’s art. Yet quickly we ran out of space. A couple years ago I found this app called ArtKive, and was so glad that I can just keep all the art works digitally to save all the space. Plus I can pick some of the art to make them into art books, for keepsake or for gifts. ArtKive is an app that… 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

Toca Nature is another wonderful app from Toca Boca. Like all Toca Boca apps, this app is again an open-ended play with no levels, no goals, and no scores. Kids use the tools provided to create a nature world and observe how elements in the nature connect to each other and interchange together. It is a great tool for kids to explore the nature and appreciate the nature. It is available for both Apple and Android devices. It is free… Read more

Recently I found a wonderful website DKFindOut. It is an online interactive encyclopedia for kids, covering many topics like earth, math, animal, space, … Kids can just explore and learn on their own. It is still in beta stage and it is completely free. You don’t even need sign up for a free account. From what I have been experiencing, all the interactive features work on iPad as well. An easy way to quickly access a website on your mobile… Read more

Are your kids tired of memorizing words for school? Do you feel like trying something new to spark their interest in learning new words or spelling? You may want to try this fun app — Guess the Word with Art. It is not designed for student or any school curriculum, but it is fun to play. Players guess the word based on the letters they get and the picture they see. Each picture is original art and is funny in… Read more

I remember when I was young I liked tracing pictures on comic books or picture books. It was soothing for me. Now thinking back, it also taught me drawing and most importantly the portions between parts of a picture. Tracing Paper is a simple app that lets you do just that — pick a picture from your device’s photo albums, and the app gives you an translucent canvas on top of the chosen picture for you to trace it. It… Read more

Homes by Tinybop is the 3rd app from the developer’s Explore’s Library series. Like their first two apps Human Body and Plants, it is open-ended exploratory app. There is no verbal or written instructions, no set goals. Kids come in the app explore homes from around the world. Through exploring the homes, kids will learn and discover world culture and life. Before kids start using the app, I highly recommend setting up a profile for each child. You can do… Read more