LumiKids just launched their 2nd app LumiKids Beach. It is a series of apps from Lumosity designed specially for kids age 5 and younger. I liked their first app LumiKids Park, so once the new app is available, I checked it out right away. It is another wonderful early learning app for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners. It is free right now. As stated by the developer team, the LumiKids series is not intended to be brain training for kids, but… Read more

We have been using OverDrive for a while. I really like it. It saves trips to the library and brings the library books to your mobile devices and computers. You can borrow digital books to read or audio books to listen. You can even borrow videos to watch. It is a free app works on almost all devices: Apple, Android, Windows devices, PC and Mac computers. I have mostly used the app on my iPad and iPhone. But you should… Read more

Have you tried funbrain.com? It is a free learning website for kids from preschool to grade 8. I have not shared the site here because I thought it uses flash and won’t function on iPad and iPhone. But yesterday, I tried it on my iPad and the games and books all worked well. I am so glad that there is one more learning website that is available on mobile devices, so kids can enjoy the fun learning on the go… Read more

ABC Guru just had a new update. It is a fun alphabet app using incidental learning method, which is the best way for young children to learn. Instead of “teaching” kids letters and their sounds, the app just let kids decorate letters. Every time they touch the letter, they hear the letter sound. Kids can color, add all kinds of stickers, and take pictures of their art works. For a full review, please visit Alphabet App for Kids Using Incidental… Read more

I loved gears. We used to play with LEGO and created a lot gear models with it. There are many engineering concepts involved, but when doing it right, it is fun for young children to see and understand those concepts. I am very excited to see now there is an app about gears designed for kids. Crazy Gears is from Seven Academy, who also designed Busy Shapes. The app incorporated many science and engineer concepts in the simple puzzle play… Read more

I loved the app Thinkroll. It is a fun physics science game with tons of build-in science concepts. Kids learn science, critical thinking and problem solving while playing the games. Now the sequel Thinkroll 2 is just launched, with similar game set up, but more science concepts, and more challenges and more fun. There are two sets of the games, one set for age 3 to 5, another set for age 5 to 9. Each set has about 120 games… Read more

Today’s app is a fun problem solving app and kids have to learn and use math skills to solve the problems. It is brought to you by PBS kids and is based off the new popular show: Peg + Cat. Peg + Cat is a show produced by the Fred Roger’s company and is targeted at teaching simple mathematics skills to preschool and early school age children (ages 3 to 6). The show is great at teaching children problem solving skills… Read more

Winky Think Logic Puzzles has a series of fun logical and critical thinking games for kids. It starts with fun shape and color matching, but gradually goes into complex puzzle games full of obstacles that require reasoning, observation and spatial cognition skills to solve. It is a fun game for the whole family. It is currently free for limited time. The games are roughly grouped into 3 skill levels, with over 180 puzzles in total. The first level is very… Read more

Disney launched ImagiCademy recently as a series of educational apps for kids age 5 and younger. Currently there are only two apps in the series: Art and Math. I only get chance to look at the art app. It has several creativity components in it. If you are looking for art apps for your toddler or preschooler and your child likes Disney characters, this would be good app to have. There are 5 units in the app. Each unit has… Read more

Noggin is a free app that provides subscription based streaming shows for preschool kids. With the subscription, kids can watch the full episodes of ad-free preschool shows, plus access to other educational videos. You have 7 days free service. At the end of the free trial, you can discontinue the subscription, or the app will automatically charge your iTunes account for the next month. It is a new service from Nickelodeon. The shows included in the app: Allegra’s Window, Blue’s… Read more

Do you have a Thomas and Friends fan at home? You will love this app – Thomas and Friends Watch and Play. This is the first app that lets users watch full episodes of the TV shows on iPad, iPhone or iPod. In addition, kids can watch clips from the show, and play games. When you open the app, you will see 4 parts in the apps: videos from the show, and 3 games. The 3 games are all based… Read more

Scratch Jr is a free app from the developers of Scratch at MIT. It is designed for younger children to learn coding. Different from other coding apps for young children, it encourages storytelling as well. With the many interactive functions, parents and teachers can use it as a customizable tool to teach kids many other subjects, such as following instructions, counting, coloring. When you first start the app, there is a tutorial video. I highly suggest going through the video… Read more

ABC Gurus is a fun alphabet app for preschool kids. It teaches both letter names and letter sounds. What makes this app stand out is the incidental learning design. Incidental learning is the learning happens by chance in connection with something else. In this app, kids will be creating alphabet characters, but during the process of creating the characters, they will have lots of opportunities to hear the sound of the letters, thus learn the letter sound unconsciously. This is… Read more

YouTube has become more and more popular and more and more parents and teachers are using videos they find on YouTube as teaching materials for kids. Although there are so many great content on YouTube, parents worry about that kids may run into videos they are not supposed to watch. To solve the problem, Google launched YouTube Kids, where kids can watch age appropriate videos, and parents and teachers can have the peace of mind knowing all contents are child… Read more