Sparky’s Birthday Surprise is a book app teaching kids about fire safety. It is a free app supported by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). It is available on Apple devices and Android devices. If you visit the NFPA website for kids sparky.org, you will see many great educational content on the site that you can use for free. The book is designed for kids ages 3-7, but older kids, even parents, can learn something useful too. Sparky’s friends send Sparky… Read more

I recently find a great educational app from Smithsonian – Smithsonian Channel. It has many of Smithsonian channel’s videos, some are full episodes, and they are free! It is available on almost all the different devices, iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android, Kindle. If you want to watch the videos on bigger screen, it is also available on their website, so you can watch the shows on your computer. I loved Smithsonian, and I simply can’t believe I can watch Smithsonian Channel… Read more

Reading is an essential skill kids need for them to do well later in life.  How to encourage kids to be active readers? How do you use book apps encourage kids to read and improve reading comprehension? One concern I had over those book apps that offer narration with the app is kids will miss those interaction time with a parent or a teacher. Kids learn not only from the book itself, but also learn from the interactions during the… Read more

Well. This is one epic app. Essentially, it is a library with access to over 400 stories for children in the 2-9 age range. That covers quite a bit of territory doesn’t it? It is one of the first apps I’ve seen designed to expand with children as they grow and change. This is an app that could very easily become a part of the family and a wonderful traveling library for kids and the family.   Farfaria organizes its… Read more

Cooking Fun for Kids from Bean Sprout is a fun cooking app designed for kids age 8 and under. It has 30 fun activities encouraging kids love food and eat healthy. It is free. The app is made out of a book Bean Appetit: Hip and Healthy Ways to Happy Tummies. If you don’t have mobile devices to use the app, and are interested in finding fun activities teaching kids about healthy food, you might want to try the book… Read more

Are you looking for books for your kids? Today I have a wonderful book app for kids 6 and younger. It is an app holding 37 books titled “I like …”, such as I Like Animals, I Like Colors, or I Like Drawing. What makes this book app unique is that each single book is customizable. I will explain more in details. The app is free to download, with 6 books free. Today the developer set all books free via… Read more

Move the Turtle is an innovative and thought provoking app that teaches kids some of the basics of coding.  This app performs a service as more than a programming app but as a thinking app.  Really, it helps kids learn how to think.  It shows kids how to break things down by degrees and ask what happens when you change this but not that? that but not this? switch the order of this and that? and finally how crazy can… Read more

Son of the Sun and Wizard Lizard is a beautifully illustrated picture book on iPad with a great lesson to teach: Be ready to forgive, and the goodness will fill the world. In addition to the story, kids also have puzzle games to play at the end of the book. Son of the Sun goes out to explore the world. He wants to know about North Pole, and it is his first stop. But he is trapped in ice by… Read more

I came across several homemade Geoboard ideas recently, and they reminded me the wonderful free app Geoboard, which we used recently to play some math games about geometry. It is an app from The Math Learning Center, it is available for iPhone, iPad, Windows tablets, and an app on the internet too, which means you can use the app on your computer with internet access. The app is very simple to use. There are two boards: one with 25 pegs, one… Read more

Is Geography a hard subject for your child? It was for me. That is why I am always excited when I find a good fun app helping kids learn the geographic facts. State Bingo and Geography Crossword is a fun geography game app about US geographic facts. Kids play bingo and crossword games with US geographic knowledge. Before you know it, your child will become the expert on US Geography.  There are two games in the app: State Bingo game… Read more

If your child is a fan of dinosaurs then this app is for you! From the popular PBS children’s cartoon show comes a fun, educational app all about dinosaurs and the alphabet. This science app allows your child to take a deeper look at dinosaur facts and interact in a way they can’t with the television show. This app encourages your child to explore science and natural history through learning about various dinosaurs with names ranging from every letter of… Read more

Parenting tweens and teens is a different challenge than parenting younger kids. Kids this age are more independent, which is good, but sometimes makes it hard for them to accept whatever we are trying to teach them.  It is especially challenging when it comes to social and emotional skills. That is why I am very interested in learning the new app IF… – a game app aiming at tweens and teens on their SEL skills. SEL stands for Social and… Read more

Recently I found a wonderful free resource from National Geographic for kids – National Geographic Young Explorer Magazine. It is available for free on their website, and as apps for both iPad and Android devices. There are 7 issues every year. Each issue covers 3 topics about nature, such as rain; plant roots; animals cover – fur, feather, and scales. Each page is mostly a big image with one line of text. The images are stunning. Kids can choose to… Read more

Today I am sharing a series of apps from Eye Paint. They are unique coloring apps that open up otherwise impossible ways to bring paintings to life. I have reviewed apps for a while. The biggest benefit for me is the opportunity to explore new ideas. Whenever I found something that I have not seen before, I get excited. The Eye Paint apps are one of these apps that get me excited. We have had the apps for a long… Read more