Can you learn physics through art? Physics In Art is a free app teaching kids physics through art. It is designed by a physics professor at Drexel University. The artworks used in the app are all from Philadelphia Museum of Art, but you don’t have to be at the museum to use the app. The app has pictures of the artworks. Of course, if you are visiting Philadelphia Museum of Art, it will be neat to go to the real… Read more

I reviewed the first two Bob Books Reading Magic Apps and loved them. Now the series launched their 3rd app: Bob Books Reading Magic Sight Words. It is just as good. If you have a child learning sight words, I highly recommend this one. It goes well with Bob Books book series, but it can also be used by itself. There are 4 levels of games. All follow the same story and thus use the same words. Level one is… Read more

GoldieBlox and the Movie Machine is a free app where kids can create their own stop motion movies. Kids can draw, color, create the movie screen by screen to see how stop-motion and animation works. It is designed for kids 4 and up, but even younger kids can use it. It is a great free app to have for family fun. When kids first start the app, they will watch a short movie explaining how animation works in a story… Read more

I have seen many math drill apps in different formats, some are simple drills, some are in a game format. It is helpful for kids to get very efficient with these math operations, so when they solve more complex math problems they don’t have to spend time and energy on these fundamental operations, and can focus on solving the more complex problems. Today I have another app not only drill kids on these math operations, but also teach kids tips… Read more

Google Art Project is part of Google Cultural Institute. It is an online world art museum created by Google. It has high resolution images of artworks from more than 150 museums around the world, and many museums also have 3D virtual art gallery tours. It is a wonderful free online tool for art lovers and a free field trip idea for kids to see the master pieces around the world, while sitting at your desk. To access on mobile devices… Read more

We all want our kids to grow as readers. But teaching reading, especially to beginning and developing readers, can seem a little tricky. There are lots of “moving parts” that have to come together for reading to occur. That’s why I was so excited to be a part of developing some apps that can help kids grow as readers! The ultimate goal of reading is to make meaning. After all, it’s hard to enjoy a book or learn something new… Read more

Looking for fun math practice app for kids? Do you kids like pirates? If the answer is yes, then this app might just be the one that gets your kids hooked with math. Captain Math is a pirate themed math game app for kids. Designed for kids who are learning addition subtraction multiplication and division, it uses the pirate and ocean theme making the learning fun. Captain Math is a very straightforward app for some serious math time. When it’s time to memorize some… Read more

ABC Galaxy is a new app that for kids to learn words by alphabet. Kids play games and learn letters and words start with that letter. It is a fun app for kids to expand gain and expand vocabulary. It is free to download with all the games for letters A to F free. To access to games for all letters, there is In-App Purchase. When kids start the app, they see the galaxy with planets circling around. They will… Read more

Have you seen the movie How to Train Your Dragon? Now DreamWorks is working with Netflix to launch a new extension series exclusively on Netflix Dragons Race to the Edge. It is coming out on June 26. In the same time, they also launched an app School of Dragons. Kids can grow and train their own dragons right on the iPad or other tablets. If you don’t like to play on tablets, you can also play on computer on the… Read more

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

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 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

Are you learning a foreign language? It is not easy. English is not my first language, and I can tell you based on my own experience, that the hardest part is not vocabulary or grammar when you are studying in the classroom, the hardest part is when you think you’ve learned enough and try to communicate with the native speakers, and find out that you can hardly understand anything they are saying and can hardly make yourself understood by others… Read more