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

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 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

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

Have you tried to vacation without kids? How old was your child when you first did it? How did your child do while you were away? Parents vacation without kids, if plan well, could be beneficial for both parents and kids. Depends on child’s age and maturity level, there are different ways to help kids to get ready for the time away from parents. Usually it is suggested that parents can start leaving kids with trusted caregivers for an extended… Read more

Algebra is an important part of math, and it marks a new stage of math thinking. It requires more abstract thinking than the type of math kids learn in elementary school. That is why most schools won’t start algebra till 7th or 8th grade. Does it mean that kids in elementary school can’t grasp algebraic thinking? The answer is no. Younger kids can still gain the type of thinking that’s needed for algebra study. An perfect example is DragonBox Algebra… Read more

How good are your children at math facts? How quickly can they solve those math problems of addition, subtraction, division and multiplication? Do they like math facts practice? Math facts are the very basic math skills, upon which more advanced math skills are built. Kids not only need know how to do it, they really should get really efficient at it, that they can do these problems quickly without much thinking. After practice, you want kids be able to solve… 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

If you have a child who likes sports, this is a great reading comprehension app for him/her to use. It is designed for kids in middle to upper elementary school (age 9 to 11). All articles in the app are about sports, and are specially written for this app. It is currently free for limited time. When you first start the app, you can go the Settings to choose a password for yourself, and then add students. You don’t need… 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

Four Letters is a free app of fun word games. It is not for young children, but it is a fun one for school age kids who have certain vocabulary already. All words in the games are 4 letter words. Think it will be easy? Try it out. It is fast paced fun vocabulary game that the family can play together. You can even set up a competition among family members. The game play is quite easy. The player is… Read more

Kids Awesome 1st Grade Math Premium is a fun math game app designed for first graders. It covers the content from counting and number order to different operations, to telling time and geometry. Although it is designed for first graders, many kids from kindergarten to 2nd and even 3rd grade can benefit from the games. The app doesn’t allow users to skip levels. Kids have to finish one level to unlock the next. I have not get chance to review… 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