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

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

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

When kids start learning math beyond counting, they start to encounter math concepts that they need understand precisely the meaning, or they may have trouble. For example, they need know the meaning of “Angle”, and the differences between “Acute Angle”, “Obtuse Angle”, “Right Angle” and “Straight Angle”. It will be helpful if the kids have access to these math terms at home when they need help. Math Dictionary is a free online math dictionary designed for kids to look up… Read more

LeafSnap is a free app developed by Columbia University, Maryland University and Smithsonian Institute. It is a tree leaf identification guide that helps users identify trees with the leaves. You can snap a picture of the leaf, and the app will compare the image with the database, and tell you what tree is the leaf from. It is a fun app to have for your walking in the park. The most fun part of the app is the Snap part… 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

JFK Challenge is a free app from The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. It is designed for school age kids to learn the history, particularly the two initiatives by JFK – The Peace Corps and The Space Program, via the combination of multimedia introductions and hands-on games. To start the app, kids can set their own avatar with a picture of themselves. They will watch a brief introduction of John F. Kennedy and the two initiatives. Kids can… Read more

Zap Zap Fractions is a free app for kids explaining the basic concepts of fractions. I like the good visual help when the meaning of fraction is explained. If your children just start to learn about fraction, this is a great tool to help them to have a good understanding of the real meaning of fraction. The app has two parts: lesson and challenge. The lesson starts from a division, and shows to kids that fraction is essentially a division… Read more

Medelia is a free app helping kids learn about the history of Mediterranean cities. Kids visit the cities, learn and explore at their own pace. It is a fun way to learn history. There will be more cities included the app, but currently there are 3, and one city is free. When kids just start the app, they can create their own avatars. The created the character will be the one explore the cities. Currently the city that comes free… Read more

Highlights is not a stranger to most parents. You can see their magazines in many places, like doctors’ waiting room or other kids places. Now Highlights are bringing their magazines to mobile devices so kids can have the fun on the go, no matter where you take them. I recently had a chance to take a look at the Highlights All About series. It is a magazine-style book series designed for preschool to early elementary school kids. You can have… Read more

Math Pop is a fun math practice app for grade 1 to 5. It is designed by learning scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and all content is common core aligned. The best part is you get to do two practice sessions each day for free. The interface is very fun that makes the game addictive. To start, you want to register a user, so you can track the progress. Then you can pick the practice you want to do. The… Read more

I just read the news that LaunchPad the company who created Toontastic app is bought by Google. As a celebration, they set two of their apps free: Toontastic and TeleStory. We reviewed Toontastic, which is a fun app letting kids create their own stories and making them into movies. Toontastic also teaches kids how to arrange the storyline to make the stories more interesting. Different from Toontastic, TeleStory is an app letting kids create their own TV shows with provided… Read more

Are you comfortable to let your kids watch news on TV or news website? If not, how do your kids stay updated on what is going on around them, in the community, in the country, and in the world? I have reviewed some child-safe news resources, and today I found one more great news resource for kids: Youngzine. It is a free website of news articles for kids. Youngzine is a website created due to the fact that it was… Read more