My son loves watching videos and short movie clips. He would go into Youtube, search for videos he wants to see. He found many good ones. We found some educational YouTube channels to follow. I am glad he can find educational movies and videos for free, but am also concerned that he may see something he’s not supposed to when searching for videos. That is why I immediately downloaded MagicFlix when I first read about it. MagicFlix is a collection of videos and… Read more

Learn World Geography is a free geography app from Brainscape. It is a flashcard app, but the algorithm is designed by learning cognitive scientists leveraging the latest cognitive science techniques, so you can master the content faster. From the surface, it is just a flashcard. After using the app for a while, you will find that memorizing the geographic facts is not that hard, and in fact it is quite easy. According to Brainscape, their objective of the app design… Read more

Phonics with Phonzy is a phonics app for kids. It is unique in ways of encouraging kids to practice the letters and words out loud, which is essential in any language learning experience. It also demonstrates mouth movements to show kids how to pronounce the sound. It is a free app right now. However, I don’t know how long it will stay free. If you need phonics help for your kids, this might be a good one to try and… Read more

Teaching kids social skills is never easy. One challenge we face very often is to teach kids how to behave in different social settings. Do you usually explain to kids about a new place they are going to visit? Like a dentist’s office, or a new school? I always found it helpful to tell my child about the places he’s going to visit, be it the first grocery store trip, or the first dentist appointment. It helps the kid understand… Read more

We like Disney movies, from those classic movies like Snow White, Dumbo, to recent ones, like Frozen; from action movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, to comedies like Wreck It Ralph. Disney makes good movies for kids with great moral and educational value, and entertaining enough that the whole family can enjoy. If you like Disney movies, you will like the free app Disney Movie Anywhere. It was launched on Apple App Store earlier this year, and recently, it is… Read more

Are you kids interested in nature and animal? If they do, they will love this new natural animal app Forestry by InGame Mobile. It is an interactive app about wild animals, their food, their habit, and their living environment. Through playful activities, kids learn about the forest and the wild animals living there. When kids start the app, they will see 6 animals in the forest near a creek: a bear, a squirrel, a beaver, a moose, a hedgehog, and… Read more

Are you on Facebook? How about Twitter? How many email accounts do you have? Personally I don’t use as much social network, at least I believed so. But when I started pulling all my accounts together, I realized that I am in fact have quite a few accounts on several different platforms. It is hard to keep up with all the messages! That is why I am thrilled to find out about MessageHub. It is a free app that pulls… Read more

Recently I found a wonderful website that offers free digital picture books for kids: Unite for Literacy. It is a website, so you can access on your computer. It also works well on iPad and iPhone. All books have professional narrations, plus there are more than 20 languages to choose from. When you get on the website, the program does ask you to choose location, but that is it. You don’t need put in name or contact information. On the… Read more

MarcoPolo Weather app is the 2nd app in the MarcoPolo Discovery series. The first one is MarcoPolo Ocean, and I liked the first one very much. I am delighted to find out that the 2nd app is even better. MarcoPolo Weather is free with 5 weather conditions come with the free download. Some content such as 4 extreme weather conditions are available via In App Purchase. When kids open the app, they will see 4 animal friends at the bottom of… Read more

Last week we posted a round-up of 20 ways to create monsters as ways to help kids ease monster fears. Today we are sharing monster apps. We have monster apps for kids to read about monsters, create monsters, play with monsters, and learn with monsters. They are fun apps for kids of any ages. 25 Monster Apps for Kids of All Ages If you want to know more about each app, please click on the app title. You will open up… Read more

I recently discovered a great free documentary app that streams documentary films. It is called Docurama, and it is free. I like the wide subject selection and the high quality of the films. The app provides easy on-demand access to over 600 films, a number expected to increase to over 1,000 by the end of 2014. With so many good educational movies for kids, it is a great resource for family, homeschool and classroom learning projects. The Docurama app currently has 16… Read more

Many kids like to play jigsaw puzzles. Playing puzzles has many developmental benefits for kids. While playing puzzles, kids develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills; learn to understand surrounding environment, recognize shapes, improve memory and problem solving skills; Kids also learn to set goals, and be patient. There are many puzzle apps for kids on the App Store. I recently found one that really stands out, as it also adds word recognition into the play. 101 Animal Puzzles for Kids… Read more

Starfall is a wonderful website with many great learning materials for kids in PreK to Grade2. However it uses flash, and flash doesn’t work on iPad and iPhone, so for very long time, people can’t access Starfall from their iPhone and iPad. Last year I shared how to access Starfall website on iPad via a free app Rover. Rover is an app that transforms flash files instantly and makes them functional on Apple devices. At the time I posted the… Read more

I always believe math is a tool for kids to learn how to think, besides doing number calculations. The skill of thinking includes asking the right questions and exploring possible solutions. That is why I like Singapore math. I especially like the model drawing process that helping kids learn how to think when they are asked a number question. I am extremely happy to find 4 free apps that using Singapore math model method to teach kids math. They are… Read more