This week is Computer Science Education week. To correspond to the campaign Hour of Code, we are sharing a fun coding app designed for preschool kids, and it is Free.  The app is called The Foos: Code for an Hour. The app introduces programming concepts through exciting puzzle adventures. It is for kids or adults who know nothing about coding or programming. So get started, download the app, put in your hour of code this week! There are 24 levels… Read more

Developing a good number sense in the early years has a direct impact on a child’s future math achievement. There are many ways to help preschool kids gain number sense. Today we have a great app for it: Quick Math Jr. It is designed for kids in preschool to first grade. Kids gain number sense via fun interactive games. There are many aspects in relate to number sense: what the numbers mean; how numbers relate to each other; how numbers… Read more

Critical thinking and problem solving skills are very important for a child’s academic and future career, or even life success. How do you teach a child critical thinking skills? How do kids get better at it? There are many elements in critical thinking, assesse, analyze, compare, question, create, … I find the best way to help kids improve the critical thinking skills is to present age appropriate challenging problems and encourage them to solve the problems in their own ways. Today… Read more

I have always liked Kidaptive Leo’s Pad series. I like how the kids are addressed as holistic persons and how the app is designed to help kids to develop multi-dimensional skills, such as social emotional skills besides knowledge. Now Kidaptive took the part I like the most of the series and expanded it into a separate app Learner Mosaic. It is like a personalized parenting advice handbook. Like Leo’s Pad, it is a free app, but the content it carries… Read more

This is a true story. Two weeks ago, when we were getting ready for our son’s soccer game, we couldn’t find my husband. We did not know where he went. We looked and found out he was downstairs trying to take apart his phone – he dropped phone in the toilet and was trying to dry the wet phone! Has this happened to you? Accidentally drop your phone into water, like toilet, sink, swimming pool, … ? What do you… Read more

Who Lives In A Tree is an app about forest animals living on trees. Kids learn many fun facts about the animals. With the simple interface and safe settings, it is a fun app for even young children to use on their own. It is available on both Apple and Android devices. It is a very simple app. When kids start the app, they will see a tree. Scroll the screen up and down, kids will see animals on the… Read more

Do you like donuts? I try to eat healthy and not eat as many donuts. Recently we had a new Dunkin Donuts open within walking distance, and I am pleasantly surprised that they are offering many healthier food and beverage choices. Last week, I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Dunkin’ Brands. I found out they have an app and a loyalty DDPerks Reward Program. For this post, I received a promotional item to thank me… Read more

Math Ahoy is a math strategy game app for kids in kindergarten to early elementary school. Kids must use their math skill and strategy to win the game. In addition to math, kids will also learn world geography. It is available on both iOS devices and Android devices, and it is free for limited time. The app is essentially a board game. Kids will be the captain of the pirate ship to collect treasures from cities all around the world… Read more

We reviewed the interactive math toy Tiggly toy when they just came out. It is a fun learning toy integrating the interactive feature of the touch screen. The first set is focused on shapes. This 2nd set is about numbers and additions. It is a great idea for a holiday gift or birthday present for kids 5 and younger. What is Tiggly? Tiggly is a set of toys that interact with the touch screen. With this new set of toys… Read more

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

Things for iPad and Things (for iPhone iPod) are great productivity apps that help you manage the tasks, or things you have to do. They are chosen as apps of the week on App Store, and are free now, from the respective price of $20 and $10. I just downloaded the apps on both my iPhone and iPad and really like what I see so far. If you are looking for a task management app, don’t miss this opportunity. What… Read more

I’m always on the hunt for the best literacy ideas to use with my own children and those that I work with on my blog, Growing Book by Book. I’ve come across some wonderful digital resources for building literacy skills. Here are some of my favorite apps, eBooks and websites to help young children grow as readers and writers. Digital Literacy Ideas Apps Short Vowel Word Study and Spelling is a wonderful app for children who are learning to spell… Read more

Underwater ABC is a fun ABC app teaching kids alphabet and ocean animals at the same time. It couldn’t have come into my life at a better time. Correctly writing his letters can be a struggle for my kindergartener.  Writing letters isn’t the issue, it is the correctly part that trips him up.  This app teaches printing in a methodical yet fun and engaging way, all the while learning the names of some ocean animals. Each letter is taught in upper case and lowercase. For each letter, before… Read more

Making friends is an important life skill for everyone. How to teach kids about friendships? How to teach them the skills of making and keeping friends? There are many things you can do, such as reading books, role modeling. Today we focus on educational movies for kids teaching friendships. Most these movies are available on Netflix, which is the app we use to watch movies and TV shows. For more information about Netflix, please visit Netflix offers good movies for… Read more