Are you children good at using new words? Do they like to use different words in their written and oral communication? Having a rich vocabulary definitely improve communication skills and thus relationship with others and self-confidence. Playing word games is a fun way to help kids to improve vocabulary. In addition, playing word games is good for brain development. While playing games, kids are focused, and they are forced to make new connections, and to think outside of box. Today… Read more

Spring is a fun season. There are so many things happening in the season: leaves turning green, flowers and plants start growing, animals and birds are more visible, … It is a fascinating season for young children to see and to explore. There are so many things going on in the season, that it is hard to show them to kids all at one time. But with the help of a little bunny, this is getting easier. Hello Spring is… Read more

Do you kids like reading? Do they prefer print books or digital books? I heard many reluctant readers started liking books when they are offered digital books, like iBooks, Kendle books, book apps. Digital books offer features that you can’t get from print books, such as multimedia materials, interactive actions. Many kids, even adults, enjoy these features. Couple years ago I put together two free book app lists, one for preschool, one for school age kids. Now looking back these book… Read more

Today’s “Best Educational Apps for Kids” list is Best Science apps for elementary school kids.  I did not include those animal related apps, as there will be a separate list of “Best Educational Apps for Kids” on “Nature and Animals”. If you know any good science apps for kids age 6 to 10, please leave the app name in a comment. I will update the list periodically. Best Science Apps for Elementary School Kids Bobo Explores Light: A very well designed science app with… Read more

Now many families have iPads or other tablets for kids to use at home. More and more schools are using iPads as study tools at school. Mobile devices are great learning tools if we use them appropriately. Through time, we have found many good learning tools that are available on iPad and other tablets for kids. Today we share some very essential must have learning tools for kids on iPad and other tablets and all are free. This is part of the… Read more

Emotion expression is hard! It is hard even for adults, not to mention for kids. However, understanding others’ and ourselves’ emotions and expressing the feelings to others are important skills in building self-confidence and relationship with others. Today we share learning tools for kids on feeling and emotional expressions. To be able to express the feelings, one has to be able to recognize the feelings and emotions first. You will find most of the learning tools here are focused on two aspects: recognize… Read more

There are so many benefits for kids to study music at a young age. Music can help kids be more creative, more patient and more social. There are also studies shown that learning music improves math skills. When children are young, it is quite easy to incorporate music activities into the daily play. Music concepts like pitch, rhythm, even music notes can be taught by playful games. Today we share a fun music app for kids, Music with Grandma. Music… Read more

Learning about the Periodic Table is a big part of learning chemistry. It is fun if you get it. Otherwise it can be a boring and tedious experience, and it can kill the interest in chemistry completely. Today we share learning tools for periodic tables. These are interactive periodic tables with names and charges and other information that make it easy to learn. Some also letting kids to create virtual chemical reactions to make the learning hands-on without potential chemical… Read more

Do you like flashcards? I had never been very interested in flashcards, and have not used them much. I think they are just for memorization work, and kids usually can remember what they are interested without using those cards. So for me, most of our work with kids are talks, discussion, with the goal to spark their interest and to encourage them to explore. But recently I have seen some interesting flashcards. When combined with apps, you can see the… Read more

With holiday approaching, everyone is getting into the holiday spirit.  While you are busy getting everything ready for the holiday, here are 8 free Christmas apps for kids. Most apps are good for all ages to enjoy, hope they bring joys to your home in this busy holiday season. 8 Free Christmas Apps for Kids Jingle All the Way : a warm story about a lovely dog Jingle, who finally find a home for the holiday. It is made by Hallmark in… Read more

Apple published their pick of the best apps of year 2015. There are many great apps published this year. I went through Apple’s top apps, picked those that are educational and appropriate for kids. It is such a delight to go over these apps. Having been reviewing apps for year, it is exciting to see how the app industry has evolved overtime, and how educators are utilizing new technology in making learning fun and engaging. Here are the top educational… Read more

I recently find a fun app for kids that you can use to keep young kids entertained when you are busy or when you are too sick or tired to read for kids. It is an app with over 50 short stories and songs for kids, and you can check it out for free. Moving Books Jajajajan is designed for baby to preschool age kids. There are over 50 children’s favorite stories and songs. You will find stories like The… Read more

We shared SpellNow year 1 app a while ago. SpellNow also has published their year 2 app. Compared to the year 1 app, this year 2 app has a similar structure of 4 blocks and 10 lists in each block. It covers spelling skills for 2nd year students, such as common vowel teams (ou, ow, oi, oy, oo and ou), ambiguous vowels (ou, oo and ea), two-syllable words with long vowels, initial sounds (th-, br-, cl- and wh-), final sounds… Read more

Do you like to travel? Do you take kids travel with you? Travel is a great experience for anyone, especially for kids. They can learn so much that are not taught in school or at home. They learn different people with different backgrounds, different customs, foods, buildings, … If there is no budget and time constrains, I’d love to travel the world with my kids. But it is impossible to go to every country you’d like to go. That is… Read more