Reading is an essential skill kids need for them to do well later in life.  How to encourage kids to be active readers? How do you use book apps encourage kids to read and improve reading comprehension? One concern I had over those book apps that offer narration with the app is kids will miss those interaction time with a parent or a teacher. Kids learn not only from the book itself, but also learn from the interactions during the… Read more

Cooking Fun for Kids from Bean Sprout is a fun cooking app designed for kids age 8 and under. It has 30 fun activities encouraging kids love food and eat healthy. It is free. The app is made out of a book Bean Appetit: Hip and Healthy Ways to Happy Tummies. If you don’t have mobile devices to use the app, and are interested in finding fun activities teaching kids about healthy food, you might want to try the book… Read more

Are you looking for books for your kids? Today I have a wonderful book app for kids 6 and younger. It is an app holding 37 books titled “I like …”, such as I Like Animals, I Like Colors, or I Like Drawing. What makes this book app unique is that each single book is customizable. I will explain more in details. The app is free to download, with 6 books free. Today the developer set all books free via… Read more

Move the Turtle is an innovative and thought provoking app that teaches kids some of the basics of coding.  This app performs a service as more than a programming app but as a thinking app.  Really, it helps kids learn how to think.  It shows kids how to break things down by degrees and ask what happens when you change this but not that? that but not this? switch the order of this and that? and finally how crazy can… Read more

Younger children are naturally drawn to circus, as well as playing with measurements which is why I was excited to learn about this app! Today we are sharing Shiny Circus, which offers younger kids a chance to play and learn with measurement concepts like length, width, height, mass and volume. It is a story book with fun learning activities. Charlie the monkey and his friends are off to see the circus. After helping out some friendly clowns, Charlie ends up being… Read more

Son of the Sun and Wizard Lizard is a beautifully illustrated picture book on iPad with a great lesson to teach: Be ready to forgive, and the goodness will fill the world. In addition to the story, kids also have puzzle games to play at the end of the book. Son of the Sun goes out to explore the world. He wants to know about North Pole, and it is his first stop. But he is trapped in ice by… Read more

Is Geography a hard subject for your child? It was for me. That is why I am always excited when I find a good fun app helping kids learn the geographic facts. State Bingo and Geography Crossword is a fun geography game app about US geographic facts. Kids play bingo and crossword games with US geographic knowledge. Before you know it, your child will become the expert on US Geography.  There are two games in the app: State Bingo game… Read more

Come Visit Us is a role play app where kids can learn to be a host, invite guests to tea parties or picnics. There is not much speaking in the app, which is perfect for imagination, story making, or vocabulary and language development. When kids open the app, they get to choose one of the 3 language options. The one in the middle is English. Once the language is chosen, kids can pick one scene to play with: tea party… Read more

Parenting tweens and teens is a different challenge than parenting younger kids. Kids this age are more independent, which is good, but sometimes makes it hard for them to accept whatever we are trying to teach them.  It is especially challenging when it comes to social and emotional skills. That is why I am very interested in learning the new app IF… – a game app aiming at tweens and teens on their SEL skills. SEL stands for Social and… Read more

Recently I found a wonderful free resource from National Geographic for kids – National Geographic Young Explorer Magazine. It is available for free on their website, and as apps for both iPad and Android devices. There are 7 issues every year. Each issue covers 3 topics about nature, such as rain; plant roots; animals cover – fur, feather, and scales. Each page is mostly a big image with one line of text. The images are stunning. Kids can choose to… Read more

When I first saw the app name Busy shapes I assumed it teaches kids about shapes, or maybe colors. Once I started playing with the app, I realized it is more than shapes and colors. It trains kids on their reasoning and problem solving skills, with some physics involved. The game play is very intuitive. There are holes of different sizes on different types of surfaces. Kids need move the puzzle objects of different materials into the corresponding holes based… Read more

The Witch With No Name is a 3D interactive digital book app for kids and the whole family. It tells the story of a witch, who doesn’t know her name, tries to find her name. It is a funny story, but the best parts are the interactive features built in the story. I love how the app engage kids in the activities throughout the story. The whole production of the app is superb, especially the interactions on each page. There… Read more

Are you kids doing GeoBee? My child’s school just finished their GeoBee challenge for this year. It is a fun way for kids to learn geography. GeoBee Challenge App is a great tool to help kids prepare for the challenge. If your child has not done GeoBee, it is like the Spelling Bee, but it is all about geographic information. Each year thousands of students in grades 4 through 8 in the United States participate in the National Geographic Bee… Read more

Today I am sharing a series of apps from Eye Paint. They are unique coloring apps that open up otherwise impossible ways to bring paintings to life. I have reviewed apps for a while. The biggest benefit for me is the opportunity to explore new ideas. Whenever I found something that I have not seen before, I get excited. The Eye Paint apps are one of these apps that get me excited. We have had the apps for a long… Read more