Educational Apps

[Houseoflego]

Hello Forum,

I have been tempted to start a thread like this for a while but know its a bit of a controversial topic. In my experience 20 min a day iPad time is a great way to get my kids learning,... and playing nicely together. More than 20 min each would be trouble! I'm hoping to avoid the 'kids apps good or bad', debate although happy to rage about the 'in app purchase' thing!. But I have found some apps that really help kids to learn, particularly kids with difficulties, and was hoping I might get some recommendations from other parents.

My youngest hated drawing, 'stickman', the free download see picture attached, has turned him into an enthusiastic drawer. One to recommend!

Anyone else have any favourites?

[MonkeyMoped]

My 22 month old loves Endless Alphabet, the ABC series (eg ABC sport, ABC music, ABC vehicles etc), and the Ladybird 'Who's there?' ones. The first two are free, the Ladybird ones cost something, but not much. He doesn't use them loads, maybe a couple of times a day, but they have made a massive difference to his vocabulary. I was really disappointed by the Fisherprice ones, so deleted them almost instantly.

And you know you can turn in-App purchases off, right? :-) We have, you just have to watch out for adverts that get clicked on.

[Houseoflego]

Thanks for the in-App tip MonkeyMoped, will do!

Another winner was Little Digits by Cowley Owl, it counts the number of fingers on the pad and you can add and subtract, plus looks really nice and you can personalise it with your or your kids saying the numbers. We really like tactile learning apps so this appeals to my lot.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/little-digits/id511606843?mt=8

[nunheadmum]

Would love to hear some recommendations - but for Android. And what age things are for would help too.

I've struggled to find good ones on Android for age 5 and age 7-ish. (Although I am crap at spending long looking.) I find that the obviously educational ones don't really hold their attention for long. But I don't want them just playing pure games (well not all the time).

Or do I really just need to give in and get an i-pad??

[????]

I left my kids playing Peppa Pig the other day to make a cup of tea and when I came back they were on Labyrinth 2....you do have to be careful :)

[emza78]

My little one loves the jigsaw ones- fish puzzle and shape puzzle, both free. Also a fan of inch wincy spider which has jigsaws and singing etc. My little piano lite also recommended by music teacher granny!

[Fuschia]

Toca boca

[Houseoflego]

I too love tocaboca! The Endless ABC app was beautiful great for your traditionally more Gifted kids, basic skills but unusual words!. It did annoy me that the in app 'turn of adds for 69p' was so soon into the game. My kids would just click on it if I were not looking as it would still be cleared as I had recently put the password in to download it.

I think the reason android apps are not as interesting is that its not as worth while making them for various reasons. I used to have an android but switched to iPhone as I wanted to use educational apps with my youngest as he struggles with a few things other kids find easy. iTunes has some amazing resources! Ps you might be able to tell that I'm a teacher!

[Grotty]

My nearly 3 year old has her favourites: (iphone/ipad)

Plic Ploc Wiz - learning how to use shapes and colours to create different images - lovely design

Press Here (Herve Tullet) - i love this one, not particularly educational, but interactive and cute

Bug Builder (Tickle tap apps) - extremely basic, not particularly educational, but my daughter loves it

count animals (appracadabra.com) - counting numbers 1 to 20 - lovely design

Numberland - learning how to say numbers, read them and write them

Letter sounds (montessori) - learning how to say letters, read them and write them

Endless ABC (callaway) - learning new words and learning letters

[hazelnunhead]

Some of you might know, but you can turn off on your iPad in app buying .... So that if your children are playing a game they can't purchase anything. It's under settings. If anyone wants to know I can post how to do it.

Maths bingo is quite fun

Toca Boca a hit

Montessori apps for letters etc really lovely, and a good counting one with rods. More for under 5's though

Also got a really lovely drawing app ( similar to the one hockey usedcwhenchecdid art on thecipad) and that is always used. You can save all the artworks, or email directly from app.

[Bonfire2010]

hazelnunhead - please can you post directions re. turning off app buying? I thought I had done so, but just tested it out and apparently not... Thanks

[Houseoflego]

Found it! In settings- general- restrictions- choose a code!- turn off in app purchasing.

http://mobile.ipadinsight.com/ipadinsight/#!/entry/how-to-turn-off-inapp-purchases-on-the-ipad-and,50d39552d7fc7b5670b6c371/2

Ps should mention that my IT cleaver husband and I have made a couple of games for our son, long way from any istore apps but is part of my interest in educational apps!

[Bonfire2010]

Thanks Houseoflego!

[Houseoflego]

Endless Alphabet is a REAL winner, i love the way the letters sound themselves out when touched. My kids love it.

Dr Seuss ABC's is good like that too, kids can touch objects and the word jumps out and is re read out.

[Houseoflego]

Can be a bit clunky but the Milo apps are great for speech and language therapy.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speech-with-milo-verbs/id405441288?mt=8

Also Really good on sequencing, for kids who are still struggling with order.

[Otta]

I don't think this is controversial, my kids are always playing with either mine or my wife's phones. I got them a leap pad to try and win my phone back, but it hasn't really worked out that way!

[Houseoflego]

Interesting article on kids running up bills. See above for how to block your kids from spending your money on 'virtual banannas'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/shortcuts/2013/mar/26/apples-in-app-game-charges-kids-bills

[AarenAce]

Instead of sitting your child in front of a screen to learn, why don't you find something active that will encourage learning. Kids learn a lot better when they're having fun and playing games on a computer/iPod or whatever may be fun, but it doesn't stimulate their brain, it doesn't encourage interaction and it doesn't help their social skills.

Depending on what you want them to learn, you can cook with them (helps with logical processing, numbers, reading etc and they get a treat at the end), read their favourite book with them, go to the park and make a challenge or hunt or something (like, how many leaves that look like *a picture* can you find? How many snails can you find? Where did you find the most snails? What does that tell you? etc) There are so many games you can play with your child that will encourage learning and also help to grow and mature other parts of the brain, such as language, information processing, social skills, logical progression, solution finding etc etc. If they're just sat in front of a screen to learn, then they will learn but they will become bored, they won't learn how to amuse themselves in other ways and so many other things. Five year olds should be outside playing and learning as they play. You'd be amazed how quickly they pick things up when they have fun and don't actually realise they're learning.

[emza78]

So much for avoiding the debate!

[Houseoflego]

Welcome to the forum AarenAce, your totally right of course but we could do that and 20 min app time maybe? I'm mostly interested in making that 20min a quality educational one.

Like this

Crayon physics

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crayon-physics-deluxe-for/id551347494?ls=1&mt=8

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

My son is a number whizz kid thanks to monkey preschool lunchbox !

[Otta]

I don't think anyone is suggesting sitting their kids in front of a screen for all their learning needs

[snowboarder]

Has anyone found a good phonics app? Endless alphabet is fun but is in capital letters and quite complicated words!!

[kanecarter]

Hi all,

I'm here to present you a new pack of educational app available on App Store: eDucanimal, eDucolors, eDucauto, eDucamusical and eDucanumeros.

With these simple applications can bring children into the world of animals, numbers, transportation, musical instruments and colors.

There also exists the possiblity of teaching the children a little bit of Spanish as the applications are now available in both languages.

Application recommended for children between 1 and 4 years of age.

If you need more information:

www.franciscomacias.es

Thanks!

[Houseoflego]

In recognition of world autism day I thought an asd app might be an idea.

Have used these with several autistic kids (who were bright, cuddly, funny, gentle boys!) and they tended to be a winner (very effective but not super fun).

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/autism-apps/id441600681?mt=8

Ps

Hi Snowboarder. Sorry, I only know the endless one. They do all seem to sound them out the other way.