Apps for Kids

My girls are obsessed with apps for the iPhone and iPad. I believe that kids learn best when they’re interacting. But can apps be educational and fun? And which ones are the best? Here’s my list of some of the best apps for kids at the moment. Happy apping!

» Casey’s Contraptions: Got a budding builder in the family? Your child will have loads of fun figuring out how to organize and setup household objects in a certain way to solve a wide variety of visual puzzles and engaging challenges.  

» Cut the Rope: We love this one for its simplicity in game play but depth in strategy and problem-solving skills. While it’s also a physics based app (shh!), the premise is to simply get the “candy” in the monster’s mouth, but the scaffolding increases the complexity. I’ve actually been on the train trying to advance to multiple levels because it’s addictive—and fun.

» Motion Math HD: This is a movement-based learning application that helps young children develop a perception of fractions in order to establish a foundation for future learning. Such intuitive understanding is far more natural than old school rote memory of tables and other math classics. Children as young as five are comfortable with this app that is highly rated among many established child tech reviews.

» Star Walk: I don’t know about you, but when I try to identify a constellation, I see a chaotic bunch of stars overhead. Armed with the Star Walk app, one can simply tilt their iPad up at the sky and it will supply an amazing amount of information. It can easily locate and identify over 20,000 objects overhead on a clear night. This app rightfully won the 2010 Apple Design Award as it’s one of the best stargazing sources of information out there.

» Super Why!: Full disclosure, I helped to develop this app, which is why I was not going to include it on this list. But it has been Apple’s highest rated preschool app for sometime now. The collection of games plays off the show’s use of interactivity to promote preschool literacy.  

» Thinkfun: We are huge Thinkfun fans. All of the critical thinking that goes into the success of their board games carries over into their variety of apps that include Solitaire Chess and Rush Hour. Math, verbal, reasoning, memory and visual skills are all at the party when it comes to the good folks at Thinkfun.