Best Apps for Kids

We've all been there....We have promised ourselves that our kids won't be one of those children on a device 24/7. Some of us have even made a vow to keep our kids "device-free" until the age of 21....and then the day happens when we just need a couple of minutes to ourselves so that we can take an important phone call or finish a business transaction with the ability to hear ourselves. Out comes the smart phone, landing quickly into the little palms of our darling children. If a child is graced with a device, at least we can have them learn a little something while they are at it (right?!). The following apps keep a child entertained while, at the same time, exercising their brain.

Endless Alphabet

My top (and family favorite) recommendation is Endless Alphabet. My daughter absolutely loved this app and could play it for hours. I think her love for words and her advanced vocabulary was developed in part by this learning program. Children select a word from a monster's mouth and then the letters fall out of that word. Kids move the letters back into the word template and each letter is sounded out as they do so (great for developing phonics and spelling skills). The entire word is pronounced. Then a series of adorable animated monsters do a little sketch demonstrating the meaning of that word with a definition provided by the warm and endearing voice the female narrator. The link below shows a quick demonstration of the app:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I71zR4XU6HA

Mystery Math Town

This app was one of my daughter's absolute favorites and is designed for kids 6-12+. Players help a friendly and curious little ghost rescue fireflies that are hidden in a variety of buildings within Mystery Math Town. Players solve math problems to unlock rooms, staircases, and passageways. While practicing their math skills, kids collect talking portraits of the townspeople who have plenty of interesting things to say. A big bonus to this app is that the skills presented to your child are customizable and children develop math thinking by building equations. Click on the link below to preview the app.

https://artgigapps.com/apps/mystery-math-town

Mystery Math Museum

This app is the sequel to Mystery Math Town and has a similar structure. Kids help a friendly and curious ghost rescue the dragonflies that are hidden in 8 themed museums as they use their math skills to unlock rooms and passages. Just like Math Town, a child can choose what math skill they would like to work on (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and varied number representations). See a preview of this app by clicking on the link below:

https://artgigapps.com/apps/mystery-math-museum

Monster Physics

My daughter and I absolutely LOVE this game! Designed for kids 10 and up, players learn physics "hands-on" by building contraptions to complete missions where kids try to deliver a bit of food to an adorable monster. Many of the 50 missions are open-ended and can be solved in a variety of ways. In completing a mission, kids are introduced to basic physics concepts such as friction, force, mass, and acceleration. Kids have access to 68 different parts they can use to build working contraptions including wheels, rockets, propellers, cannons, magnets, and wings. They can also choose from various building materials including metal, wood, plastic, rubber, and ice. Once their contraptions are built, they can test them out to see how well their creation works to solve the mission. They can then redesign and rebuild to improve their contraptions if they don't solve the mission the first...or second time.