Two weeks ago I renewed my mobile broadband contract and got myself a free ipad air with it. I am not an apple fan and much prefer my kindle fire or Nexus so I took the opportunity to create a tablet full of learning apps for the girls especially now that we are homeschooling.
Now don’t get me wrong none of these apps are a replacement for learning in a more tactile way but they are definitely a great support to hands on learning and they allow the girls to learn even when they dont think they are.
Phonics and Reading
I love all the apps created by Blake Publishing so Eggy Phonics, Eggy Vocabulary and Tap the cat work well in this area. We also love the Reading Eggs website which we are fans off already so being able to play that on the ipad is great. For the younger ones Eggy Alphabet and Reading Eggs sight words are great too.
Alison is only four and is just learning her letters and phonics and is a huge sesame street fan so Elmo loves ABC’s has been a really good one for her to learn the letters she didnt already know.
The girls have also enjoyed Super Why! and TwinklPhonics which have also given them other ways to learn these skills.
Elizabeth has recently discovered a fun app call Alph and Betty which tells a story of a couple who live in a crazy house where each room is based around a letter and you have to work your way through the story. There are lots of puzzles to solve and fun things to do with special mini games that are interesting and educational! Definitely a winner!
Mathematics
Once again Eggy apps come in useful here with Add to 20 a great app for Elizabeth whilst Alison uses Eggy numbers 1 – 10. Alison also used Elmo loves 123s and Mickey Mouse Count Along. We also found a brilliant Maths app by Euro talk which has allowed Elizabeth to learn about symmetrical shapes and symmetry lines along with other skills. We also love Dragon shapes which is a fantastic story with built in shape puzzles making it interesting.
Science
We found a fabulous Max and Ruby science app which both girls have enjoyed and as they are still quite young I think this one will keep them going for a while.
Technology
Those of you with young kids in school will more than likely have heard about the BeeBot a fantastic little robot that teaches programming skills. You can get BeeBot as an app which allows you to move BeeBot around a selection of mazes using the same controls that you find on the BeeBot itself.
Personal, Social and Emotional skills
Alison absolutely loves Sesame Street Breathe which is all about controlling emotions and Woolly and Tig is another favourite.
Creativity
The all time favourite creative app has to be Mister Maker and the girls have made some amazing pictures with this and I have seen the creative side of them really shine through whilst playing it.
Elizabeth has also enjoyed decorating her own carousel in Pacca’s Carousel although I think the game is really aimed at a younger audience. The games even on hard are too simple for her but sometimes kids want to get everything right and it can’t hurt her confidence to be able to answer all the questions correctly.
Having Fun
There are definite favourites when it comes to playing just for fun and Henri le worm is high up on that list as are a variety of Moshi Monsters apps that we have downloaded. Henri Le Worm is a fantastic story app that includes some family friendly recipes and some brilliant characters narrated by Simon Pegg.
I didn’t think that an apple product could fit well in our house but the kids absolutely love the apps that we have for it and the new child friendly case keeps me happy with letting them play with such an expensive piece of equipment.
Do you have any other fantastic apps you can recommend to us? If so tell me about them below
Now don’t get me wrong none of these apps are a replacement for learning in a more tactile way but they are definitely a great support to hands on learning and they allow the girls to learn even when they dont think they are.
Phonics and Reading
I love all the apps created by Blake Publishing so Eggy Phonics, Eggy Vocabulary and Tap the cat work well in this area. We also love the Reading Eggs website which we are fans off already so being able to play that on the ipad is great. For the younger ones Eggy Alphabet and Reading Eggs sight words are great too.
Alison is only four and is just learning her letters and phonics and is a huge sesame street fan so Elmo loves ABC’s has been a really good one for her to learn the letters she didnt already know.
The girls have also enjoyed Super Why! and TwinklPhonics which have also given them other ways to learn these skills.
Elizabeth has recently discovered a fun app call Alph and Betty which tells a story of a couple who live in a crazy house where each room is based around a letter and you have to work your way through the story. There are lots of puzzles to solve and fun things to do with special mini games that are interesting and educational! Definitely a winner!
Mathematics
Once again Eggy apps come in useful here with Add to 20 a great app for Elizabeth whilst Alison uses Eggy numbers 1 – 10. Alison also used Elmo loves 123s and Mickey Mouse Count Along. We also found a brilliant Maths app by Euro talk which has allowed Elizabeth to learn about symmetrical shapes and symmetry lines along with other skills. We also love Dragon shapes which is a fantastic story with built in shape puzzles making it interesting.
Science
We found a fabulous Max and Ruby science app which both girls have enjoyed and as they are still quite young I think this one will keep them going for a while.
Technology
Those of you with young kids in school will more than likely have heard about the BeeBot a fantastic little robot that teaches programming skills. You can get BeeBot as an app which allows you to move BeeBot around a selection of mazes using the same controls that you find on the BeeBot itself.
Personal, Social and Emotional skills
Alison absolutely loves Sesame Street Breathe which is all about controlling emotions and Woolly and Tig is another favourite.
Creativity
The all time favourite creative app has to be Mister Maker and the girls have made some amazing pictures with this and I have seen the creative side of them really shine through whilst playing it.
Elizabeth has also enjoyed decorating her own carousel in Pacca’s Carousel although I think the game is really aimed at a younger audience. The games even on hard are too simple for her but sometimes kids want to get everything right and it can’t hurt her confidence to be able to answer all the questions correctly.
Having Fun
There are definite favourites when it comes to playing just for fun and Henri le worm is high up on that list as are a variety of Moshi Monsters apps that we have downloaded. Henri Le Worm is a fantastic story app that includes some family friendly recipes and some brilliant characters narrated by Simon Pegg.
I didn’t think that an apple product could fit well in our house but the kids absolutely love the apps that we have for it and the new child friendly case keeps me happy with letting them play with such an expensive piece of equipment.
Do you have any other fantastic apps you can recommend to us? If so tell me about them below