Educational Apps

One dadzclub member Justin discovered rather quickly that his beloved new iPad was constantly being hijacked by the kids. Unable to face any more angry birds he took decisive action.

 So you are finally going to find out what all the fuss is about.  You are a proud owner of a new iPad and you can’t wait to try out all the apps.

From across the room comes the shouts of “can I play angry birds”, “dad can you download some games for me” And there was you thinking that the iPad was for you and you only. NO.

Said Justin “If the kids are going to spend all their time on my Ipad they can do something more useful.  Surely with over 140,000 apps available and more added each day, there must for some great educational ones out there.”

What Justin found surprised him, “there really are some great apps out there to support kids learning.  Many are so clever that kids have no idea they are learning at all. “

Justin’s Top apps

1.    My Spelling Test      £0.69

Free version available (allows only one test to be saved at anytime)

A great little app that makes the weekly spelling test much less of a chore for both children and adults. Better than many other similar apps as it     enables users to create the test and decide which words to add.

Really simply to use – To create a test simply add words and for each word you type a recording is made. (get the child to do this for even more fun) To take a test listen to the recording of the word and when spell the word in the input box.

Great for kids as is much more fun and interactive that writing on a piece of paper. Can even email the results to parents or teachers.

Great for parents as once the test is set up child can complete on their own.  Can save loads of different tests which can be revisited at any time. 

 

2.    Rocket Math Free

Upgrade to full version for £0.69

Winner of loads of awards in America this is a fantastic app to help with maths. Personally I believe this is by far the best Maths app out there at the moment

The integration of rocket building into the game means players really don’t realise they are practising maths.

Players answer maths questions to earn money which can be used to purchase boosters and other rocket parts to personalise a rocket and make it more powerful.

Launch the rocket to carry out maths missions associate with numbers, shapes, coins and more.  Missions range in difficulty from even/odd numbers all the way to square roots (full version)

 

3.    abc Pocket Phonics £1.99

Free version available with limited letters/sounds

The app focuses on letter phonics, both the sounds of individual letters and the sounds that are made when certain letters are combined, making it perfect for early readers.

In addition, the letter-writing section visually demonstrates how to write a letter. After that your child can write it on the screen themselves. There is also a game where your child can learn to read and spell common first words.

This is a great app for kids and is a very visual way of learning phonics and good for parents as child can practise on their own

Voice is in an English accent.

 

 

4.    25 in 1 free educational games

Free

Part of an educational game collection from ar-entertainment.net. Has puzzles, memory games, drawing, spelling and maths games to name a few.

Ideal for younger children.

Really easy to use with nice bright graphics. My son particular loved the memory game, learning to draw and puzzle dinosaurs.

There is a great clapping audio when the puzzle is completed correctly.

As with many apps the  voice is in an Americian accent and they do say the letters A B C rather than phonetically

Really is a great app for children to try out to see which games they like.  Full versions can then be downloaded if wanted. 

 

5.    Drawing Free

Free

This is a great little application for drawing and is so easy to use.

There are different drawing backgrounds and 36 pens colours. You can change the thickness of the pens and add pictures (although quite a limited range)

Best of all, the kids masterpieces can be saved or emailed.

 

 

DO YOU LET YOUR LITTLE ONE ON YOUR IPAD? WHICH APPS DO YOU RECOMMEND? LET US KNOW BY LEAVING A COMMENT BELOW.