I remember back when I was younger and was piled up with homework. There were 3 lb textbooks, an agenda as big as a Bible and trying to get assignments done took forever on my families old computer. Today, you can have your textbooks on your phones, organize your due dates and big events on your phone and even put together assignments on them. You can research, socialize with classmates and keep up to date on your school’s news all from your mobile device. Technology has made being a student so much easier, and here are some apps that can make you feel at ease.
Google Calendar
Having Google Calendar can replace your student agenda. Not necessarily the parts of school policy and contact info, but you can always add that into Google Keep. When you have something due, you can log it into the calendar and set however many notification and email alerts as you want to make sure you get it in on time. This can be great for setting due dates down the road for big tests and school events as well. Got a big spring dance coming up? Make sure to put it into Calendar and give yourself enough reminders that you can ask your crush to join you.
Toontastic
This fun app is geared towards younger students. Created by Google, kids can use pre-animated cartoons and move them around how they want their ‘Toon’ to be. Children Technology Review, Common Sense Media, BolognaRagazzi have all given this collection of 3D toys a thumbs up for the creativity inspired game. There are dozens of colorful and famous figures which can be customized, and you can create and design your own as well. You can add your own soundtrack and choose from 3 story types, a science report, classic, or short story. Once your child has made their masterpiece, you can export and share it. This is a wonderful way to get your kids to use their creativity and learn the basics of storytelling and writing.
Park Math – by Duck Duck Moose
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This is another app geared towards elementary-level kids. Using Common Core State Standards, users do math problems in a cartoon and animated setting. It has 3 levels, including counting and basic arithmetic problems up to 50. Given a perfect 5 score by Common Sense Media, it includes exercises where picking up fallen apples can teach subtraction, counting by feeding a hippo and balancing a see-saw for greater/less than lessons. Your child can easily navigate through the screens by kite or a skating.
Microsoft Office 365
Office is synonymous with document creation. For years, Microsoft has produced the suite which includes the ability to make spreadsheets, slideshows, essays, presentations and more. With a subscription to 365, you can login to the services whether on your laptop at school, desktop at home or device on the road to and from school. Simply create and edit your documents and save them to your Microsoft One cloud account, and then access them again on any device that has 365. This can be great for getting assignments and papers done on the go, and sharing choices can make sure you get it in the hands of your teacher just before the due date.
123 Color HD: Talking Coloring Book (Words Spoken In English, Spanish, French and German)
The New York Times, Babble, Women’s Day, and Padgadget all gave this interactive coloring book a lot of love. With multiple languages reading out things like colors, numbers and letters, your child can learn what each is while feverishly coloring away. There’s 200 plus different pages for them to stay busy with, which includes maps and compound shapes on iPad’s version. As they color away with their fingers, they’ll learn to spell and hear popular nursery rhymes as they work away. This is a great app to teach your child art skills as well as introduce them to spelling, counting and learning new languages.
AniMatch
This fun matching game is great for kids of all ages and can help them develop both their memory and concentration skills. There are 31 different animals that come with funny sounds when they’re matched, and users can keep track of their highest score and best time. This app is a fun match game for all sorts of occasions, being featured as a great travel game by the New York Times.
Starfall
Conventional reading may be down because of modern technology, but the opportunities and different ways to read are way up. Learning to read has never been more fun, and it doesn’t have to be in front of a desktop or laptop. Instead, you can give your child your mobile device on long road trips or just giving them alternative games to play. This app is animated with bright colors and animated animals. There are several different exercises to play, such as matching letters to pictures, item identification and races to try and read the fastest. Children will see a black and white picture and after reading the various items, find them on the page to fill them with color. They can learn to sound out vowels and consonants and sound out the various words they’ll see. This is a great app to get early readers excited and interacting with words.
8 Planets Pro
Does your child love space and planets? Then this themed spelling app is for them. They can do memory exercises, fill in the blanks, or learn spelling via planet and space words. The highly-interactive app offers report cards and rewards for accomplishments within the app, and can help them with sorting, attentiveness motor development, identification, and cognitive skills.
What are the best education apps?
How we learn has changed drastically with the advent of technology. Just because kids are always texting and taking selfies, doesn’t mean they can’t use devices to their advantage. One things kids will always love is having fun, and with these apps you can let them have as much fun as possible before they realize they’re doing work. These apps listed are meant to improve your child’s educational experience and give them an opportunity to learn and enjoy themselves all while you get a breather yourself.
