DISCLOSURE: This post is provided by Tanya.
As products like the iPad, LeapPad and Android Nexus have become commonplace, the ways of teaching children to read, write, count and color in have changed considerably.
Nowadays, there’s a huge range of smartphone and tablet apps available for children of all ages and learning levels – and online home shopping makes it easy to compare products to find the best fit for your little ones. To help you get inspired, here’s a brief run-down of some of the best educational apps currently on the market.
Leap Frog offers a range of innovative apps that help children with language, often featuring familiar characters to help your child learn the basics. Using the classic Sesame Street format, this LeapPad app introduces children to question-and-answer language, with a special appearance from family-friendly Will.i.am.
For counting and maths, the Little Digits app is very interactive and utilizes the iPad’s touch screen to provide a truly tactile learning experience: kids enter the answer to questions by putting the corresponding number of fingers on the screen.
Developed by a number of American universities, Leafsnap is a fun app aimed at outdoor exploration and naming everyday plants. Using the camera function of an iPod or iPad, children can take pictures of leaves and the app’s visual recognition software will identify the plant the leaves came from. This app is especially fun in autumn, when the ground is strewn with leaves, and it gives kids a chance to burn off some energy in the quest to find some rarer examples.
One last app to consider is Sight Words by Little Speller. This app aims to teach children to recognize, read and spell some of the most commonly used words in English. The app works by displaying letters and playing a sound-clip of a word. The word is then spelt using the displayed letters. A key reason this app is worth a look is that it is almost fully customizable; parents can choose to enter new words into the app and then record sound-clips for any words they want.
Whichever apps you choose, your little ones are sure to have fun learning while playing!
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