With end of summer road trips on the horizon we’ve been thinking about how to entertain the girls while we’re in the car. For long drives we always opt for a balance of books, crafts, and a little technology thrown in too. Technology sometimes consists of a movie on the travel dvd player but more often is 30 minutes of app time on the iPad. I am always blown away by how clever and educational some of the apps on the market really are. Common Sense Media is a great place to go when you are looking for reviews and ratings. Here are a list of some of our current favorites.
Monkey Math has been on our radar for 2 years now. It’s a great way to learn about numbers, greater than/less than, addition and subtraction.
Disney’s Where’s My Water? is always a favorite. It encourages creative thinking and problem solving by asking children to help guide a water stream away from pitfalls and into the faucet which then fills up the alligator’s bath. This one even leaves me stumped on the higher levels…
Endless Alphabet is a great way to learn how to pronounce letters and piece them together to make words. I like that this one says the pronunciation out loud when the child clicks on the letter. Seeing is believing but hearing helps too.
Bob Books is another great way to start kids on the reading railroad. This app allows you to begin with the building of basic words and children eventually progress to putting words together and reading small sentences.
Stack the States is really fun but does require some parental oversight for a 4 and 6 year old. It’s been great for the whole family to learn facts about the states and their capitals.
Brainquest is a great one for 1st and 2nd graders. They are timed as they answer questions about grammar, shapes, and other facts.
Toca Tailor is another fan favorite – especially for creative souls. In fact all of the Toca Boca apps are on my phone. Toca Tailor allows them to design clothing for boys, girls, and animals. Toca Hair Salon lets them design hairdos. All super silly and my girls love sharing their finished creations!
PBS Kids is a safe bet for full TV episodes that are all kid-friendly. (On YouTube my kids always select the video that runs for 1.5 minutes and then leaves them disappointed when they don’t know what happens to the characters in the end.) At home PBS is my favorite TV station as well. I find all of their programming to be appropriate for even the youngest of viewers. This app allows kids to scroll thru their shows and pick short episodes to watch. No WiFi required!
AB Math is my 8 year old niece’s favorite. More great math equations and games to help kids learn their numbers.
And for you techies out there with other great ideas please do share them with my readers in the comment section. Thanks a million!
For me the winners are Moneky math and Bob Books. Great choice of all of them , anyway 😉