High-quality apps you can feel good about using with your child.
Librarians have been giving advice about how to make choices in media forever! Books, music, movies... Apps are simply another form of media to hit the market and for families that are choosing to use apps with their kids, it can feel overwhelming deciding which apps to choose.
There are a number of great resources about using apps with kids. Here are a few favorites:
- Family Time with Apps
- Apps en Familia
- iPad apps and your Pre-Reader
- Tips for using screen media with young children from Zero to Three
Read to start browsing apps? Check out our most recent app reviews below:
An engaging way to explore the universe and get a sense for the relative size of things. Simply by swiping left or right, the user zooms in towards the tiniest thing in the universe and zooms out to see... the whole observable universe. Each of the items can be clicked on to learn a little more. Some of the images are animated and some are not, but they're all cute illustrations and are…
Build whatever you want to build in this lunar landscape! There are blocks of bricks, metal, slime, even blocks that aren't "blocks" (like legs, tiny Martians, signs and flags and more). Most things can be stacked on other things to make wacky structures or make a very proper and matching village if you prefer. Some blocks have inhabitants that appear as soon as they're placed, so you…
A delightful, if sometimes creepy adventure game, featuring 5 little botanical friends who scurry around a tree, solving puzzles in their quest to save their tree from parasites. This game has some challenging spots (I'll admit to looking for walkthrough cheats when I got stuck a few times), but the gorgeous artwork, music, and whimsical storyline are fantastic. If you (or your child) have…
This app is based on a story of two friends (a person named Lassa and a pink rabbit) going shopping. In one segment of the app, you can read the story (there are no recorded narration options, so you'll have to read this one yourself), but there are four other segments! One is just like the book, but with no words. Perhaps you'd like to re-tell the story in your own words (or your…
In this game, a spaceship crashes on earth and all of the passengers on the ship are scattered into the surrounding areas. One creature, Morphy, remains in the ship and he must go out and locate and return all of his shipmates. Luckily, he has the unique ability to adapt to his surroundings by taking on characteristics of the earth animals he encounters along the way. Players control Morphy's…
Learn about women in science! This app features the stories of women scientists across the ages -- from long ago scientists like Marie Curie and even the ancient Greek Hypatia to modern day scientists like Christina Hernandez of NASA. Each featured scientist includes a short (sometimes only one paragraph) summary of their work.
Podcasts for kids in one app, no subscription required! This app includes 6 different audio shows for kids. The app is free to download and listen to the first episode of each show, then you can pay once to listen to the rest of the episodes in each show. If you're looking for a way to enjoy audio stories without the wide-open options of the regular Podcasts app or the ongoing payments of a…
Did you know that food recommendation charts look different in different countries? Not just in what sorts of categories food is divided into (is fish a separate category from meat?), but also what shape the chart itself is in? For instance, in Lebanon, it's shaped like a cedar tree! In this free app, players can choose a country to explore. You'll see each country's food guide,…
Another Sago Mini world to explore -- this one is all about camping! Right now in 2020 there's not a lot of vacations that you can safely take, but camping is one that's relatively isolated and outdoors. If you'd like to use an app while you're on your way to the campsite or to get your kids excited about camping in your yard or just to pretend to make some s'mores over a candle in your house…
If you love the board game Heads Up! then you'll love this app! Choose a deck to play with (e.g. animal kingdom, around the house, the letter B), then hold your device up to your forehead so that you can't see the image that pops up. Ask the other players to answer yes/no questions or they can give you clues about the image to help you guess what the picture is. Once you've played it often…
An unusual puzzle app, best for older kids and adults or for parents and kids to work on together. There are no instructions, you just have to experiment and find your way through. There are cryptic phrases in English at the completion of each puzzle (similar to Monument Valley), but other than that, there's no language content.
Sesame Street by Sesame Street (Free!, iOS, Google Play, Amazon)
All the World: Better Learning by George Media (free to download and sample, subscription for full access, iOS & Google Play…