There are so many kids apps available online that it’s hard to know which are the good ones. Here’s our list of educational kids apps that we or our friends enjoy with their kids. It’s a mix of free and paid apps, so do check the app before downloading.
Table of Contents
Duolingo
Learning a language is not easy if you have no experience with it. However, Duolingo app makes it really easy to learn how to talk, read and type in other languages. There is a huge choice of languages, from French and Spanish to Gaelic and Navajo. There are plenty that you will have heard of, as well as a few you won’t. High Valyrian anyone?!
The app is easy to use and you progress from simple words and phrases, learning useful sentences. It’s a good way to get the basics of a language and then practice the real thing with native speakers. The questions are all using fun characters and written in easy to understand ways. I found it very clear to use when learning Spanish myself. Very easy for the kids to understand as well. However, children will need to be able to read to use Duolingo alone.
Duolingo is free to use, although you can pay to upgrade to use without the adverts.
Doodlemaths
Another free educational app is Doodlemaths. It’s free to set up and use limited sample questions, however to access the full programme it is £7.99 per month.
We found it quite limited with the free options (it appears quite boring compared to other apps) and stopped using it as we weren’t sure whether my two would use it often enough. However, I do know other home educators who really rate the app and their children enjoyed completing the entire programme. So it really does depend on the child and how motivated the app makes them to complete it.
Prodigy Math Game
The Prodigy math game is my children’s preferred way of learning maths. They do have fairly standard question screens with maths questions. However, the beauty of this app is that you have a wizard who casts spells by answering maths questions. There is a lot of battling other beings and bad wizards, which despite being pretty low level graphic wise, the kids enjoy!
You can upgrade and pay for a membership which gives kids the chance to own more pets. However, it’s not necessary at all to pay for the game, we never have and the kids enjoy it as it is.
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Teach Your Monster To Read
The app Teach Your Monster To Read is a magical journey through adventurous worlds. First you get to create your very own monster by choosing details such as horns and outfits. Then you progress through the games learning letter, sounds and how to blend words. Then together your monster will help you read. Suited to the first 2 years of learning to read, with the programme finishing with kids reading mini books.
Perfect for kids who like fun and colourful magical games. It’s fun to play and my kids both enjoyed playing this when learning to read. The online game is completely free to use.
Reading Eggs & Mathseeds
You will need to pay for a subscription to use Reading Eggs and Mathseeds.
However, Reading Eggs is great at helping kids learn to read and use different games as lessons to help sounds and word recognition. It takes children right from learning the letters all the way through to fully fledged readers. The games are fun and the silly characters make the kids laugh. Plus there are silly songs to listen to and books to read too. The end of each set of lessons finishes with a quiz to test the children’s knowledge.
Mathseeds is run by the same company and a similar set-up. It’s fun learning through games at whatever stage of learning your child is at. The age range is suggested for 4-9 years old. So it’s great for primary aged children. Again, this is a paid app.
Khan Academy Kids
Many home educators use Khan Academy and sing its praises. Khan Academy Kids app is a specific app designed by Khan Academy for children aged 2-8 years old. It’s perfect for helping young children learn through fun and engaging games. It includes learning about reading, maths and logic.
The games are more based on academics rather than funny characters, but it is still colourful and engaging.
Minecraft Education
Minecraft Education can be downloaded for free on a short trial or you can pay around £10 for a years use. Which is pretty good for what it offers!
Children can use it just as Minecraft, with the addition of ‘lessons’ in coding. You can complete the coding lessons to learn how to creat variables, block, loops and lots of advanced cool stuff. My children have been using it with a coding tutor for a while now. But if you look at the instructions and are tech savvy you can probably work out how to do it yourself.
It’s amazing what the kids can build and mine using their ‘agent’ to help with coding!
Times Tables Rock Stars
The Times Tables Rock Stars app is not free, unless you have access through your child’s school using their login there. For families it costs £7.20 for up to 3 children per year, which isn’t too bad for a year membership if it gets used!
The aim is to help kids learn their times tables by becoming a rock star. Children create their own rock star name and avatar, earning coins for answering questions correctly. Coins can then be spent on buying additional things for their avatar. The questions can be set to certain times tables that children need to work on. There are both single player and multi player options. If your child needs to work specifically on times tables, then this is a good option to practice.
PlantNet
Using photos of the plant in question you can ask the app Plant Net to identify the plant. It uses the picture to identify the plant through AI and the use of other people’s confirmed photographs. You are always given a choice of several different species options to confirm which one it is. It’s surprisingly accurate and a great way to learn which plants are which.
BirdNet
Similar to PlantNet, BirdNet can be used to identify different birds by using their calls. You simply record using the app and then choose sections of your recording to analyse. Even if you don’t have any internet reception you can still record and save the recordings to analyse later.
We’ve used this on various walks, particularly when we hear a bird song that is unusual to us. We managed to identify Scottish Crossbills recently when on a walk in the Trossachs. Which was exciting for me as it confirmed what I thought the bird was, making me rather proud of myself! It’s excellent to help children identify birds through song.
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