Top apps for little learners
These interactive tools will help support education
JUST like that, summer is over and it’s back to school.
Time to get their heads back in the books, of course, but your smartphone can also offer a fun and interactive way to support your children’s learning.
There are thousands of educational apps on all app stores, offering an opportunity to learn more about just about anything and practice skills already gathered.
From biology to maths, from English to coding… it’s all there.
Here are three to get you started, but whatever your needs are, something that fits the bill is no more than a search button away.
KHAN ACADEMY KIDS
■ They say: Khan Academy Kids is a free, fun, educational program with thousands of activities and books that will inspire a lifetime of learning and discovery for children ages two to eight.
■ We say: Khan Academy Kids is an incredible, completely free, resource that offers a mindboggling range of subjects, all presented in a slick and polished format.
The app has been designed with the help of experts in early childhood education, and helps develop key skills in hundreds of subjects including maths, reading, phonics, and writing, as well as offering help with social and emotional development.
It’s all done via activities and games and more traditional books, meaning there’s something that every child will engage with.
You can design your own path, or use the built-in personalisation to let Khan Academy design an age-appropriate schedule for you.
■ Cost: Free
MENTAL MATHS 5-6
■ They say: Practice your mental maths skills against the clock and see if you can improve your score! This app is ideal for supporting the maths you do at school, building towards KS1 SATs preparation.
■ We say: Variety is key in this simple app that aims to sharpen up your mental maths skills. It is full of a wide variety of questions covering counting, number values, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, time, measuring, and shapes. And there’s full audio guidance too.
There are three kinds of activity – simple starter questions to get you in the maths zone, progress tests to see how you are developing, and more in-depth practice tests to embed those new skills.
The five to six version is one of many with different age-groups targeted, so whatever the age of your children, there’ll be one to suit them.
■ Cost: £3.49
TEACH YOUR MONSTER TO READ
■ They say: Teach
Your Monster to Read is an award-winning phonics and reading game that’s helped millions of children learn to read.
■ We say: There aren’t many apps that have been nominated for a Bafta for their quality, but this innovative reading tutor is one of them.
It’s a game, but a game with a goal, and its makers claim that improvements have been seen in children’s literacy within weeks of playing.
Children create a monster and take it on a magical journey over three extensive games – meeting a host of colourful characters along the way and improving their reading skills as they progress.
■ Cost: £4.99