10 Fun and Educational Apps to Keep Kids Learning at Home
As parents face school closures due to the coronavirus, many are anxious about how their kids will continue learning. The "COVID-slump" could become a reality as our kids figure out how to learn at home. Luckily, with technology quite literally at our fingertips, we can keep their juices flowing. Check out Common Sense Media's recommended list of math and reading apps that won't feel like school to kids but can help decrease that academic slump.
Educational Apps for Elementary School Students
PBS KIDS for Parents Play & Learn Engineering
Recommended ages: 3-4
This parent-child engagement tool was created in collaboration with early childhood experts and allows users to design and test roller coasters, use simple tools to problem solve their way through an obstacle course, build clever contraptions to deliver food to hungry animals, and construct boxy towers to rescue a kitten from a tree.
Epic! - Kids’ Books and Videos
Recommended ages: 4 and older
A digital reading club for kids ages 2-12, which includes quizzes and learning videos, plus materials for parents.
Recommended ages: 5 and older
These inspired multimedia projects are not overtly academic, but reading and math skills are required for each challenge.
Libby, by Overdrive
Recommended ages: 5 and older
Get free and easy access to your local library's entire selection of digital kids (and adult) books. And for reluctant readers, there are audio versions available.
DragonBox Big Numbers
Recommended ages: 6 and older
Quirky games that require early elementary arithmetic so kids can practice math as they explore a virtual world.
Jump Numbers
Recommended ages: 6 and older
Kids jump between different math equations and techniques in an attempt to rescue an imaginary animal family.
BrainPop Featured Movie
Recommended ages: 8 and older
Daily videos about a wide variety of topics, from Mars to Frida Kahlo, will get kids thinking—and hopefully lead to further exploration.
Slice Fractions
Recommended ages: 9 and older
In this interactive game, kids slice though lava and ice to learn about fractions.
Educational Apps for Middle and High School Students
DragonBox Algebra 12+
Recommended ages: 12 and older
Designed by a math teacher, this game makes advanced algebra skills seem simple. (Other versions and levels are also available.)
Jour-Guided Journaling
Recommended ages: 13 and older
A prompted journal-writing opportunity that encourages kids to reflect and write on their own.
Teen & Adult Phonics Library
Recommended ages: 15 and older
For teens who struggle with reading or dyslexia, this app provides age-appropriate reading selections using decodable words.
By Melissa Wickes at NYMetroParents