Long drives used to be murder on families, especially when there were young kids involved. Many children can’t read while on the road due to motion sickness, and there are only so many rounds of 20 questions or I Spy you can play before a child’s attention span is somewhere else. Apple devices can help with this conundrum. While they are certainly excellent social and business tools, you can also find a tremendous variety of educational applications for iPad that can entertain kids while they learn.
Green Eggs and Ham – Everyone remembers this Dr. Seuss classic story, but now it is available in interactive app form. Not only are the old story and illustrations still intact, but kids can touch various parts of the picture to highlight the associated words. This educational application for iPad is fun and great for kids who are just learning to read.
Scout’s ABC Garden by LeapFrog – The LeapFrog brand has long been a company pioneering educational toys and software for children. This app is particularly fun for younger children, because parents can enter personal information about the child like their name or favorite color, and the guide will use it throughout the activities. Kids learn numbers and letters and basic sounds as they follow a green dog through the learning garden.
Curious About Shapes and Colors – Curious George, another old favorite, makes an appearance in this educational application designed to help kids learn visual association. By matching shapes, sizes, and colors, kids can help George put his arsenal of toys back together and then watch as they come to life.
ABC Music from Peapod Labs – A fun app to fool around with even for somewhat older kids, ABC Music provides a giant library of musical instrument icons that kids will love experimenting with. Each icon plays the name and the actual recorded sounds of the instrument, and there are also live videos of each instrument, so not only will children learn about music, they will also be learning better reading skills as well.
Activities for kids don’t have to be either fun or educational. There are thousands of options out there for people who want to put technology to good use in developing their child’s brain and coordination. Many of these are free or very cheap, so take advantage of the tools offered by these excellent educational applications for iPad.