Tools: SORT objects to the right elephant according to his ACTIVITYĪ set of sorting games designed to help children acquire basic concepts such as shape, color, size seasons and animals. Professions: SORT objects to the right person according to his PROFESSION The Pirates: SORT by TWO COLOR COMBINATIONSĪt the Beach: SORT by TWO and THREE COLOR COMBINATIONS The Beatles: COUNT to 3 and sort between cute beetles. Going to Space: Classify by SHAPE and COLOR.ĭishes: Sort kitchenware in the cupboard. On a Tree: Sort between Monkeys, Birds and Hedgehogsĭress the Monsters: COUNT to 3 and dress cute monsters

The boards were carefully chosen in order to represent basic concepts from the child's world. The game consists of 12 boards ordered in an ascending level of difficulty. The game is designed to enhance the following skills: It is recommended for children of age 3 and up. Like the other two games of this series, this game teaches about sorting,īut it also contains more complex sorting environments such as sorting by concept combinations and contextual clasification. TinyHands Sorting 3 is the third game in our Sorting series. *** Developed with certified child psychologists *** SORT, MATCH, AND CLASSIFY by shape, size, color and much more The apps in this guide are fun and interesting for kids and adults, and many foster conversation and play outside of the app itself.*** 15 learning games for toddlers & kids

Encourage interaction: The AAP and other organizations say that learning apps that encourage real-life interaction among multiple people-adult and child, or child and peers-can be especially strong at facilitating learning.

Hirsh-Pasek has written that parents should evaluate an app’s interactive features and ask: “Do the enhancements actually add value and increase engagement, or do they cause distraction?” A good learning app uses interactive, animated, and responsive features to engage kids or enhance their comprehension, not simply to entertain.

Be engaging but not distracting: Apps have great potential to engage children through interactive features, but some research has shown that too many bells and whistles can distract children or reduce their comprehension.

The organization recommends that learning apps instead have “automatic ‘stops’ as the default design to encourage children and caregivers to pause the game use and turn to the 3-dimensional world.” The AAP has pointed out that digital games have traditionally been designed with rewards and reinforcement designed to keep kids playing as long as possible. But researchers say it’s important to have built-in limits, as well.

Be open-ended, with limits: Most of the apps in this guide are open-ended in the sense that they encourage kids to independently explore, create, and navigate within the app.

“You want it to be an experience that kids could really only have in that screen world.” If the app is “basically a worksheet on screen, an experience that could be replicated off screen, then that’s not a good use of the screen,” Elgersma said.

Offer unique experiences: Several of the experts we spoke to noted that a good educational app should offer children something they couldn’t simply do, learn, or explore in a classroom or the real world.

(For details, read more about how we selected the apps in this guide.) The apps we cover in this guide are great learning apps not because they’re designed to make kids smarter, to drill facts, or to replace in-school learning, but because they each offer something fun, unique, and interesting for kids and adults. Rather, most of the apps here have been chosen by teachers for their students in classrooms, used by Wirecutter parents and their kids, or recommended by the experts and educators we spoke with. If your family has a tablet and you want it to be more than a game-playing and video-watching device, or if you’re trying to find apps for your smartphone that will do more than keep your kids occupied in a pinch, we have some great suggestions.Īs with our guides to STEM and learning toys, we didn’t test scores of apps to try to find the “best” ones. To find our favorite learning apps and games for kids, we spent more than 40 hours researching and testing 50-plus apps recommended by educators, experts, and parents.

Free educational games for kindergarten