In today’s fast-paced and technology-driven world, educational apps for kids have become essential tools in shaping young minds. These apps make learning enjoyable, interactive, and accessible from anywhere, at any time. Whether a student, parent, teacher, or anyone involved in the educational process, this guide is tailor-made for you.
Here, we explore the 10 best educational apps for kids that transform how students learn, organize, create, and stay safe online. Our selection criteria have focused on educational value, user-friendliness, age-appropriateness, content quality, engagement, safety, and community feedback. Without further ado, here are the apps that make a difference in students’ lives.
1. Khan Academy Kids
Key Features: Engaging games, activities, and videos focusing on core subjects.
Why It’s Great: It’s free and offers a personalized learning experience for young learners.
Khan Academy Kids (Free): Khan Academy Kids is one of the best educational apps for kids, offering a well-rounded learning experience. It emphasizes academic skills, social-emotional development, logic, and problem-solving. It provides a wide range of subjects like math, science, and reading for children aged 2-8. With engaging games, videos, and books, it helps young learners master essential skills. The app is free and has no ads or in-app purchases, ensuring a safe learning environment.
Additionally, it tracks each child’s progress, allowing parents and teachers to track progress and customize learning to suit each child’s needs. The app is designed with help from Stanford University experts to ensure the content is fun and follows national learning standards. It gets regular updates with new content to keep things fresh. Khan Academy Kids is a great tool to help young children learn and grow.
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2. Duck Duck Go for kids.
Key Features: Kid-friendly search results, ensuring safe browsing.
Why It’s a Must: It’s the best tool for students to find reliable information without stumbling upon inappropriate content.
Duck Duck Go for Kids offers a secure, kid-friendly search engine to provide children with a safe environment to explore the internet. This platform filters out inappropriate content, ensuring that search results are reliable and child-appropriate. Duck Go for Kids bridges this gap, providing peace of mind for adults while fostering a sense of curiosity and discovery in children. The app aids learning by helping children find age-appropriate and accurate information without the risk of encountering harmful content.
Its simple interface and engaging design make it easy for students to use, making it an essential tool for parents and teachers. As online learning becomes integral to education, Duck Duck Go for Kids is essential for safely guiding children through the digital world. This makes it one of the best educational apps for kids. It ensures that kids can explore, learn, and grow while staying safe online.
3. Epic!
Key Features: A vast library of ebooks, audiobooks, and educational videos.
Benefits: Promotes reading across a wide range of ages and ability levels.
Epic! is a leading digital library for children aged 12 and under. It provides unlimited access to over 40,000 high-quality books, audiobooks, learning videos, and quizzes. Designed to inspire a lifelong love of reading and learning, Epic! Offers content across various subjects, including fiction, non-fiction, STEM, biographies, and historical texts. What makes Epic! Incredibly attractive is its adaptability to different reading levels and interests, ensuring that there is something for every child.
Teachers and parents particularly appreciate the app’s ability to track reading progress and provide personalized recommendations. This makes it easier to engage children in reading activities tailored to their evolving needs. Offering a mix of classic titles, best-sellers, and educational materials, Epic! Makes learning an adventurous and enjoyable experience. The app’s interface is child-friendly and designed to keep young readers engaged and motivated through a rewarding system where they earn badges and rewards for their reading milestones. Epic! ‘s commitment to fostering an environment where reading is fun and accessible makes it an indispensable tool for students, parents, and educators.
4. Socrative, by McGraw-Hill
Key Features: Interactive quizzes and games created by teachers.
What Sets It Apart: It makes learning fun and interactive while providing immediate feedback.
McGraw-Hill’s innovative Socrative app enhances classroom engagement and learning through interactive quizzing and gaming activities. Teachers can create, distribute, and manage quizzes, polls, and games on this platform, and students can access them in real time using any device with internet connectivity. Key features include creating custom activities or choosing from various pre-made options, instant feedback for students and teachers, and comprehensive reports tracking student understanding and progress.
What Makes It Special: Socrative makes learning more interactive and engaging. Real-time feedback helps teachers spot areas where students need more help and adjust lessons instantly. The easy-to-use design suits all teachers, regardless of tech skills. It also creates a fun, competitive, and collaborative classroom environment, making learning more effective and enjoyable.
5. PBS Kids Games
Key Features: Educational games based on popular PBS Kids shows.
Why Kids Love It: Games are not only fun but also promote learning in crucial developmental areas.
PBS Kids Games is a vibrant and interactive app that brings together a collection of educational games inspired by beloved PBS Kids television shows. Designed to engage children in pre-K through early elementary grades, this app makes learning playful and exciting. Key features include a vast assortment of games covering various subjects like math, science, reading, and social skills. What sets PBS Kids Games apart is its strong emphasis on developmental learning, ensuring that each game not only entertains but also educates.
Why Kids Love It: Each game within the app is based on characters and stories from popular PBS Kids shows, such as “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Wild Kratts,” and “Arthur.” This familiarity boosts engagement and helps kids meaningfully connect learning concepts with their favorite characters. Furthermore, the app regularly updates with new games and content, ensuring a fresh and exciting learning environment. With an intuitive design and user-friendly interface, children can easily navigate through the app, allowing for independent play. PBS Kids Games represents the perfect blend of fun and learning, offering parents and educators a trusted resource for quality educational content.
6. ScratchJr
Key Features: Introduces young children to basic coding concepts.
Uniqueness: Empowers kids to create their own interactive stories and games.
ScratchJr is one of the top educational apps for kids that is focused on introducing programming. Aimed at children aged 5-7, by allowing them to create their own interactive stories and games. ScratchJr encourages problem-solving, logical thinking, and creativity among its young users by integrating coding into the storytelling and game design processes. Key features include simple graphical programming blocks that children can snap together to make their characters move, jump, dance, and sing. In doing so, children aren’t just passively consuming content; they’re actively creating it, which enhances their understanding of sequential logic and the basics of programming.
One of ScratchJr‘s most appealing aspects is its ability to be both educational and incredibly fun. Children can personalize their projects with a wide range of backgrounds, characters, and even their own voice recordings, making every creation unique. Uniqueness also lies in its simplicity and age-appropriate interface, making complex concepts accessible to young minds. Teachers and parents value Scratch Jr. for its emphasis on creative expression, digital literacy, and collaboration, viewing it as a critical first step into the vast field of computer science. Through ScratchJr, children learn not only the fundamentals of coding but also gain confidence in their ability to create and innovate in a digital world.
7. Minecraft Earth
Key Features: An augmented reality game encourages exploration and creativity.
Why It’s Innovative: It brings the beloved Minecraft experience into the real world.
Minecraft Earth takes the classic block-building gameplay of Minecraft and transforms it into a real-world, augmented reality experience. Players can build AR structures on their living room floor, in their gardens, or even as large-scale projects in public spaces. Key features include collaborative multiplayer, where players can join forces to create together in real-time; resource gathering through exploration in the player’s local neighborhood; and “Adventures,” which are small, procedurally generated areas where players can encounter mobs and engage in Minecraft-style challenges.
What makes Minecraft Earth stand out is its innovative use of AR technology to merge the digital and physical worlds, encouraging not just creativity but also physical activity and exploration. This innovative use of AR technology makes Minecraft Earth one of the best engaging educational apps for kids. It encourages physical activity and creativity in a fun, safe environment. The game’s foundational principles of creativity, collaboration, and community come to life in an entirely new dimension through Minecraft Earth.
8. LEGO® DUPLO® WORLD
Key Features: Designed for young minds to learn about colors, shapes, and numbers.
Benefits: A fun, interactive way to prepare kids for school with trusted LEGO® themes.
Key features of this app include engaging activities that introduce young children to fundamental concepts such as colors, shapes, numbers, and even emotional intelligence through playful storytelling and problem-solving challenges.
LEGO® DUPLO® WORLD is a fun learning app for young children, especially for toddlers and preschoolers. It uses digital LEGO® blocks to help kids learn basic things like colors, shapes, numbers, and problem-solving through play. The app helps children develop creativity, fine motor skills, and thinking abilities. It does this through digital play that works like building with real LEGO® DUPLO® blocks.. Parents and educators alike appreciate the app for its educational value, safe environment, and the way it encourages moments of shared learning through co-play possibilities. It provides a strong foundation for future learning, making it one of the best educational apps for kids in the preschool category.
Apps for parental control and safety
Google Family Link
Key Features: Let parents set digital rules, including screen time and app permissions.
Why Parents Trust It: It ensures a safe online experience for their children.
Google Family Link is a comprehensive app that assists parents in responsibly managing their children’s digital activities. With Google Family Link, parents can closely monitor screen time, manage the apps their children can access, and even lock their child’s device at bedtime. Key features include approving or blocking apps from the Google Play Store and monitoring screen time with activity reports. Parents can also set a device bedtime to control when children can use their devices.
What makes Google Family Link particularly reliable for parents is its direct approach to fostering healthy digital habits from a young age. Parents can guide their children towards better content, helping them understand the implications of their digital footprint. Additionally, why do parents trust? It is not just about controlling or monitoring. It’s also about initiating important conversations regarding digital literacy and online behavior. Google Family Link helps balance freedom and safety for children online. It allows them to explore the internet with guidance and set boundaries for responsible technology use.
10. Messenger Kids
Key Features: Safe messaging and video calling for kids with parental controls.
What Makes It Essential: Kids can connect with friends and family in a monitored environment.
Messenger Kids offers a fun, safe way for children to stay in touch with friends and family. It merges the interactive allure of messaging with robust parental controls to ensure a secure online experience. The app has a kid-friendly interface with customizable avatars, fun stickers, and GIFs. These features make digital communication more engaging for children.
Parents have complete control over their child’s contact list, enabling them to add or remove contacts at any time. Furthermore, the app ensures transparent monitoring of the child’s interactions by preventing messages from disappearing or hiding. The app also requires parental approval for new contact requests to ensure that children only communicate with vetted individuals.
What sets Messenger Kids apart is its commitment to privacy and safety. The app’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) compliant design ensures the protection of kids’ information. Additionally, no in-app purchases or advertisements provide a safe, distraction-free platform for kids to engage with their peers. This focus on safety and its interactive features make Messenger Kids an essential tool for parents looking to introduce their children to the digital world in a protected and controlled environment.
How to Choose the Right App
When evaluating these or any educational apps, consider your child’s learning style, interests, and the skills they need to develop. User reviews and ratings can offer additional insight into how the app performs in real-world settings.
Wrapping Up
Educational apps are transforming the learning landscape for school students, making it more personalized, engaging, and accessible. By incorporating these tools into their daily routine, students can enhance their learning experience and enjoy the process along the way. We encourage you to explore these apps, share your experiences, and continue to look for innovative ways to integrate technology into learning.
Feel free to share your favorite educational app in the comments below or on social media to help others in their quest for knowledge!
💡 Which app is your favorite? Let us know in the comments! 👇✨
FAQs
How do educational apps benefit kids?
Educational apps help children develop essential skills like reading, math, problem-solving, creativity, and digital literacy. They make learning fun and interactive through games, videos, and quizzes.
Are these apps free or paid?
Some apps, like Khan Academy Kids and ScratchJr, are completely free. Others, like Epic! and ABCmouse, offer free trials but require a subscription for full access.
What is the best educational app for preschoolers?
For preschoolers, Khan Academy Kids, ABCmouse, and LEGO® DUPLO® World are great choices, focusing on early learning, creativity, and problem-solving.
Are these apps safe for kids?
Yes, most apps offer parental controls, kid-safe content, and ad-free experiences to ensure a secure learning environment. Google Family Link also helps parents manage their children’s screen time and app usage.
Can these apps be used offline?
Some apps, like Epic!, ABCmouse, and Duolingo ABC, offer offline access for downloaded content, while others require an internet connection for full functionality.
What are the best math apps for kids?
Prodigy Math, Khan Academy Kids, and DragonBox are among the best math apps, making learning numbers and problem-solving fun and interactive.