Education

Fun (and Free!) Educational Apps for Kids

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Written by Tim Barnes-Clay

In the digital age, our kids are more tech-savvy than ever and can often be found tapping away at our tablets and phones, playing games that don’t offer much educational value or simply messing up our contact lists. But there’s no reason they can’t make the most of technology; having fun whilst learning something new about the world around them.

Here are some of the best apps you can download for Android and iOS so your little ones can fruitfully wile away their free hours.

Endless Alphabet

First things first: their all-important ABC’s. With our kids getting bombarded by information, it only makes sense for them to be able to read and decipher it well – and to be able spell correctly when they need to. Endless Alphabets combines spelling with the fun of friendly monsters, which are reminiscent of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Kids. Kids are expected to drag and drop the letters into place, with each letter turning into a monster and the voice-over calling out the names of the letters and eventually, the pronunciation of the entire word. The monsters then do a colourful and humorous rendition of what the word means.

Hakitzu: Code of the Warrior

If you’ve read our news feature on the career generation gap between parents and kids and the gap in the digital market (you can find it here), then you’ll know how important it is for the new generation to get in tune with digital skills such as coding. This app teaches kids to code using JavaScript, which are utilised to build robot warriors and to control them in battles against other players, or merely to improve their skills in single player.

Great British Chefs Kids

This app comes as a rarity in a world of fun games and colourful puzzles; its objective is to teach your kids how to cook. It comes with 105 recipes divided into categories such as mains, snacks, pastry and even vegetables & snacks. The app provides detailed step-by-step instructions, pictures and videos to make sure your kids don’t miss a single step and find it easy to follow. Tesco seems to be in cahoots with the developers though, as it offers to help parents get the ingredients they need. This one is only available for the iOS at the moment unfortunately, but a great app that allows you to share your time with the kids.

Meteor Math

A great way to improve their arithmetic skills and especially increase their speed of mental mathematics. Meteor Math is set in outer space where planets and other such celestial rocks carry numbers which kids must choose to bring into the planet and watch it explode. Consecutive levels get faster and harder, challenging kids to utilise their maths skills to the fullest.

Duo Lingo

With the world getting smaller and our kids being exposed to a variety of cultures, having another language in their vocal arsenal will no doubt be one of the most important assets they can boast. Duo Lingo helps you learn Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and of course, English. New words and phrases are thrown your way as your play through it, all the while being tested to ensure kids not only memorise, but understand the language they are trying to learn. Surprisingly absorbing and fun.

If you download any of these apps, you can rest assured that your kids are being immersed in the world that not only stops them accidentally destroying your phone settings, but offers incredible educational benefits.