Times have definitely changed. My daughter, who is now 2 years old, discovered how to do some simple addition and subtraction this week. Not only that, for quite some time she has learned to match, do puzzles, name just about every animal, and do some simple addition and subtraction. Did she learn all of this through some high priced Montessori tutor? Nope, her tutor was the iPhone. Of course, we helped to reinforce these concepts, but our little one has become a savvy iPhone wielding genius. I am sure that not all kids are apt to learning this way, but I thought I’d post my daughter’s top 5 apps that she feels every 2 year old home schooler should use (in no particular order, of course).
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox is a zany and quick learning game in which your child learns matching, puzzles, numbers, and colors. The animations and voices in this app are really cute, and it is so fast paced that your child should find it very entertaining. My only warning is that it gets redundant really quickly.
First Words: Animals
This is a great game for kids to learn how to spell. Essentially, they drag and drop letters that spell a particular animal’s name into little squares. You can set up the game to allow them to drop the letters in a particular order, or only in a sequential order (i.e. “A” in Ant must be first). I am telling you, this one really works at getting kids to spell and recognize words really fast!
ShapeBuilder
If your kids like puzzles, but are not too great at some of the more complex ones, this is a great app to start off with. Each puzzle is relatively simple, but they seem to increase in difficulty as each one is completed. All of the pieces are colored, so they are easy to differentiate, and all of the puzzles are recognizable objects or animals.
TeachMe: Toddler
Now this app is a gem. Seriously, it is really, really good. TeachMe: Toddler helps your kids to learn letters, numbers, phonics, counting, colors, and shapes. Plus, you can customize how many answers your child needs to get right before they get a sticker (they can put stickers onto a backdrop). One cool idea to do with this is to give a reward to your child if they get a certain amount of stickers. This little game is definitely a must-have!
Kid Calc
I like this one just for the addition and subtraction. I got this for my little one a few days ago, and she is already starting to understand the concepts. Kid Calc gives your child a math problem that will reveal a piece of a picture if they answer it correctly. Each problem has a visual representation of the problem (i.e. 5 apple icons minus 3 apple icons, then 2 apple icons showing the resulting solution), and it is very easy for the child to solve.
Conclusion
If you are looking for some cool technological teaching tools for your kids, these are some of the best that I’ve run across. Do you have any apps that you use to teach? How about if you think that technology (i.e. computer games) is not a way a child should learn? Let me know what you think in the comments!
apps, game for kids, home schoolers, Homeschooling, iphone, puzzles, tutor
