5 Educational Apps to Occupy Young Children This Summer
I would like to thank Best Children Games for publishing this article on their site. I’ve found this site to be a great resource for entertaining children. I would specifically recommend their list of the best racing games for children for those of you who are interested.
With school officially out and kids starting their summer vacations, you, the parent, need to find a way for your children to continue their education. This process can be tricky though. You don’t want to make your kid feel as if they are still in school, so you must keep it fun. This is where educational apps come into play because they will improve your child’s education in an entertaining way. Specifically, here are five of the best educational apps that will keep your children occupied all summer long:
Crazy Gears
Crazy Gears is a digital puzzle that will improve your child’s critical thinking skills. Throughout each level of Crazy Gears, the goal is to manipulate certain parts of a machine to pull yourself through. Lots of rods, pulleys, gears and chains come into play as you have to find a way out of each level. With every new level of the game, new challenges come up, and new ways of thinking must be made.
There are no rules in this game, nor are there any explicit instructions, so your child should be able to dive right into Crazy Gears. With that being said, this game does present a bit of trial and error, so it may also improve your child’s patience level. The design of the game is very kid-friendly as it is loaded with bold and bright colors. If you really want to get your child thinking, then Crazy Gears is highly recommended.
DragonBox Algebra
The best part about DragonBox Algebra is that your kid won’t even know they are learning. This game teaches the basic concepts of addition, division and multiplication in a fun and engaging way. During the game, the goal is to try to isolate the DragonBox. In doing so, many cards will be manipulated, and the operations needed to isolate one side of an equation will be learned.
DragonBox Algebra is a long-lasting game as there are 200 puzzles for your kid to solve, as well as ten progressive chapters to go through. These progressive chapters are for the initial learning and training of the game. Another aspect that should allure to your child is the different music that plays in each level. This will keep them engaged in the game, as will the beautiful graphics displayed. However, it’s worth noting that some of the puzzles can get a little difficult to solve. This means that you may need to help your child from time to time.
Faces iMake – Right Brain Creativity
While Crazy Gears and DragonBox Algebra improve critical thinking skills and math skills respectively, Faces iMake – Right Brain Creativity teaches something entirely different: creativity. You may think that this is not as important as the other skills mentioned, but allowing your children to express themselves in a creative and fun way can end up keeping them more engaged in the future.
During the entirety of this game, you use everyday objects to create one of a kind collages. However, this game provides your kid with much more than just putting together random pictures. Faces iMake – Right Brain Creativity is mainly used as a tool to improve your child’s visual awareness and visual association’s skills. Plus, it can be a tremendous tool if your child has any disabilities. Probably the only thing you will have to worry about with this game is getting your child to stop playing!
Monkey Word School Adventure
If your kid loves animals, in particular monkeys, then they will certainly love Monkey Word School Adventure. You join Monkey and all of his friends as they travel around an exciting world filled with all kinds of phonics, sight words, spelling and letters. Monkey Word School Adventure is a perfect game for introducing your child to the concepts of both reading and writing, while allowing them to go on an adventure with their favorite animals.
There are a number of lessons throughout this game, and they range from letter recognition and writing to understanding word components and spelling. Monkey Word School Adventure offers a lot of diversity as there are six interacting games to choose from. The game also uses “Knack Technology” which will automatically adjust the difficulty of the games while your kid plays them. You can also pick and choose what levels you want your child focusing on through the game’s customization settings. A bonus is that your child can earn rewards as they play, such as a digital chameleon to put in their own terrarium.
Thinkrolls
Thinkrolls is one of the few apps on this list that could be classified as a true video game. However, this doesn’t mean that it has no educational purposes. This game is a cross between a video game and a physics puzzle. Throughout each level of Thinkrolls, you must work your way through a series of obstacles to proceed. One of the key aspects that separates Thinkrolls from the rest of the pack though is that each chapter introduces a new object. Each new object has its own special characteristics, and they must be discovered through hands-on manipulation.
Depending on your child’s skill level, they can play either an easy mode or a hard mode. Once the difficulty is decided upon, there are over 200 challenging levels for your child to defeat. The educational aspect of this game is to use creative thinking to beat each level. However, it doesn’t end there, as physics concepts such as gravity, speed, friction, buoyancy and heat are also implemented. Your child can also enjoy an original soundtrack while they wrap their brain around how to defeat each level.
All of these apps above can be downloaded online for their intended devices. Be sure to monitor your child’s use of all internet-enabled devices, and protect your family’s information with the power of a Virtual Private Network (VPN). I recommend you check out these VPN reviews to select the best option to keep your family safe.
As long as you keep this in mind, then the time is now to occupy your child with these educational apps.
You can find more educational apps on this page about educational apps.
About the Author: Caroline is a freelance blogger and writer who specializes in educational content. She knows how crazy kids can be in the summer and highly recommends these apps to keep them occupied with productive, yet fun, activities! If you are into social media you can follow Caroline on Twitter at: @CultureCovC
