Originally posted November 20, 2014.
If you are looking for the best apps for kids 5-8 years old who are kindergartners and young elementary kids, you need such apps that balance education, creativity, and fun. In choosing apps for kids, you need more than just the regular arcade games to find the best outlet for the kids’ creativity and emotions.
Here is a list of good apps for kids who are 5 to 8 years old.
DragonBox Algebra 5+
Common Sense Media voted this as one of the best game apps about Algebra as it teaches kids, even 5-year olds, to solve algebraic equations.
It is challenging enough to keep kids going, as each solved equation allows their dragons to grow. This also helps kids practice critical thinking. The game has tutorials and hints, although it doesn’t have the multiplayer mode as in Playful Minds: Math (5-8).
DragonBox Algebra 5+ can be used on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Windows Phone, and Kindle Fire.
Monkey Word School Adventure
Monkey Word School Adventure is a game app ideal for preschoolers and elementary school kids. It teaches kids to identify letters and words. It is perfect for 4- to 7-year olds, with words that match their age.
This app is short enough to hold the kids’ interest and keep them motivated. It combines sight words and phonics, helping them read faster and better. The challenge is adjustable, based on the kids’ level of learning. However, the game is not designed to monitor the reading development of the users.
Monkey Word School Adventure is supported by devices such as iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore is one of the good apps for kids aged six. It is an interactive picture book inspired by an animated short film. It boasts of animated clips from the said movie. The game focuses on the power of books that encouraged the kids not only to read the story, but also to piece puzzles, draw pictures on the other page, and create words out of cereals.
According to customers, even two-year old kids would love the app like those regular bedtime storybooks. Parents can easily use the app themselves.
This app is supported by iPad.
Toontastic
Toontastic is best played by six-year olds. It is a multi-science cartoon game that allows kids to create their own animated film complete with music. They get to pick their characters and setting for a scene and move the characters like they would a puppet. They can even create their own dialogues and have it recorded on iPad. The kids can also put in a musical score that matches the emotions of a scene. They can also learn about the fundamentals of storytelling.
The game has a strong visual appeal, excellent in-app support, and tells the stories created by the kids themselves, allowing a good mix of kids and technology. It uses spoken words, animation, images, and music.
Art Set
Art Set allows kids to create great art in virtual paper using virtual crayons, pens, paints, pastels, pencils, markers, and several blending and texturing tools. Kids can even paint iPad-stored photos using this app. Even young kids can learn how to use the right color, tool, and medium with careful instructions. It is an ideal app for kids to learn about art without emptying and messing with piles of paper, empty paint tubes or broken crayons. Art Set may even be used by high school kids to further explore their artistic side.
The Human Body by Tinybop
The Human Body shows the human organ systems and senses in the form of six models that are designed to be interactive and animated.
The game has fun animations, with the exploration made easier for kids with the added instructions, to ensure their engagement. It doesn’t have any formal games, but it certainly teaches the kids a lot during free play. It also comes with labels to augment your kids’ biology vocabulary and introduce them to the different body parts. Parents can also monitor the games, especially in multiple user mode.
This app can be installed on an iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Cut the Rope 2
Cut the Rope 2 is a physics-based game where players cut dangling ropes to deliver the candy to Om Nom, the protagonist, while collecting stars along the way. It’s worth your money because it has a lot of levels to keep the kids occupied.
The game is easy, but it’s not easily perfected either, to keep the kids engaged. They have to experiment to find the best way to solve the puzzles. In case of frustration rising, a clue system is available.
The game can be played on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
Flow Free: Bridges
Flow Free: Bridges is Flow Free made easy. It still requires players to connect similarly colored dots with a swipe of a finger between the dots to make a pipe. However, this version allows colors to be connected over one another with the help of the white marker, or the “bridge.”
Gameplay with this Bridges version is easier to engage the younger kids. The game hones the kids’ critical thinking skills and their ability to think under pressure when they choose the timed mode. It also progresses from easy to difficult in a steady manner.
This app can be installed on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
Stack the States
Stack the States is a fun geography game that allows kids to explore the US. Kids can study the state flashcards first, or learn more about the states through trial and error. It has mini-games that are mostly timed.
This is a fast-paced game with lots of images. It allows you to choose what questions to ask, increasing its engagement. Learning is provided by the flashcards and the multiple choice questions, puzzles, and memory tests about the different names of the US states and capitals.
Toca Hair Salon Me
This is a hair styling game that allows kids to style their photos, or those of their family, friends or even pets. These personal photos are even animated, with moving mouth and eyes, during the styling process. Kids get to wash, blow-dry, color, cut, and accessorize the hair of their clients, as the faces smile, wink, wince, and more. Hairstyling mistakes can even be fixed with instantly growing hair.
Kids can have fun styling with multiple play sessions. They can practice their decision-making skills and creativity as well.
The game can be played on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
Learn to entertain your kids and be friends with them. Aside from taking them outdoors for summer activities, you can keep them occupied indoors, too, with the right apps. You need them, especially when you’re pregnant and you have to take care of the older kids.
Author: Holly Easterby
Holly Easterby writes for Bonza Brats, sharing her passion to educate other parents on smart parenting. In this article, she writes about the top 10 game apps that kids can use to learn and to have fun.
Holly’s love for children has seen her featured in many education and children websites, whether talking about healthy snacks, motivating students or children’s fashion at Bonza Brats. Holly loves reading books, and shopping is her way of spending time with her young family. If you would like to catch her, you can via Google+ or Twitter: @HollyEasterby