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The Best Educational Apps For Kids: The 2024 Guide

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Whilst it’s vital to set boundaries with screen time, educational apps for children can play an important role in learning and development.

We have rounded up the best educational apps for children by age, and since there are new apps available every week, this list will keep growing!

The best educational apps for kids from 0 to five years old (Early Years Foundation Stage)

Between birth and five years old, your child will mostly learn through games and play.

The rate at which they learn is astonishing – it might be hard to keep up!

These learning games apps are designed to help little ones enjoy developing new skills.

apps for kids

1. Suitable for kids of all ages, Simply Piano is probably the best Piano learning app out there.

app to learn piano

Whatever your level, progress at your own pace with the app’s tailored lessons and real-time feedback. Gain the skills you need to play the songs you love and make your musical dreams come true.

Simply Piano listens to the notes you play – on any piano or keyboard – and gives you immediate feedback, so you know if you’re on track or need a bit more practice.

online piano lessons

From classical pieces to all your favourite Disney songs, build your skills by playing music you love.

Dive even deeper with warm-ups, personalized exercises, and sheet music.

Enjoy step-by-step tutorials perfectly paced for beginners.

And if you can already play, their advanced courses will take your skills up a notch.

piano learning app

2. Thinkrolls Play & Code

Unleash your child’s inner genius with Thinkrolls Play & Code, the award-winning, logic and problem-solving app for kids.

The app offers more than 1,000 logic puzzles, fun brain games and a unique pre-coding platform where kids can create, play and share their own logic puzzles.

thinkrolls play & Code  app

Thinkrolls Play & Code will train your kids in eight key cognitive areas:

  • logical thinking
  • problem-solving
  • spatial reasoning
  • memory
  • attention
  • processing speed
  • inventiveness
  • creativity.

The app integrates a wealth of STEM and pre-coding concepts into a fascinating play experience.

You’ll be amazed by how quickly your little ones will learn to solve complex problems, think multiple steps ahead and seamlessly apply these skills to real-life scenarios.

3. Fish School

This app includes eight fun educational activities to help children learn about letters, numbers, shapes, ABC song, colours, differences, matching and playtime.

Fish School

Colourful fish transform themselves into different letters, numbers, shapes, colours and more.

We think this is one of the best educational apps for 4 year olds.

4. Duck Duck Moose

The team here create a huge range of apps for little ones, including Old MacDonald Had a Farm.

Duck Duck Moose

In this free app, traditional songs are given a funky twist – check out the resident cow who is reading the ‘Moo Yorker’.

5. Toddler Counting 1,2, 3

Created by Australia-based Giggle Up, this free, no-fuss, simple counting game can be adjusted to increase the difficulty levels.

Ideal before your child starts primary school.

Toddler Counting 1,2, 3

Kids will learn the names of animals, toys, household objects and more, with positive feedback along the way.

6. The Go Explore app

Brought to you by the BBC, the app includes everyone’s favourite CBeebies character Bing and the townsfolk of Biggleton.

There is also a Den area that you can visit to discover the games your child has been playing.

7. Elmo Loves 123s 

Full of games, activities, and videos, which will help teach children about numbers and counting.

Elmo Loves 123s app for kids

8. LEGO DUPLO World 

LEGO DUPLO WORLD is carefully aligned with the highly-regarded Headstart Early Learning Outcomes Framework to ensure it is age-appropriate and meets the developmental needs of 2-5-year-olds.

LEGO Duplo World

Each activity targets key learning goals for toddlers and preschool kids.

In the Parent Centre, you can read about the learning benefits of each activity.

9. Oxford University Press’s app Little Oxford is the only preschool app with activities which support the seven key areas of Foundation Stage and Oxford International Early Years Curriculum.

Little Oxford is a new Augmented Reality app for 3 to 5-year-olds, created by educational experts, and built on decades of knowledge of how children learn.

Oxford University Press's app Little Oxford

The app was developed with an Early Years specialist and offers a unique learning through-play experience to ease the transition to primary school.

It harnesses the latest AR and VR technology to create an engaging learning experience for children and parents.

Available on the App Store and Google Play, a limited version of the Little Oxford app is free to download, with the full app available with a discounted subscription of £15 for three months or £30 for the year.

Oxford University Press's app Little Oxford poster

There are no additional in-app purchase options.

If you’re looking for the best apps for toddlers, try one of these.

The best educational apps for children age 5 to 7 years old (Key Stage 1)

1. onebillion is a non-profit organisation based in London that has built comprehensive, scalable educational software for children in and out of school.

With a focus on teaching reading and numeracy in the child’s own language, the organisation work around the world to help the most vulnerable children.

best kids apps

The ‘onecourse’ app has been developed for tablets and smartphones, both iOS and Android and classes are available in Swahili (Tanzania), Chichewa (Malawi) and English (UK).

2. Help your kids to improve their memory with the simple, quick and fun Monster Hunt app.

The perfect game to play whilst the kids are waiting for their tea.

Monster Hunt

3. Collins has created a huge range of educational resources, including the free Big Cat Reading Assessment Tool.

Big Cat Reading Assessment Tool

It has been designed to help teachers assess and analyse children’s progress in reading, but parents will find it useful too.

4. Word finding games seem to stand the test of time and PopWords! is one of the most popular free word search apps available.

PopWords

Kids need to find words as fast as they can from an endless stream of letters.

Longer words will earn more points; kids will feel stretched and progress is tracked to make the learning measurable.

5. It’s never too early to start learning maths skills – including algebra!

DragonBox Algebra is an award-winning app that makes one of the more difficult maths subjects a little easier.

Designed for age 5+, the app presents algebra problems through fun interactive games that cover addition, division and multiplication.

learning apps kids

6. Spelling Stage

We like this one as you can play spelling games as a family and it feels more like a game than it does school.

7. Count On Me!

Count on me! is a maths app for children aged 6 to 9 years old.

Based on a unique concept of Game Embedded Teaching,it involves combining science with game design which encourages children to discover the magic of mathematics and accelerates their learning.

count_on_me_maths_app

Research has shown that children who practice maths by playing Count on me! improve their skills by 60% per cent, compared to children who do not use the app.  

Count on me! provides short learning sessions with proven results.

Children can only play the game for 15 minutes per day as the characters in Numberia ‘rest’, so it means limited screen time with maximum learning outcomes. 

The best educational apps for children age 7 to 11 years old (Key Stage 2)

Keep up with your child’s learning as they work through the challenging last years of primary school!

1. iMovie is one of the most popular movie-making apps, and for good reason.

Kids love to experiment with their photos, videos and audio clips and create professional-looking videos.

You will need macOS to use this app.

iMovie

2. For children who find handwriting tricky, Dexteria helps with fine motor skill development.

Available for £5.99, the app has been developed in consultation with Occupational Therapists and aims to increase coordination and motor control in the hands and fingers.

It can also be used to help a person recover from strokes and injuries.

3. Marvel is the king of the playground right now and with Marvel Hero Tales from Kuato Games, kids can join Ms Marvel, Spider-Man and Captain Marvel (Member exclusive stories) and discover a new way of experiencing Marvel adventures.

kuato games

They get to run, swing and fly their way across New York City as you they the power of words to defeat the bad guys and tell their very own stories, with new adventures being added all the time.

Marvel Hero Tales uses a unique system that lets players control the story through the power of language.

Developed with experts in language development, the system is mapped to UK Key Stage 2/US 2nd Grade reading skills to help with vocabulary development.

4. Key Stage 2 is an ideal time to introduce another language and DuoLingo is a brilliant free app to start developing those language-learning skills.

duolingo

Bite-size lessons mean your child won’t feel overwhelmed with learning new words (and it is common for teachers to use this app in the classroom!).

5. Brain Pop is a learning resource created over 20 years ago that covers all core subjects with different apps for different age ranges with an emphasis on self-paced learning.

The app covers subjects like Science, Humanities, English, Maths, Art, PHSE & Citizenship, and Design & Technology.

The music apps are especially fun and interactive.

brain pop

Material can be reviewed more than once so your child won’t feel rushed.

Movies, quizzes, animations and games make learning fun.

6. Kids Brain Trainer

Completely safe and designed for kids, this game helps your child learn through play.

There are four colourful and educational sections, “Kids Brain Trainer (Preschool)” has 144 games specifically designed to contribute to, exercise and develop your child’s motor and cognitive skills.

The game aims to help improve visual attention, visual-spatial relations, short term memory, visual-motor coordination, bi-lateral coordination, tactile skills and much more.

The best educational apps for children age 11 to 14 years old (Key Stage 3)

By now, kids might have their own devices.

Load them up with these fantastic apps:

1. Garage Band turns your iPad or iPhone into a collection of touch instruments and a full-featured recording studio.

garage band

Kids can create their own music and record performances, which can then be shared with family and friends!

2. For comic-book lovers, the Comic Book app will be fun to use.

Kids can use their own photographs to make comic strips with a range of effects and speech bubbles.

This could be a great app to engage reluctant readers.

It costs from £2.99 in the App store.

Comic Book app

3. The Human Body by Tinybop lets children explore the human body in a frank and fun way with sound effects and interactive activities.

Although many younger kids will enjoy this app, it’s also good to remind teens of what is going on in their ever-changing bodies!

4. For budding artists, AutoDesk Sketchbook is an easy to use free app that will help your child build confidence as they experiment with quick sketches and more developed artwork.

AutoDesk Sketchbook

The camera on your child’s phone can be used as a scanner so line art can be imported with a transparent background, ready to build on.

The app is free.

5. True or False Chemistry

A fast-paced game for secondary school-age kids to help them learn and remember the periodic table.

True or False Chemistry app for kids

The best educational apps for children aged 14 to 16 years old (Key Stage 4)

During the pre-teen and teenage years, apps are useful for organising schoolwork and staying on top of assignments as well as learning skills that might not be taught in the classroom.

1. Evernote is a popular note-taking app that allows users to share information.

Perfect for homework assignments.

Android alternatives include Google Keep where you can store notes, lists, photos and audio files.

evernote from google

2. If your child has an iPod touch or iPhone, why not download the Kindle app?

Your child might find it easier to keep up with reading if they can simply do it on their phones rather than lugging books around.

kindle

3. Learning outside of the classroom knows no limits with Skillshare.

Online lessons include design, illustration, business, technology, photo and film, entrepreneurship and writing but be warned that you do need to purchase many of them.

There are options to get together to learn with friends by creating a ‘team’ and the app has offline access to avoid chewing up data on your devices.

4. EdPlus Kids

EdPlus Kids is for kids of all ages and there are over 200 topics to choose from.

EdPlus app for Kids

The app is an Oxford University spinout and while they’re big on maths, they also cover science, languages and more fun subjects like animals from Africa.

The app is free while schools are closed and is usually £4.99 a month/£29.99 a year.

If your kids are young but ready for smartphones you may like to invest in a phone monitoring app.

We bought a lifetime Kidslox subscription which means we can block or restrict certain times, give time limts and generally help them to stay safe online.

kidslox

Who do you think does the best apps for kids?

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