If you’re like me and want to keep technology as educational as possible, you’ll want to know about these new reading and writing apps for kids. See if any will be a good fit for your child’s age and stage.
(All links are to the app store unless Android is specified.)
Reading (and Writing) Apps for Kids
Free / In-App Bundles of Words
ages 5 – 8
Learn sight words with word puzzles, letters that come alive, and a sentence puzzle for each word. It’s fun to see the sentence become animated.
This app starts out with CVC words like saw and cat so it’s only appropriate for a small range of children who want to learn or spell the 150 words in the game. However, it’s fun and interactive with cute kid-friendly images.
READING, ALPHABET, WRITING
ages 5 – 8
Unlike most educational apps that are only for practice, this app is actually instructional! 20 lessons, 201 exercises, and 150 interactive stories are available with bright colors and a clean design that make it easy to read.
Hop on Pop – Read and Learn by Dr. Seuss
READING, WORD FAMILIES, RHYMING
ages 4 – 8
This classic is still a great choice for beginning readers to practice word families, rhyming, and reading.
WRITING, CREATIVE THINKING
ages 6 – 8
My daughter remembers learning story arc from the first Toontastic. This updated version also gives kids a simple or harder story arc as well as a science report structure. Pick a setting, add characters, then tell your story (yes, out loud) while moving your characters around the setting with your finger to act out the narrative. Add music (you’ll love the choices) and then finish your mini-movie! We like the selection of characters (and that you can make your own) as well as the high-quality graphics. This is a fun, engaging app that will spark children’s creative thinking.
Me by Tinybop
ages 6 – 8
Like the print version, this app gives kids journal prompts to share about who they are, what they like, and their world right now. Will this get your kids writing? It just might!
ages 6 – 8
This entertaining app has 5 levels of games which introduce kids to spelling concepts such as short vowels and letter blends. Engaging but only good for beginning readers and writers since it can’t be customized.
Six games in this app make grammar practice exciting. From Noun Disco to Plural piggies, you’ll practice grammar and reading fluency because you have to read quickly.
Using the cartoon art provided for backgrounds, characters (no people, only cute little critters) , objects, and props, make up your own story! Simply pick your art and add the text. Kids get to export their writing either as a .pdf, .jpg image, or a .storybk file which I can’t figure out how to open.
PROBLEM SOLVING, WRITING
We mostly like this app because it requires creative problem solving to advance. Basically, you must help your character advance by writing in words (adjectives or nouns) to solve the problems he encounters. My daughter would prefer to have a female character option and found some of the solutions glitchy. However, it’s an engaging game requiring thinking which is always a good thing.
Also read: Best Storybook Apps for Kids