Students use iPads in primary school
The iPad can be an important tool in a parent's playbook for instilling a love of learning early. These are some of the best educational apps for younger students.
We don't mean to exacerbate the problem of 'TV and computer equipment as babysitters', which is generally considered harmful, but some screen time is unavoidable. Instead, balance is key. If screen time is necessary, make sure it is filled with quality, age-appropriate content.
A iPad Mini – especially one in a rugged, child-resistant enclosure – can be an essential part of early learning before a child is ready to go to public school or homeschool. It can also play an important role in guiding young students during and after school.
While it's important to limit screen time and encourage social interaction outside the home, the iPad remains a great tool to help develop young minds. With the help of some recommended apps, kids can get a big boost during their primary school years and beyond.
Preschool apps for children from one to four years old
When considering an iPad app for young children, you want to make sure there are no ads. This often means that quality apps require a subscription, but this also ensures regular updates and refreshed content.
At this stage it is crucial that your children understand art, music, letters, numbers and other fundamental skills. It is just as important for their mental health as nutritious eating and exercise are for their physical health.
An example of a reputable, teacher-approved app for children ages two to eight is ABC mouse, which focuses on learning games. It uses customizable avatars, animals and colorful images to build a love of learning.
Home screen of the ABCmouse app
According to developer Age of Learning, the app is used in more than 70,000 classrooms and nearly half of all U.S. public libraries. Like other apps we'll look at, ABCmouse is certified compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and also approved by the kidSAFE+ for security and privacy.
After a 30-day free trial, ABCmouse requires a subscription. Parents can choose to pay $12.99 per month, or the better value of $59.99 for a year. The program works with a wide variety of recent and older iPads and iPhones, and requires iPadOS or iOS 10.0 or later.
BrainPOP Jr is an app available for students in kindergarten through third grade on the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It focuses on videos, activities and quizzes on all major topics, with personal animated characters as presenters.
It offers a free trial and costs $14.99 per month or $119 per year for full access. It needs iOS or iPadOS 14.0 or later.
Khan Academy has a variety of apps that help students from pre-K through college. For pre-K through Grade 2, the Khan Academy Children app focuses on reading, math and social and emotional learning.
The company offers these apps without ads and without subscriptions, but encourages parents to make donations if they find the apps useful. The app's library provides access to thousands of children's books and was an Editor's Choice app for the App Store.
Khan Academy Kids requires iOS or iPadOS 12.0 or later.
Apps for young students aged four to nine
As your child moves into preschool, primary school or homeschooling in earnest, the focus on developing skills in reading and math becomes even more important. These apps cover the early primary school years from four to eight years.
Dragonbox offers Kahoot! Learn to read by Poio, an app that stimulates self-directed reading development. It requires a subscription, but the annual fee of $35.99 or $5.99 per month also covers the company's two math-oriented apps: Numbers And Big numbers.
There is even an app that teaches children as young as five years old the process required to solve basic algebraic linear equations called Kahoot! Algebra. There is another in this age range that teaches children how to play chess.
If your children ages two to nine enjoy educational programs on PBS, they may find the PBS Children's Games app, which features many of their favorite characters. It offers a wide range of games for children from two to eight years old.
The games can also work offline, making the app ideal for road trips. The US version supports both English and Spanish.
There is also a related one PBS children's video app, with more than 1,000 episodes, including “Sesame Street,” “Rosie's Rules,” “Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood,” “Curious George” and more. It also supports both English and Spanish.
From primary school to secondary school
By the later stages of primary school, students will have acquired basic problem-solving skills and reading, writing, social and language skills. The purpose of education now focuses on preparing young people for their future as they progress to high school and beyond.
Some companies that created the apps they enjoyed as children also offer apps for older children and teens. Khan Academy in particular, offers prep apps for the more advanced subjects students encounter in middle school, high school, and even college.
This includes a range of physics, chemistry, biology, geometry, algebra, history, music, languages, financial literacy and exam preparation.
Dragonbox offers apps for children eight years and older that focus on multiplication, algebra and geometry. As students leave primary school and focus more on specific subjects and general assessments, note-taking and study aids become increasingly important.
Apple Notes could come into play as a useful tool that can be synced between a student's devices, and it's said to be getting a major upgrade with AI augmentation and summarization capabilities. This is coming later this year with iOS and iPadOS 18, but it's already an excellent note-taking app.
Quizlet is an app and website that allows you to take your notes and turn them into flashcards, overviews and quizzes. The app for iPhone and iPad offers AI-based teaching, notes and flashcards, practice tests and more. It requires iOS or iPadOS 12 or later.
The basic level is free to use, but a subscription is required to remove ads and get homework help, which costs $7.99 per month, or $35.99 per year.
In later primary school, but also in secondary school, language study ultimately goes beyond a student's mother tongue and becomes about learning foreign languages. Duolingo is used by both students and adults to help them learn the basics and more of new languages.
It has a very student-friendly interface and supports more than 40 languages that not only reinforce words and numbers, but also grammar and sentence structure. It can be used for free with limitations, but offers a monthly subscription of $9.99 or $83.99 per year.
The interest and skill in learning is an essential key to future success in life. These iPad and iPhone apps can foster a love of learning, making a student's life much easier during their educational experience and preparing him or her for future careers and challenges.