There are so many excellent iPad apps for kids that are fun and educational! App developers continue to create apps that help keep kids engaged while they learn.
After reviewing hundreds of these apps on our site, Kids Best iPad Apps, I have listed those iPad apps that are the best of the best in 2012.
Click on the link of an app title and you can watch our video and read the review.
Touch the image of pets, farm & zoo animals and toys, and a friendly voice tells you exactly what you’re looking at!
This is an app that will keep young kids engaged for a long, long time.
"Alien Buddies" provides a wide range of fun games for preschool and kindergarten kids to play that help teach colors, shapes, letters, numbers and more.
Is there a more fun way to learn about the midnight ride of Paul Revere at the start of the American Revolution than "Ansel & Clair: Paul Revere's Ride?" Probably not!
"Artkive" is a quick and easy way for you to save all of your kids artwork, store it chronologically, and even print it out. The app is very easy to use--just take a picture of the creation, add key information including the date, and store it digitally in the cloud.
"Baby DJ" is a unique, music app for kids that is so much fun and addicting even parents will want to use it! The app uses original music created by famous Russian producers which is perfect for kids.
A fun and touching interactive morality tale about a bee who isn’t accepted by the other bees in the hive until he reveals a special talent.
This app is an excellent way for kids to learn about light as it is highly engaging, interactive and educational. Bobo is a great guide that makes learning fun for kids.
There is virtually no limit to what this app can teach. It covers all subjects and supplements a wide variety of school curriculums. It really emphasizes listening and comprehension. Kids must pay attention to the movie in order to successfully answer the questions for the quiz at the end.
This app teaches children a number of critical learning skills. In mathematics, they learn counting, classification and sorting, and recognizing patterns. They must also use their problem solving skills for activities such as the bug mazes and tic tac toe.
English, Spanish, French, Chinese, German, and Italian – your child can start to speak any one of these languages with this bright and bold flashcard series.
The interactive experiments kids can do within the app are incredibly interesting and fun, making learning about color an exciting adventure.
"Creatures of Light" is an iPad app that informs kids about bioluminescence and the organisms that produce light. The app is based on the exhibit of the same name at the American Museum of Natural History.
Young kids must shuffle picture cards of animals or dinosaurs that are divided in three parts and make them whole again in "Shuffle Fun." This is a cool, fun way for younger kids to learn the names of animals and dinosaurs.
Travel to the weird and wonderful Elfishki Land to help two very different bakers make one very big cake for an important party!
The "Unwanted Guest" is another great Elfishki storybook app where brilliant illustrations, engaging animation, wonderful storytelling, and the education value of reading and comprehension all combine to create a superior iPad app.
This app helps foster positive self-expression in children. Using a variety of fun activities, kids learn appropriate words for what they are feeling and how to properly communicate those feelings to others.
This app offers a large catalog of preset flashcards or options to customize your own. There are so many options for organizing the flashcards and audio capabilities, including hearing cards in other languages (available as separate purchases).
“Goldilocks and the Three Bears—Kidztory animated storybook” is a classic and a great way for kids to experience reading using the latest form of digital media. With wonderful illustrations, surprise animation and options to read with and without narration, there is a lot to explore in this story.
The story is so well done that kids will learn to read along and be eager to find out what happens each step of the way in the haunted house.
Based on the characters and locations from the Jake and the Never Land Pirates TV show, this app helps kids have fun and learn to count, trace shapes, identify sounds, avoid objects, collect objects, identify sounds and more.
Salman Khan has created an incredible educational site and YouTube channel, and this app is the best way to view these sites complete library of 3,200+ videos. The topics of these videos include biology, chemistry, physics, the humanities, finance, history and K-12 math.
"Learning Games for Preschool to Kindergarten" is everything you'd want in a free app for 2 to 5 year olds as it builds skills kids need for reading, writing, and arithmetic and does it with highly entertaining and involving games.
A great iPad app for toddlers and preschool kids as it makes tracing fun which makes learning how to write letters, numbers, shapes, and words fun as well.
The "Magical Music Box" app captures the spirit of classical 19th century music boxes and enchants kids with imaginative looking boxes and musical favorites from around the world.
For a new twist on the classic game, “Math BINGO” lets kids search for answers to math equations on a virtual Bingo card. Once they get five in a row, they have Bingo!
"Math Blaster HyperBlast 2 HD" is a fast-paced, arcade, shooting game that teaches kids basic math skills, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions.
“Math Evolve” is a totally unique way for kids to learn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. The app has superior graphics and sound, and successfully combines a fun storyline, math equations and an arcade game all into one.
"Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally appisode" is a great iPad app for toddlers and preschool kids as it lets them help Mickey and his friends cross the finish line of a road rally by completing various activities. The app looks like the TV show of the same name with outstanding video play.
This app teaches kids fractions in all its different forms by using motion and fun game play. Kids are exposed to a large number of concepts and given multiple opportunities to find the correct answer.
“Motion Math: Wings” helps kids to practice multiplication and estimation conceptually rather than as tables to be memorized. It is a super app as kids get to control the action by tilting the bird to the bigger number using the iPad.
“Nighty Night! HD” is an amazing interactive story that provides a truly unique experience for kids. With incredible 2D animated graphics, a professional narrator and a sweet tale, kids will love exploring this app as part of their bedtime routine.
"Phonics Genius" has gone phonics-crazy with over 6,000 words grouped by phonic sounds. This app teaches kids words through phonics, both reading words and how to speak them.
Elementary aged kids who like a challenge will love “Pictorial.” This is a really creative app that takes the concept of identifying constellations in the night sky and turns it into a game of skill. The app incorporates interesting settings and backgrounds and even includes a few hidden secrets.
"PLAY123" is a simple yet unique and engaging iPad app for toddlers to help them learn shapes, colors, and numbers.
"Plug and the Paddywhacks" is a highly engaging, interactive storybook iPad app that young kids will enjoy and learn about choices, redemption and more.
“PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit” is an interactive book that takes the classic story of Peter Rabbit and provides a level of interaction unlike any other. Kids can “pull” and “slide” tabs to see pictures “pop” out and “rotate” to life.
When it comes to an app that truly makes learning fun, “Presidents vs. Aliens” covers all the bases. In order to “knock down the aliens” kids must correctly answer questions about all 44 presidents of the United States. With surprise features, bonuses and adjustable skill levels, this is a great game that all school-aged kids can enjoy.
"Solar Walk" is the best astronomy app in our Solar Syatem with its incredible 3D graphics, time-sensitive feature, information on planets, stars and satellites--and with real 3D TV support!
For a fun lesson in U.S. geography, “Stack the States Lite” is a good app to teach kids about all 50 states. They can learn the shape of the state, its location, capital, cities, landmarks and more.
Children of all ages love to tell stories, and “StoryBuilder for iPad” lets them tell a story and record it in their own voice. Using a series of questions about pictures on the screen as prompts, kids get to decide what happens first, next and last.
“TED” is an app that provides a number of videos featuring talks from world-renowned scientists, business leaders, artists and physicians who present information on a wide variety of interesting and thought-provoking topics.
Enjoy!
- Mitchell
