Community Voices for Health

By: Jessica DiRamio

My family is lucky enough to have several Apple devices and even though a couple of those devices technically belong to Mom and Dad, on any given day my kids borrow them to play with apps.  I have found that the iPhone and iPod don’t have to just be looked at as gaming devices.  Of course we all have Angry Birds and we have even been known to play a round or two of the hugely addicting Temple Run.  These games have no educational value whatsoever, but I am totally OK with that.  To offset this, I’ve found several age appropriate educational apps thanks to a favorite blog called The iPhone Mom.  The iPhone Mom site is super cool in that she works hard to weed out the good from the bad and even occasionally offers special discounts on these favorite apps through the Apple App Store.

Thanks to this site, I found a great app called “Stack the States.”  This app challenges my 8-year-old to U.S. geography trivia, including state shape recognition, capitals and more.  Who am I kidding?  This app challenges ME to U.S. related trivia!  So fun!

Another great educational app is Monkey Preschool Lunch Box.  My 5-year-old has been playing this game for over a year and she just loves it.  I love how it incorporates learning into fun mini-games, including a fun one where the child must figure out what letter a certain fruit begins with.  The games are fun and completely designed for a preschooler, so that means Mom may just get a few minutes to cook dinner without hearing “Mom, can you help me?”  Ahhh, one can dream, right?

As the kids get older, apps become less and less desirable (for them, not Mom & Dad).  This is particularly true since Twitter, Skype, OOVO seem to take up all of my 13-year-old’s free time.  I have been able to find several apps to aid in homework time, including a Graphing calculator app.  Have you seen the prices of graphing calculators lately?  Well, guess what?  This app is only $0.99!

I am a huge fan of these and so many more educational app.  Doing a search for “kids educational apps” reveals results for blogs and even iTunes articles discussing this topic.  Our devices don’t have to be just another gaming system for our kids.  Spend a little time doing research and I am sure you’ll find some fun apps that do a little teaching at the same time.  I see it as a win-win!