How do you choose kids’ apps? Try the free ones? Look at the Editor’s Pick, Read the reviews? Or listen to what friends kids like? Here are 3 things that are important to know about apps for kids:
1. Most apps designed for kids have quite trivial or a “fancy flashcard” approach to learning. So look for the fun stuff–kids can learn more than you realize when they are engaged. Follow their lead about what seems worth doing with their time–there’s a reason they are fascinated.
2. There are grown-up tools and resources that are fabulous for kids, like The Elements by Theo Gray, or his new Disney Animate app. Just playing with these apps is liable to improve kids’ brains, especially if you get curious alongside your child and see what’s there. Some others are: Skywalk (look at what’s under your feet–through the other side of the earth and out into the sky, or find the sun in the sky–it’s really there on the iPad, right where it belongs. Try things that are fascinating to play with. Like Uzu, a particle physics simulator (I think!). What are your favorite fascinating apps that aren’t so obvious as the kids’ apps?
3. Lots of apps kids hear about may be truly inappropriate from your viewpoint. If you are there when your child downloads an app, you can see if it’s OK, and erase it faster than it loaded. Kids can do a lot on their own, but when they first start playing a new app is a good time to keep an eye out for what they’re doing.
Talk with you later. Ann
annhmccormick 