15 Cool Apps for Kids

Ready for 15 cool new apps for kids that are super fun and generally educational?

Cool Apps for Kids

Fido and Pumpkin Position Words $1.99
Meant for small children, choose from 8 questions to learn about position (over, under, behind, etc.) Kids see writing but can hear it read, too if they’re not yet readers. Find Pumpkin the cat and pick if she’s behind the flowerpot, under the bush, or in the box. Easy to use, cool collage art but not as many activities as I’d like to see.

Paper.io FREE
(Android)
My kids love this game app — it involves strategy and planning with rectangular lines and shapes. We’ve had to visit a lot of doctor’s offices lately and this app is a favorite for doctor office waiting rooms.

GoldieBlox: Adventures in Coding — The Rocket Cupcake $2.99
The story sets up this STEM adventure, then you get to help build and travel and code. 20+ coding puzzle levels. Great graphics & fun.

Space by Tiny Bop $2.99
Beautifully designed, you’ll be impressed by many things you can do and learn in this solar system app. See more STEM apps here.

Hopster TV FREE, or a monthly subscription for more access
(Android)
Hopster is a curated variety of mostly UK-based games, shows, videos, and music for young children.

Nancy Drew Codes and Clues
(Android)
Help Nancy program her robot puppy for a competition. You’ll get to play games that teach computational thinking, solve puzzles and problems, and more — fun but it’s pretty short. More coding apps here.

Block! Hexa FREE
(Android)
My 15-year old loves this fun puzzle game where you move the shape blocks into the empty puzzle. But it’s harder than it looks since you have preset blocks of shapes (think of Tangram) that must fit in the right spots or the whole puzzle won’t work. In-app ads, unfortunately.

Telsa Tubes FREE
(Android)
I’m warning you now, this app is addictive! My kids and I both love the design elements that make this problem solving app such a blast to play. Connect the 3-dimensional tubes, beginning with an easy level and progressing to harder and harder levels. However, there’s a big negative — in-app ads. They’re intrusive and annoying. 🙁

Toca Salon 3 $2.99
(Android)
If your kids, like mine, loved the first Toca Salons, they’ll like this one even more. You’ll find lots of new ways to be creative and clever with hair color and styles.

Toca Dance FREE
Although not particularly educational, this is a new, silly app from the Toca team that makes it fun to be a choreographer.

Clue $3.99
Meant to be like the board game Clue, this app game is one you have to play with other people online. Which means you have to wait a bit to take your turn again. However, it’s engaging and requires deductive reasoning skills.

Socratic FREE
This app is a homework life saver! If you don’t know how to solve, let’s say an algebra problem, take a photo using the app. The app searches the internet for a solution and also shows you the steps to solve your problem. Thank you, thank you, thank you whoever created this genius, mind-saving tool!

DailyArt FREE
(Android)
Recently I wrote an article for Read Brightly about activities to do with kids learn about significant women. This app came to mind, although I didn’t include it in the article, because it shares about one artist, both men and women of course, every day. You’ll get a bio and examples of the artist’s works. Today’s artis is Eva Frankfurther, who is new to me. Would your kids love learning about famous and not so famous artists?

Memrise FREE, then subscription plan
(Android)
My daughter is taking French and struggling so we downloaded this fantastic, interactive app with real people saying the words, written words, and a lot of repetition. (Which we all need.)

Tic Tac Math $2.99
One of my blogger friends makes apps and sent me this to try. It’s a fun way to practice math facts. To get an X or O on the board, you must solve the math equation. Trying to get 3 in a row is just as hard as a regular game — can you do it? Find more multiplication math apps here.

ABC Literacy App