Educational apps are a beautiful thing. See, learning works best when your kids don’t realize they’re actually doing it. And when your kid is armed with a tablet and a fun game, they’re not going to feel like they’re learning something — they’re just going to have tons of fun. And they’re going to want to keep going back to that app (read: learn) over and over.
From math apps to reading apps, the best educational apps are endlessly entertaining while helping children build incredibly important skills. Things that will help them do well in school, and yes, in life. Here, we’ve rounded up the best educational apps to download right now.
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Educational Apps That Are Fun, Too
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Marble Math/Math Jr.
This pair of math apps has kids roll or drag their marble through mazes to solve various math problems at various levels of complexity. Marble Math Jr. is for kids ages 5-8, while Marble Math is for kids from 9-12.
Photo: iTunes -
The Human Body
Make biology and anatomy much more fun with this TinyBop science app, which lets kids interact with a body and see what happens when you eat, get tickled and more. (My daughter spent hours experimenting and seeing what happens when you remove the skeleton or overfeed the body.)
Photo: TinyBop -
Odd Squad Blob Chase
A math app inspired by the PBS Kids Odd Squad TV series encourages kids to figure out whether to use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to get around, collect blobs, and solve the case.
Photo: PBS Kids -
Skyview
My daughter spends hours spinning around with this app, seeing the locations of various stars, planets and galactic landmarks. It’s a perfect choice for capturing the eclipse-inspired passion of a budding astronomer—or just so you can point out the Big Dipper with confidence.
Photo: iTunes -
Weirdwood Manor
Older kids who still haven’t found their literary passion may love this engaging reading app, which combines puzzles and animation with a compelling mystery story.
Photo: Weirdwood Manor -
Barefoot World Atlas
Make geography and social studies more engaging with the Barefoot World Atlas, which uses gorgeous animations, music, and games to help kids understand the differences that make our world fascinating—and the ties that unite us.
Photo: Barefoot World Atlas -
Crazy Gears
Get your future engineer started with this fun app, which lets them learn basic physics principles by using gears, pulleys, chains, and more to solve puzzles.
Photo: iTunes -
Motion Math Cupcakes
My kids have a passion for cooking games—and this one adds a math element to the fun, where kids learn real-life math applications for pricing products and buying supplies while making cupcake creations.
Photo: Motion Math -
Mad Libs
The old-school classic in app form, Mad Libs helps your kids learn the difference between verbs, adverbs and more—and make up silly stories they can read.
Photo: Mad Libs -
AlphaTots Alphabet
Preschoolers can learn their ABCs with a series of games that have them building robots, zapping aliens, and having fun.
Photo: iTunes -
Toca Lab Elements
Have chemistry fun without risking a (real-life) explosion with this awesome educational app. Kids can experiment with different elements from the periodic table, and see what happens when they’re combined, set aflame, frozen and manipulated in different ways.
Photo: Toca Boca
