What Are The Best Elementary Education Games For iPad?
Parents and teachers who trust little Muffy and Junior with their shiny iPads don’t have to worry about how access to shoot-‘em-up video games will rot their precious little gifted and talented program minds. Instead, they can download some of the following alternatives to help them build up their brilliant brains that will totally go on to win Nobel Prizes someday.
30 Of The Best Elementary Education Games For iPad
-
Math Ninja:
Kids love ninjas (or the pop culture-glossy depiction of ninjas, anyways), and this game channels their enduring trend into extremely popular addition, subtraction, and multiplication games.
-
Stack the Countries:
Learn all about the countries of the world and their major cities through this incredibly engaging challenge asking users to make designs out of their varying shapes.
-
Hangman:
The classic vocabulary game receives a digital makeover through this widely enjoyed application that pulls inspiration from daily headlines.
-
PBS Kids:
We’re cheating and including this suite of apps from PBS, because otherwise they’d more or less make up the entire list. From reading to science to math, favorite characters new and old teach preschool through elementary school kids fun little lessons through gaming.
-
Highlights Hidden Pictures:
Classic children’s magazine Highlights brings its widely beloved hidden pictures games to the iPad to delight another generation of kiddos needing to build cognitive skills.
-
The Oregon Trail:
Another essential childhood rite of educational passage phases into the Magic Land of Mobile and teaches the young ‘uns out there about a period of American history and how to not die of dysentery.
-
LEGO Super Heroes Movie Maker:
Encourage the kiddos to indulge their creative whims and edit their very own mini-films using favorite DC superheroes in LEGO form. Nobody can argue with Batman.
-
Math and Letters Air Control:
Like the title states, this great game teaches the basics of counting and basic math and the alphabet and basic parts of speech by indulging the imagination with thoughts of flying planes and helicopters.
-
BrainPOP Featured Movie:
Watch a new educational movie every day and then take a quiz afterwards to test knowledge retention; films cycle through a rotation for those afraid they might have missed something.
-
Early Jamestown:
Explore one of Britain’s first imperialist settlements in the Americas through this multimedia journey, which involves regular quizzes to test how well players paid attention.
-
GarageBand:
It’s an entire recording studio available in an iPad app! Nothing could be more enjoyable for aspiring young musicians than an open-ended creative outlet like GarageBand.
-
ThinkerToy:
Play with tangram puzzles of famous landmarks, favorite animals, familiar objects, and more. Even customize some new ones to share with friends!
-
Kapu Toys:
Mix up graphics and photos in this toddler-friendly app that asks them to snap and play with pictures and learn the basics of using iDevices safely and responsibly.
-
Mad Libs:
Mad Libs make for a super fun way to teach children about the different parts of speech, not to mention it nurtures bonding time when sharing the silly stories that result!
-
MathBoard:
Take multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction quizzes with customizable sizes, difficulty levels, and time limits.
-
Ultimate Word Search Free (Wordsearch):
Pass the time and build vocabulary and vision skills by indulging in some hot themed wordsearch action.
-
Rocket Math:
Solve increasingly difficult math problems and earn the parts necessary to build rocket ships in this wildly popular puzzle game.
-
Civilization Revolution:
Suitable for older students, Civilization Revolution provides an empire-building simulator with cultural and historical information about some of the planet’s most influential societies.
-
I SPY Riddle Race:
More than 60 puzzles involving in-depth riddles and object searches challenge the mind in a race against the timer to solve and find everything.
-
Coin Catcher:
Play with or without story mode and chase money while learning about responsible fiscal practices by using the iPad’s motion sensors.
-
Tozzle:
42 puzzles teach toddlers how to recognize basic shapes while simultaneously helping to strengthen their basic eye-hand coordination.
-
Let’s Create! Pottery:
Less messy (and expensive) than a pottery wheel, this app introduces creatively-leaning young players to the basics of crafting with clay and designing the finished results.
-
iWriteWords:
Thanks to the iPad’s super duper ultrasensitive touch screen, kids with access to the device enjoy a neat, engaging game helping them perfect their handwriting.
-
Mathemagics – Mental Math Tricks:
The lightning-fast challenges presented here teach kids how to perform some basic and not-so-basic multiplication and division problems without a calculator or pencil and paper.
-
Story Wheel:
Spin a wheel and collect separate parts of a story to be assembled in the correct order; finished tales pop into life as animations!
-
What’s the Difference?:
Build the brain and sharpen observation skills by checking out two seemingly identical pictures side-by-side and spotting the departures in high-def.
-
Time, Money & Fractions On-Track:
Preschoolers and early elementary students pick up the basics of how money and time work, as well as fractions, through both interactive videos and games.
-
Dr. Frankenstein’s Body Lab:
Learn the basic parts of the human body while building abominations straight out of Mary Shelley and taking quizzes about how everything fits together.
-
SoundTouch:
Perfect for toddlers, the SoundTouch matching game asks them to pair up familiar sounds with what animal or object makes them with … get this! … only a touch. WOW!
-
Monster Physics:
Kids pick up some basic physics lessons and construct their very own machines to digitally play with in real time.
Image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad