5 apps that help preschoolers learn as they play

Develop your child's early learning skills with these educational iPad apps. These apps will educate them about reading, shapes, colours, psychomotor skills, and entertain them with fun and games.

5 apps that help preschoolers learn as they play

Keeping our kids off electronic devices is a losing battle. You know it, and I know it.

The next best option then, is to find apps that help our little preschoolers learn as they play. The challenge with that is that the learning or educational apps can sometimes be so boring that they fail engage our children. Plus there are just so many apps, that sometimes you just don't know which one to choose.

The trial and error process can end up costing some pretty dollars.

So what we did was to find 5 apps that making learning fun and are in fact all under $5 for your kiddos, who are also under 5!

1. Endless Reader, FREE

From the developers behind Endless Alphabets comes Endless Reader. The adorable Endless monsters are back to help your little master "sight words".

"Sight words" are those commonly used words in school and in children’s books, accounting for up to 75% of children’s print materials. Young kids are encouraged to enhance literacy.

Recognising sight words is said to be advantageous, as many of them have unusual spelling, cannot be sounded out using phonetics, and are often abstract concepts that cannot be represented using pictures. Endless Reader’s interactive puzzles and engaging visual and sound effects will bring these sight words to life and make your little one into an avid and able reader.

This app is available both on Android and iOS.

2. Bugs and Buttons, $3.98

This app, with its 18 mini-games and activities, randomised gaming and levels that increase in difficulty, will certainly keep the little one edutained all day!

Your child will get to practice early learning skills such as counting, fine motor movements, path finding, identifying patterns, sorting, and tracking alongside butterflies, ladybugs, bees, and more when unlocked.

Each game is designed to be quickly self-learned and adaptive play patterns offer kids fun challenges without frustration. As your little one grows in mastery the game play can be adapted to more advanced levels to keep the challenge going!

This app is available both on Android and iOS.

3. Fun Chinese, FREE

Bilingualism is always a top priority for the Singaporean parent. Fun Chinese meets that by providing your little one with learning games to get a head start on Mandarin lessons.

This designed by language learning experts for kids ages 3 to 10 combines a structured Mandarin Chinese language course with engaging and entertaining games.

The language course is divided into lessons, with each lesson comprising of 6 or more unique games. Each language lesson teaches core vocabulary and presents words in several contexts to assist learning and retention.

The app is free to download with the first lessons on colours free of charge. Each subsequent lesson is $1.99, or you can save money by purchasing multi-lesson packs.

This app is available both on Android and iOS.

4. Scout's Shapes & Colors Farm, $1.99

Singapore may not have many traditional farms for you to show the little ones where produce comes from, but this app will transport them to one. Great for tiny tots ages 2 to 4, this farm will even teach them about shapes and colours at the same time.

Three multilevel games are sure to help the little ones grow crops and skills. They can trace seeds into crop shapes, search through hay to find objects in matching colours, and match and move shapes to help fix things around the farm.

They can also have fun and unleash their creativity dressing up puppy pal Scout or Violet! During the game, they will also get to learn the names of animals and the sounds they make.

This app is available both on Android and iOS.

5. LEGO Juniors Create & Cruise, FREE

If your little one was obsessed with the LEGO movie, this app is for him/her! Children ages 4-7 can let their imagination run wild as they create their very own LEGO vehicles and minifigures.

Create & Cruise provides plenty of inspiration for real-life LEGO builds and interesting conversations as you ask your child why the princess, for instance, is driving a police car with legs instead of wheels. They will get to build virtual LEGO sets with a few easy touches and drive by them as they become part of the game’s colourful 3D backdrop. Watch your little one transform into a little builder as he/she builds models without help from Mummy or Daddy.

And you won’t have to watch the little builder like a hawk, as this game has no in-app purchases, third-party advertising, or links to websites. Finally, a really enjoyable app experience without the frills!

This app is available both on Android and iOS.

Try out these apps and tell us which work the best in the comments below!

Written by

Mary Anne Ho

apps for kidsapps for preschoolersdigital learning