As a pre-k teacher, and mother of a toddler, I am always looking for fun ways to help my students amd child learn their numbers, letters, shapes, etc. The parents of my students are always asking me for app suggestions, so I decided to do some research. Here is a list of some great apps for our little "tech savy" learners. There are many more, but these are my favorites so far. Please pass these along to fellow primary teachers or parents of little ones.
(Pics from itunes)
Mokey Preschool Lunchbox: Children fill the monkeys lunchbox while playing matching and sorting activites dealing with numbers, letters, colors.
Preschool Arcade: Games include, ABC Invasion, Pinball 123, Whack a mole, & Claw Crane Matching
Starfall: A great website for letter recognition, phonics, reading, and writing. Incorporates games, music, and art. Ages 2 and up. (used everday in my classroom)
JumpStart Preschool: Magic of learning
Uses 15 games to teach little ones math, pre-reading, and critical thing skills
Thanks for the app suggestions! I have a few friends that were looking for some good apps for their children. I love starfall!! We use it in our class all the time! That's great that they have an app for it! Thanks for the suggestions!
ReplyDeleteAmanda
Ahhhh, these are great! I'm a first grade teacher, so allllll of these would be super fun to use in my class! I use games similar to these all the time in my class -we play them on the interactive white board. I want to look into whether my school has iPads or Tablets to check out for purposes such as this. Surprisingly, I have found Pinterest to be a great resource for finding stuff like this -I follow some teachers who have whole boards dedicated to topics such as "Games for the SMART Board," "Apps for Early Ed," etc. You just type in what you're looking for and a *ton* of resources and websites pop up!
ReplyDeleteYou chose some great resources! I really love using Starfall with my Kindergarten and 1st grade students on the computer. They also love "Dance Mat Typing" and "Crayola.com." I haven't investigated to see if these are available apps, but I know you have picked some great ones. The little ones are great to teach - we can learn so much from them. :) I am amazed at how technologically advanced some of my Kindergarteners are when they get to my class. Thanks to teachers like you, you make that transition easy.
ReplyDeleteContinued succes to you. Hope you work with you again.
Katy,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your blog! Thanks for the recommendations! I actually haven't tried any of these yet.
Meghan S
Your blog lists some great apps for pre-k and kindergarten students. I also like how you incorporated a picture of each app instead of listing them. These apps can be used in the classroom or at home, which makes it even more versatile.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent of a 10 and 5 year old, I appreciate that you recognize there are more apps for kids that we know what do do with. However, I must warn you...and everyone:
ReplyDeleteIf you do not monitor the use of technology...if you do not mix in regular non-tech activities...your child will turn into a terrible mess!
I have recently allowed my 5 year old to use my iPhone to solve simple puzzles and matching games. When it is time (15-20 minutes) to "hand back the phone" he throws a terrible fit! I call them TECHNOLOGY TANTRUMS. I need to trademark that term. Anyhow, he goes nuts! He flops on the floor, cries...and nothing seems to settle him...NOTHING....candy? Nope. Toys? Nope. I now have to sneak around my own house with my iPhone.
Best of luck to you!
Mike
Katy, thank you for this awesome post. I am always looking for new apps that will help my students with their letters and numbers. Its great to here from another teacher about apps they like. But I do have to agree with Mike and the comment above me, that we need to monitor the use of technology because I have one student who right now can not use the computer in my classroom because when it was time for him to come off he would exhibit some extreme behaviors. So finding that perfect balance is the key.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post,
~Megan B