Lazy summer days don’t have to be brainless! Check out these free apps with your kids to learn something new.
BrainPOP Featured Movie (iOS and Android) and BrainPOP Jr Movie of the Week. (iOS and Android) BrainPOP is a subscription service, but each week, one movie is featured for free. Annie, the animated girl narrator, and Moby, a robot, teach kids about interesting topics ranging from science to history to culture. The content on BrainPOP is for ages 9-11 while BrainPOP Jr. is for 5-8. The free topics are often timely, like the featured movie about soccer during the last week of the World Cup.
Dualingo: Learn Languages for Free (iOS and Android) Learn Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, and English for free. Totally. No in-app purchases or ads. A pre-test puts you right into the appropriate level to start, and the level increases as you learn.
One Globe Kids – children’s stories from around the world (iOS) With One Globe Kids, children can read and hear about kids’ lives in other cultures, directly from the kids themselves, including a few phrases in their language. One story is available for free, and others require an in-app purchase.
Khan Academy (iOS) — You’re probably familiar with the amazing online resource, Khan Academy. The content is also conveniently available for free in an app. Kids (or adults) can watch lectures on math, science, arts and humanities, even computer programming.
Amanda Bindel is an Austin mom of two girls and reviews apps for Common Sense Media. Follow her on Twitter to read about more apps she recommends.
