Check out these great apps to keep your preschooler’s skills alive this summer.
Summer Learning Apps
Writing Wizard
Use this app with children who have been introduced to their letters this school year. It will solidify their knowledge of letter names and formations. Writing Wizard offers 5 different fonts to choose from. Choose the one your child is most familiar with. Next, the app has 5 different areas for learning and engaging with writing. The first area involves tracing familiar shapes such as circles, crescents, and crosses. This area is a great place to start for children who are just beginning to write and use a pencil or crayon, usually around the age of 3. The areas include upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers and a “My Words” section. All of the different learning areas have many different options for parents to customize the experience for their children, including changing the size, difficulty, and whether to show or hide the model. There is even a setting for left-handed writers.
Children love the different types of markers used to trace the letters such as rainbow, tiger, and bugs! After the letter is correctly formed, children love playing with the pictures that fly off the letters before the next letter appears. This feature keeps children engaged and offers a change to “play” while learning. KinderTown especially likes the “My Words” section for children as they advance their writing skills. Parents, customize the words in this section to include your child’s name, their favorite food, their siblings’ names, and other important beginning words your child is motivated to practice over and over. Another wonderful feature within the app is the ability to print off practice sheets for your child. A great way to make the connection between the app and paper and pencil. The app is $4.99 and appropriate for children ages 3-6. An app that will grow with your early learner!
TeachMe Toddler
TeachMe Toddler is a mixed-practice review app that presents questions in a multiple choice format. The app reviews concepts such as shapes, letters, letter sounds, colors, and vowel sounds. The app has a nice progress reporting area where you can check how your child is progressing through the skills. For every 4 questions answered correctly, the child earns a sticker. This feature excites children and motivates them to continue answering the questions. KinderTown likes how if children choose the wrong answer, the little mouse tells them why the answer is incorrect. Children must continue until they select the correct answer and do not earn a checkmark towards a sticker when they incorrectly answer the question. In addition the app allows for multiple children to have an account so it can be used in preschools or for multiple children in one home. TeachMe Toddler is $0.99 and appropriate for children ages 3-4.
Kindergarten Bingo
Kindergarten Bingo practices three different skills: shapes, letters, and numbers, through an interactive Bingo board. The app allows for up to 5 players to play the game together. Children must listen closely to the narration, as it tells what to identify in the app, like a “green crescent,” or the letter “M.” This is a great way to help your child prepare for following directions, and improve their listening skills. Parents, visit the settings to change the default letters from capital to lowercase, and choose how high you would like your child to practice their numbers (up to 100). Also, parents, you can choose to practice the letter names or the letter sounds. Both are valuable skills for children. The app also has a nice practice area with flashcards that need to be used with an adult because the app does not provide feedback for the child. The app does say the correct answer aloud when tapped, but a parent will need to help their child correctly identify what is pictured on the flashcard.
Learning Wand
Craft stick or Paper Towel tube
Markers/Crayons
Construction Paper
Construct a special wand. Decorate the paper towel tube or craft stick. Make a special star for the top. Let your child lead in how they would like to decorate their special learning wand.
Tell your child that they are going to use their special wand to find letters around your home. Ask your child “Can you find a letter in the kitchen?” Children should use their special wand to search for a letter. If they can’t identify all the letters, don’t worry. Tell your child the correct letter name once they have found a letter. If they need assistance, give them clues. After finding a few letters in the kitchen, switch to another area of your home. By doing this you are raising your child’s print awareness. They are discovering where letters exist within their environment. For older students, you could ask the question “Can you find a word in the kitchen?” You can also repeat with numbers. “Can you find a number in your bedroom?” Use your special learning wand throughout the summer to continue to identify letters, words and numbers in their environment.