10 Jul WATCH AND LEARN: 3 GO-TO FREE APPS
I am continuously amazed at how many children before 1-year-old know how to swipe a screen on a phone and navigate to their favorite app. How do you choose which apps are valuable and which apps to avoid? There are some incredible apps that provide enriching experiences that allow a child to learn but to weed through the thousands (maybe millions now!) of apps can be time-consuming and expensive.
Take the opportunity to make screen time an educational and interactive opportunity! Because there are so many apps out there, the free apps have potential to be full of advertisements, become boring or repetitive, or lack quality information. Each app in this list minimizes these issues. And best of all they are FREE!
- Children’s Countdown Visual Countdown, Educational category
Who can benefit: Children with Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism, ADHD/ADD, Developmental Delays, Cerebral Palsy
Recommended because:
- It’s easy-to-use
- Colorful and simple design
- Operates in increments of time in 10 seconds up to 50 seconds; continues in 1 minute increments up to 59 minutes
- Has child mode (hides buttons when timer is running)
- Reveals photo and sound when timer is done
- Allows for sound to be muted
To be improved: Advertisements are part of free version. Pay $0.99 to remove ads.
- Super Stretch Yoga, Health and Fitness category
Who can benefit: Children with Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism, ADHD/ADD, Developmental Delays, can be modified for some with Cerebral Palsy
Recommended because:
- It’s simple
- It uses cartoons and videos of children performing yoga
- A story format is used to explain the yoga moves
- It uses child-friendly language
To be improved: Older children may need a series of poses in a video rather than one pose at a time. Videos are quick, an adult may need to encourage holding position for longer period of time for increased relaxation, focus, or breath work.
- Touch and Learn Emotions, Education and social skills category
Who can benefit: Children with Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism, ADHD/ADD, Developmental Delays, Cerebral Palsy
Recommended because:
- It uses photos of real children (rather than cartoons)
- Allows multiple options of photos to choose from
- Allows sounds, praise, and labels of emotions to be customized
- You can upload your own photos and add them to the app
To be improved: It only allows for 4 photos to be presented at a time. It may be repetitive or uninteresting for the child with a short attention span or for a child who likes to constantly move around.
I encourage you to get creative and interact with your child while they interact with the Ipad. If you want the Ipad to be used as an educational tool, it’s critical that you model your behavior and language for how to expect your child to use it.
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Stayed tuned on the latest educational Apps for free and ones worth the price!
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