17 Free Learning Apps To Check Out For Your Child

May 18, 2020

Technology is all around our children and whether we like it or not, it has slowly become an integral part of our lives too.

In unprecedented moments like these with school closures due to COVID-19, technology becomes our next best friend when we are home-bound with the children. Learning still must take place even though schools are closed.

With or without home-based learning lessons from school, parents can still offer their children some form of education through free learning apps for kids on your tablets. Such apps can encourage your children to learn independently while you are busy with that Zoom meeting as you work from home.

It is essential to note that excessive screen time is still harmful to children regardless of their age. However, if you are going to hand over your device to your children, load it up with useful free learning apps for kids that they can have access to.

Want to make technology a positive experience for your family? Here are some free learning apps for kids that you can download onto your devices!

Free Learning Apps for Kids to Learn at Home

General Learning

free learning apps

How amazing would it be if you had one app where you could access all subjects? Without having so many apps crowding your space on your tablet, check these two free learning apps for kids that can cover most aspects of learning!

1. Khan Academy For Kids

Fast gaining traction in the online learning world, Khan Academy For Kids is an app that encompasses all areas of learning in English, Math, Reading and Logic. While it is directed at ages 2 to 6, it is a useful app for primary school children who are still in need of building their foundation in these subjects.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

2. Khan Academy

Catering to an older crowd of learners, Khan Academy has short videos to teach several subjects like Mathematics, History, Art etc. Their Mathematics programme, in particular, is suitable for our primary school children with the short lessons and quizzes that are provided.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

Digital Library

free learning apps

With the closures of libraries in Singapore during COVID-19, most of you will be looking for new books to entertain your children. Online orders for delivery may take days to arrive and all the bookshops are closed until further notice.

Do not fear, for there are plenty of amazing digital libraries for your children to access from home.

3. Epic! – A digital library

Epic! is an American kids subscription-based reading and learning platform. There are thousands of books for children of all ages to access, ranging from audio books to read-along books.

The app is free to download with a 30-day free trial before you commit to any subscription. Multiple accounts can also be created on this platform, catering to the different ages of your children.

Parents, you can also create reading collections for your children and assign them books that you find interesting!

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

4. Bookful

Bookful is the leading Augmented Reality library for children using AR and 3D animations to bring books to life. It creates an engaging experience and brings the stories to life.

Reading is now an active learning experience for children where they become interactive with the characters and the story line.

Bookful encourages independent reading with narration mode and games are available to test their comprehension.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

Free Learning Apps: Academic Subjects

free learning apps

Are your children tired of doing assessment books from cover to cover to reinforce their learning?

Have a look at these free educational apps for students. These apps can help your children to learn independently as they play games to solve questions to enhance their basic concepts.

5. World’s Worst Pets – Vocabulary Builder

Considering that vocabulary is extremely important in composition writing, having a varied set of words at your children’s disposal can help them to express their thoughts better.

This app teaches children vocabulary through a self-directed learning process. While answering the questions, children can seek help from the main character guiding them through the game to explain the meaning of the words.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

6. ABC Reading Eggs Learn to Read

ABC Reading Eggs is a multi-award winning learning programme that helps children to read. This app is designed by Australian teachers using scientific research on best practices and learning methods for children.

Catering to children from the ages of 2 to 13, Reading Eggs comprises four categories – Reading Eggs Junior (ages 2-4), Reading Eggs (ages 3-7), Reading Eggspress (Ages 7-13) and Mathseeds (ages 3-9).

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

7. Sentence Hero

Do punctuation and grammar affect your children’s ability to write fluently? This is a fast, fun, and easy-to-play game to help them get their writing right.

Your young learners can work their way through game levels for punctuation and grammar. The faster they get their answers correct, the more points they score.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

8. Sushi Monster

A game that is used to reinforce, practice and extend Math fact fluency in a challenging and fun manner, Sushi Monster will be a hit for your primary school going children. This free learning app for students is bound to keep them excited and entertained as they mentally calculate the sums in their head in order to feed the hungry monster.

Download now from the App Store!

9. MathTango

This free learning app for students makes learning addition, subtraction, multiplication and division truly fun for children between the ages of 5 to 10. They learn well with the multitude of classroom-tested combination of Math puzzles and “world building” activities found in the games. Kids will have to progress through several Math lessons as they earn their monsters and gain their own unique world creations.

Download now from the App Store!

10. Fractions, by the Math Learning Centre

Specifically designed to teach fractions, this free learning app for students can help them to visualise the fractions better by using bar or pie models.

Parents are invited to use this app to guide their children in solving Math problems on their worksheets. Using operations with fractions, parents can even critique their children’s work on the spot. It is the perfect app to complement the learning of fractions!

Download now from the App Store or Chrome Store – or access it on the web app!

11. 10 Minutes A Day Times Table

Spend just 10 minutes a day to become a Math superstar in multiplication!

Children excel in short bursts of learning periods where they are able to accomplish something successfully. This is a perfect free learning app for students to introduce them to the world of multiplication.

The faster they solve their questions, the faster their car will move towards the finish line. Once they have mastered their regular times tables, they can attempt the mixed times tables segment.

Download now from the App Store or for Android!

12. Prodigy

Creating their own avatar in a make-believe world, children get to be engaged in epic battles to earn prizes, go on quests and play with their friends while learning math. Content is tailored to suit your children’s strengths and weaknesses as they play on through the clever algorithm built into the game.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play – or access it on the web app!

Free Learning Apps: Coding for Kids

free learning apps

The buzzword these days in the technology world is coding. Coding for kids has become the new up-and-coming activity that parents want to get involved in. There are a lot of benefits for coding, mainly to help them learn problem-solving skills and to equip them with skills that are important for the future world that they will live in.

13. Scratch Jr

Children can learn how to programme their own interactive stories and games using graphical programming blocks. Their characters can jump, move, dance and sing.

Children can also record their own voices to narrate their stories. In the process of learning coding, children can also use Mathematics and language in a meaningful and motivating context.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

14. Bee-Bot

Bee-Bot is originally a floor robot created by TTS group. Its popularity in classrooms globally has led to the development of this free learning app for students. The app makes use of Bee-Bot’s key functionality, encouraging children to improve their skills in directional language and programming sequencing.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

Free Learning Apps: A Break From Learning

free learning apps

After all the academic work that your children have done, they can continue to be engaged in some brain break apps for their mental health. A short break can do them wonders before they get back to the grind of learning again!

15. Star Walk for Kids

If your children are very interested in astronomy, this free learning app for students is ideal. Incorporating interaction and entertainment, this app teaches astronomy and our solar system to your children through fun games. They are introduced to interesting facts about the planets and visit each planet as though they are in outer space.

To top it off, funny educational cartoons about space are available for them to watch too.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

16. Draw & Tell HD

This is a creative app that brings children’s stories to life. They are given tools to colour, draw, decorate with stickers, create animations and record stories. They can also select from given backdrops to colour while narrating a story.

Download now from the App Store!

17. Headspace

Many of us would have heard of the Headspace app for adults, but do you know that they also have a section in the app for children?

Catering to a child’s shorter attention span, Headspace aims to calm your child to restore his/her attention span through encouraging mindfulness. You can choose from either a one-minute or three-minute meditation programme for your children and sit with them to practice some mindfulness.

Download now from the App Store or Google Play!

Read also: 6 Easy Science Experiments for Housebound Kids Using Everyday Items

These free learning apps for students are hopefully a great use for all parents during this circuit breaker period. Continue to work from home effectively while ensuring that your children are meaningfully occupied with their tablets!

Written by Danielle Hee