Top 10 Educational iPad Apps for Kids
Considering an iPad and interested in what kind of educational content is out there for kids? Here are some of the best and most popular apps – which, when taken as a whole, present a compelling case for the role of the device as an educational tool. Let us know what other apps your kids love in the comments — there’s a lot of great content out there, and not all of it ends up at the top of the App Store listings. But here are some of the apps that did…
Top Educational Kids iPad Apps in the App Store
Star Walk is one of those special apps that delivers upon the iPad’s promise of being a “magical” device. You may in fact have already seen this one — it won the Apple Design Awards in 2010 and was featured among the best iPhone apps of 2009.
The iPad version continues to provide great astronomical information — but the real “wow’ of this app is the fact that it delivers a full screen augmented reality view of the heavens that rotates as you move your iPad around — turning it into a super-powered virtual telescope.
Strongly recommended both for experienced star gazers and the youngest observers of the heavens. (Although the littlest Gallileo wannabes may need a bit of help..) You can get it from the App Store here.
Honorable Mention: If you’re looking for other fantastic astronomy apps, both Mars Globe HD and Solar Walk 3D Solar System are great.
Fish School HD continues Duck Duck Moose’s strong tradition of producing quality kids educational apps for the iOS platform. Like their previous iPhone mega-hits, Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider, Fish School HD features strong animations that can help engage kids in a learning experience. This app features a dynamic school of fish that swims into place to display letters, numbers and shapes — and, like a well-trained aquatic marching band, the fish are perfectly synced with the accompanying music. Fish School HD guides kids through different learning modes and periodically rewards them with free play with the fish. If you’re looking to help kids learn letters, numbers, and shapes, it’s hard to go wrong with this one.
You can get it from the App Store here.
Math Bingo has been one of the hottest kids apps in recent weeks and has been extensively featured by Apple — but in case you missed it, Math Bingo is wonderfully focused on a simple concept — you answer math problems to fill spots on a bingo board. This drill-style learning is complemented by adorable little “bingo bugs” that you place on your board as you correctly answer problems. Once you win a round you are awarded a bingo bug to keep and then given the chance to play with it for a bit — not only by touching it, but also by moving your iPad around and triggering the accelerometer. Great fun and a great reward for learning. My three year old isn’t quite ready for this yet, but apps like this one and Math Ninja are driving her curiosity around this whole “math” thing. Last night she spent an hour with me asking questions like what is 3+4 and 5+2 and 1+4 and on and on.. Anything that engages my daughter in learning like that is a tool I want in her life. If you’re interested you can get it from the App Store here.
Full disclosure here – Build A Zoo is our app, and we’re proud of it – but you don’t have to take our word for the fact that it is a great learning app for the iPad – Apple named it a “New & Notable” education app just the day after it was released. Build A Zoo features six different learning games that kids can play to earn animals for their zoo. The included games help develop a nice balance of skills including spelling, memory, matching, as well as timing and fine motor skills. Interested in seeing what your kids think? We’ve got some promo codes for free copies of the app that we’d be happy to share with you, our loyal readers — just let us know in the comments..We’re all out of promo codes for the current version, but you can still get it from the App Store here.
There’s absolutely no doubting the fact that Cookie Doodle is an incredibly engaging app. Kids love to play house – and this app lets them bake and decorate cookies without the mess. Trust us – if your kids like baking real cookies, they’ll love this too. We have seen some comments in user reviews that this app is void of educational content — but we disagree. If you’re looking for apps to help your kids get a jumpstart on reading, writing and arithmetic, than this probably isn’t the best app for you. But if you believe the process of going through a self-guided yet structured creative exercise can help your child learn to think, than this is probably an excellent app to add to your child’s collection. Just be prepared to help eat the virtual cookies.. You can get it from the App Store here.
Math Board is a classic – one of those apps that validates our claim that mobile devices are the modern chalkboard. This app takes that idea quite literally – math problems appear and you have the ability to work them out by hand on the virtual chalkboard. The app features deep options for customizing both the type of problems you want to answer and the overall quiz. Further it also stores your quiz results and displays them in an easy to see dashboard. Perhaps the best part of this app is it’s ability to deliver value across a wide range of learning levels. Depending upon the child, it’s easy to see this being useful as a regular learning tool for kids from as young as 4 to as old as 13 — and not many apps can make that claim.
You can get it from the App Store here.
Color & Draw is a modern coloring book. It includes a wide variety of line drawings that kids can color in, as well as stickers that can be added to drawings, and the ability to import images and draw on them. The app’s user interface is simple and clean and easy for little kids to figure out — meaning you don’t have to fight with the technology at all and can instead get straight to the fun of coloring. Color & Draw also makes it easy for you to save and share images — meaning that even if junior’s next masterpiece doesn’t end up on on gramma’s fridge, it may end up on her desktop. Sound like fun?
You can get it from the App Store here.
The Cat in the Hat has always been a classic, and it’s only gotten better on the iPad. The iPad version will read to you, or let you read and explore the story yourself along the way. Really, the magic here is the story – but the occasional convenience of having the book read itself and the fun of being able to interact with story elements gives this version a freshness beyond any paper copy.
You can get it from the App Store here.
123 World Geography 
is both a guided coloring exercise and a great introduction to geography. It’s best explained by watching the demo built into the app, but the essence of it is that you get to color in a wide range of maps. Once you’ve finished coloring in your map, you can also easily save or share your colorful cartography with friends. A great app for the kids in the car on any road trip.
You can get it from the App Store here.
Super Why is a favorite of many kids from the PBS Kids series. Their app is true to the series – with classic characters 
each hosting their own game, including sentence completion, rhyming, spelling and a letter hunt. The visual look of this is obviously top-notch and the learning games are of obvious educational value. Some reader reviews seem to indicate that there’s been some instability with this app – but I’m happy to say that I’ve not been able to crash my iPad with it. Which is lucky, because our kids love it.
This list is based on a mix of our personal take and iTunes App Store data as of early June ’10. We’re confident all of these are truly great iPad apps for kids — but we’re not convinced our list is completely comprehensive. Although the situation has improved greatly since we put together our list of Top 20 Kids Educational Apps for the iPhone, the nature of the App Store still makes it easy for some great apps to slip through the cracks and makes it even harder for them to ever get rediscovered. On that note – are your kids using any great educational iPad apps that you love that you don’t see on this list?
Let us know — we’d love to feature some reader favorites here.
Do share.
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An excellent app for language vocab building is Language Master- http://www.languagemastersuite.com/
Video preview here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XODK9dRni_w
Created by Hooray, http://www.hooraysociety.com you can learn French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Mandarin, Malay, Polish, Thai, Japanese, Welsh and English.
Great Post! I really like most the apps you mentioned.
You might want to expand the list a bit to make room for Thumbelina – already #1 search result in YouTube for “iPad books for kids”, Thumbelina is a creative and interactive adaptation of the Andersen classic.
Follow her encounters and help her out of tight spots to reach the Happy End, she’ll be a joy to read and get immersed in with your kid.
Want to be the first to know when Thumbelina releases? Register to our New Book Alerts
Could I please get the promo code for the free download of build a zoo?
Thanks
A great list! I will definitely get them for my little one. My little girl’s fav is Baby Explorer for the iPad. The cute sounds and vibrant colors makes her really happy!! Here’s the link:http://punflay.com/baby-explorer-appstore.html
Please provide the promo code for build a zoo.
Thanks!
NameThatNumber is a challenging educational app geared toward late elementary students. You use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to get to your goal number. It’s pretty addicting!
I would love to try your zoo app with my daughter!
Still giving out free promo codes for Build a Zoo?
Susan, Gautam, Marlasmom and Kevin — your promo codes should be in your in-boxes.
Enjoy!
I LOVED this list! I was hoping to find a ‘top ten’ educational ipad apps list, but wasn’t sure I’d get anything good – I’m glad I tried anyway, and I found your list. I have purchased 4 of these!
If you still are offering promo codes for the ‘build a zoo’ app, I would sincerely appreciate it!!
Thanks again
Toni
Great list! My kids have played such iPad educational apps as PopMath Basic Math, Highlights Hidden Pictures, Tangram XL and iCreate Home Edition. I will get some of the apps in your list for them. Thanks for sharing!
Could I get the promo code for the zoo app?
Carol – you should have your promo code! Let us know what you think..
Thank you for a very helpful article.
Do you still have a promo code available, I would love to take a look at Build a Zoo.
Could I please get the promo code for the free download of build a zoo?
Thanks
Sandy
Brad’s favorite is My Numbers (English). This great app will aid kids to learn counting…If you are interested in teaching basic Math to your kid this is an apt app. Check out http://www.punflay.com/my-numbers-appstore.html
Thank you for the helpful article. I would love a promo code for Build a Zoo so that I can try it out with my son.
Great summary of topcapps… If there are still promo codes I’d love to have one for build a zoo so my daughters can try it out! Thanks!
Great article.
Would love to try your Build a Zoo if you still have Promo Codes.
Thanks for this list, we’ll check some of them out. Could I get a promo code for Build a Zoo? Thanks!
Brent, Matthew, Michael, Lisa, Sandy, Benny and Toni – you should all have promo codes for Build A Zoo in your inboxes. Be sure to let us know what you think -we’re working on some enhancements now and we’d love to get any feedback you have. Thanks!
Love all the selections! My three and 1/2 year old loves Lunchbox. Any more promos left for build a zoo? Many thanks for all the great info!
Could we get the promo for Build A Zoo? We are very interested in it
Hi,
Good article. Hope to see more apps reviewed. If there are any more codes for build a zoo, I appreciate it.
Thanks!
Could I please get the promo code?
Thanks!
We’d love to try your zoo app!
My kids are enjoying this new Mother Goose app. It has 20 rhymes and games. Rhymes are excellent for language skills.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mother-goose-reader/id381023287?mt=8
I would love a promo code for the zoo ap to share with my children.
Thank you for this list of learning apps. My 4 year old loves to use my iPhone and I love when he’s learning. Can you send me the promo code for the zoo app?
Hi, Could I please try out the free promo for Build a Zoo?
Thanks very much,
Fiona
Any chance I could have a free promo code for the Build a Zoo? I won an iPad and am donating it to our elementary school.
Thanks for this list! Bingo Bugs are among our favorites as well. There are a lot of other great apps we’ve found useful for our son to learn with – apps like “Pearl Diver” and “Teach Me Kindergarten” which seems to be a favorite of a lot of my mom friends.
We’ve been reviewing apps with an educational bent at our apps4ikids site- I would love to try out your Build a Zoo with our son as well. Could I get a promo code?
Would like a promo code if still available!
Great blog! Would love to try your Build a Zoo if you still have promo codes.
Hi, there’s also Magnetic Alphabet, it’s the classic magnetic board game! a great way for kids to learn the alphabet and numbers! It is also a great diversion for those times when kids get bored as long trips, restaurant dinners, parties with friends… available here: http://bit.ly/azbWhL
Guys check out the new Word jam game by Rega in the app store just for a 1$ its worth every bit for your kids. Its a must have.
Could I get a promo code for build a zoo app?
Thanks!
Would like a promo code if you’re still giving them away.
Thanks.
Fantastic reviews, will be downloading some of those later for my children. My little ones favourite app on the ipad is Uggles Match, so cute. Heres a link http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/uggles-match-hd-matching-pairs/id378904116?mt=8
)
Keep up the good work
Hi, love to try the app for build a zoo as a new ipad user. Any promo codes remaining? Thanks!
Pl could I hv the promo code for your zoo ap? Thks
Is the promo code for Build a Zoo still available? Cheers.
I’d love a promo code for the zoo app to try with my son, if they are still available.
Thanks for this list!
we are just now getting our son an iPad and I am so happy to find your list! My son has autism and with theapps you list plus the autim specific apps being created we are very excited about the possibility our new iPad. THank you.
It’s been a while but wondering if you still have promo codes for Build a Zoo. Happy to report how my son does with it. THANKS.
Thanks for this list–I am always on the lookout for new educational apps for my kids. I will keep checking with this blog for updates. Are you still giving away promotional codes for Build A Zoo? I would really appreciate it!
I’ve just discovered a great app for my daughter, its called Charles Peattie’s Animal Alphabet.
It’s is a great interactive educational app for learning the alphabet and also aids reading. My daughter really enjoyed the music, sound effects and the animation. and at £1.79, I think its a great price.
Great post….I have 3 daughters all in elementary school and love playing various games on my iPad. Could I please get a promo code for build a zoo??
Juicebox Software just launched Animal Coloring Book for Android mobile devices. This simple, digital coloring book offers an array of themed pages to color. Choose Farm, Jungle, Marine or Insect themed pages, color and save to the Gallery for printing or fine-tuning at a later time. Animal Coloring Book will entertain children with its simplicity and endless possibilities of creations.
android_apps@juiceboxsoftware.com
Looking to share apps with the schools I am working with – like a promo code if they are still available.
Thank you
Would love to get a promo code for the app. Looks interesting. You should also have a look at ABC Numbers for the ipad. This cute app has two screens, one for numbers and another one for alphabets. Check it out-http://punflay.com/abc-numbers.html