How Do I Know Which Apps Are Best For My Kids?
Guest Post by Karen of Technology in Early Babyhood
I am e'er careful about screen time, both with my students and with my own children. I try to limit it. Only when my kidsare in forepart of a screen, I want what they are seeing to be of the highest quality. As a pre-kindergarten teacher, I've spent the last year trying to track downward high quality apps to use in my classroom. It'due south a much bigger job than I expected it to be: good apps are hard to find. Over the final year, I've developed a set of criteria that I employ to decide if an app is high quality and can be used in my classroom. As parents, we can use like standards to evaluate apps for our own children.
Look for apps that encourage children to build and think creatively.
These kinds of apps are great for and then many reasons. Start, thinking creatively is so much better for the young brain than memorizing skills and facts. Second, you almost always get more "bang for your buck" with a creativity based app. When a child is thinking creatively, the possibilities are space. With an app that's teaching a specific skill, similar addition, you can almost always get to the end. An app designed for inventiveness can yield endless possibilities. Here are a few of my favorite apps that promote inventiveness and college level thinking (and they're all free!)
Kodable: Teaches Computer Coding Skills to Immature Children
Geoboard: Lets kids use this archetype teaching tool digitally
MOMA Art Lab: Allows kids to create digital art
Try to avoid apps that include in-app purchases.
This is non a hard and fast rule for me. There are some actually adept apps that contain in-app purchases (Kodable, for example, has in app purchases) but most of the best apps don't. My preschoolers have been known to inadvertently cease up in the app store within minutes of opening an app through in-app buy links. If they're going to be on the iPad, I desire them to be learning, not shopping for more apps. :) The iTunes store tells consumers which apps contain in-app purchases just under the title of the app. I always bank check for this and consider information technology before I download an app.
Recognize that you may have to pay for good apps.
App developers tend to generate income in ane of iii means. i. You pay for the app in the app store. 2. You lot buy "upgrades" for a gratuitous app in the app store through an in-app purchase. 3.The developer runs ads on the app which generate income. What this means is that frequently (but thankfully not ever!) free apps come with ads. Yous never know what a child is going to see in those ads at the bottom of the app, and it's easy for lilliputian fingers to accidentally click on those ads. For this reason, I'm very careful about letting my students use apps with ads and sometimes that ways buying the paid version of the app, instead of sticking with the free version.
Look for apps that are recommended by trusted sources.
I Can Teach My Kid has reviews of apps for toddlers, preschoolers and young readers. I've compiled lists of my favorite apps for instruction on my site every bit well. I always feel meliorate nearly downloading an app that's been recommended past someone I trust.
Karen is mom to two elementary aged children and is an assistant Pre-Kindergarten teacher who writes about instruction with technology. You can read more almost using iPads with young children on her website, Applied science In Early on Childhood.
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Source: https://www.icanteachmychild.com/how-do-i-know-which-apps-are-best-for-my-kids/
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