Today’s blogpost is written by Jo and Anjali Owens. Jo’s daughter is at Kindergarten in Toowoomba, Australia, and her Kindergarten teacher asked Jo to write an article on her favourite apps for five year olds for their monthly newsletter. Jo got in touch with us after including one of our apps in her list, writing, “We’re huge fans of your apps and books and have most of your story book apps. It is such a pleasure as a parent and avid reader to see my daughter explore and discover the joys of reading through various media, including your interactive storybook apps.” Here, re-printed with their kind permission, is Jo and Anjali’s list of their five favourite apps.
It was hard picking only 5 of our favourite apps. We decided to go with high quality apps that were well designed and constructed and were just as much fun as they were educational. We also chose apps that were from well trusted developers and were free of in-app purchases and third-party ads.
1. Toca Nature by Toca Boca
Toca Nature is a standout app that captures the magic of nature. It’s a simulation game where children can shape nature and watch it develop, plant trees and grow a forest, raise a mountain, collect berries or nuts and feed the different animals. Our favourite part about this app was seeing cause and effect, such as what happens when we clear trees or what types of animals appear on a very high mountain. It’s a beautiful interactive app to experience the wonders of science and nature. It’s easy to see why it was named in the App Store’s Best of 2014.
2. Thinkrolls by Avokiddo
We just love this game. Thinkrolls has about 20 hilarious characters in this cleverly designed app that teaches young kids about physics. As the name suggests, kids think while they roll cute ball-shaped characters through a variety of mazes and face challenges as they go. We had so much fun navigating our Thinkrolls characters through a series of obstacles where each new chapter introduces a new object with unique physical properties such as ice, rock, crates or fire. Little players encounter and use force, acceleration, buoyancy, heat, elasticity and gravity to get their Thinkrolls where they need to go. Our favourite thing about this app was whenever we got stuck, the cute little character said “think”. We had to learn through trial and error what works and the need to plan our moves in advance. Thinkrolls is a brilliant game to encourage thinking and problem solving.
This is a stunningly beautiful fairytale app made by British books and apps publisher Nosy Crow. It is an interactive storybook that blends storytelling and gaming and encourages reading for pleasure. Children play a role in the story as they read along and play the various games .There are some fantastic interactive features such as tilting the device to rock the baby Snow White to sleep, or using the front camera to show children their own faces in the magic mirror, help Snow White clean the dwarfs’ house and mine for jewels. It is an atheistically beautiful app with rich and detailed illustrations and set to original music. It’s almost like a short animation movie. Our favourite feature of this app compared to other story book apps is that the voice narration is from children, not grown-ups. It’s a delightful app to encourage a love of reading and story-telling.
4. Fishing with Grandpa by Fairlady Media
Fishing with Grandpa is a high quality app in the Grandma and Grandpa series of educational apps for young children by Fairlady Media. The great graphics, music and Grandpas voice makes this app appealing to young children. The app has several learning opportunities through educational mini games and short videos where children learn about different types of fish and about the art of fishing. Children get to play underwater games, choose a lure, cast a line, hook and reel in a fish, and add new fish to their collection. My favourite feature of this app is Grandpa himself! I love his positive praise and encouragement and especially love it when children get to give Grandpa a big high five after they catch a fish.
5. We Discover Wildlife: Forest Quest by Kindermatica Ltd.
This is a beautifully designed, 3-D board game that teaches us all about forest animals! It is perfect for family game time for players of different levels (set easy level for young children and harder level for parents). We get to know the inhabitants of the forest and have an amazing adventure as we play, such as hiding from rain showers, repairing a bridge and photographing animals along the way. It’s a great way for young children to learn how to play board games, to wait to take turns, listen and evaluate answers provided by other players, and work towards a goal. I also found they don’t get as distracted or bored when compared to physical board games at this age (4 – 5 years old). The game has over 350 questions and answers about the African savanna and the animals that live there. So it’s just as challenging and fun for parents as it is for children. What I love about this game is that children get to see that parents don’t really know all the answers. And that learning is a life-long process. And that board games are fun!
