The estimated reading time for this post is 5 minutes
Summer breaks can last just long enough to turn your kids’ brains into mush. Getting them to strive academically during their break may be a challenge, unless you enlist tech as your tool!
These tech tools help keep your kids sharp while they’re having fun, no matter what their ages. Websites, apps and other tools can challenge your kids to actually think without you having to pester them. You may even have fun using these yourself!
If you make learning fun, kids won’t guess that they’re being educated. They’ll think they’re playing. The only nagging in your home might be your kids asking to “play” longer.
Leap Frog Summer Camp
Leap Frog is offering a free online summer camp program filled with activities for your children to help them have fun while they learn. The Summer Camp gives you projects such as recipes to help your kids learn both cooking skills and math! Download coloring pages, crafts, games and more for free.
Each week you’re given new activities for you and your children to choose. Get ideas for field trips and how to turn everyday errands into teaching opportunities. You can download them all or pick the ones that work best for you.
Summer Learning Camp is available at the Leapfrog website. Signing up is free as are all of the activities.
Math
Amazon TenMarks
The TenMarks app, newly free and recently updated by Amazon offers assignments and video lessons for students from 1st grade up to Algebra 2 and Geometry. Students can earn badges and rewards for successfully completing levels. Stuck on a problem? TenMarks can give you hints to help you better understand the math concepts.
This video shows you how TenMarks works:
Amazon TenMarks is available free:
- TenMarks in iTunes for iPad
- TenMarks for Android in Google Play
- Amazon Appstore for Fire tablets and Android devices
Mathemagics
Your children can become math magicians with Mathemagics. Learn math tricks and shortcuts that can make math fun. This app empowers your kids to learn while playing by offering awards for achieving goals.
The app has three sections: Lessons, Practice and Play. Your child can learn tricks in the Lessons mode, then test them out in the Practice mode, then have fun with them in the Play mode. The Play section has both timed and untimed “Zen” options for your child.
Mathemagics is available for $2.99 for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch.
Math vs. Zombies
Your child can help save the world from zombies by solving math problems with Math vs. Zombies. The world has been overrun by zombies but your kids can help turn them back into humans by using addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. Geared for ages 5-11, this app makes learning math fun!
Check out this video that shows Math vs. Zombies in action:
- Math vs. Zombies is available for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch for $4.99.
- Math vs. Zombies Fire Tablet for $4.99.
- Math vs. Zombies for Android is free.
[tip] Follow @edappadvice on Twitter for news about educational apps. [/tip]
Reading
Mystery Word Town
The developers of Mystery Math Town have just launched a brand new app called Mystery Word Town designed to teach children spelling and reading skills. This game takes kids to a town in the Wild West where they explore buildings, collect letters, spell words and gather golden nuggets. Tapping on items in the rooms reveals fun surprises. Players unlock new levels when they’ve successfully completed spelling all the words in a building.
This video shows you a preview of Mystery Word Town:
Parents can set up profiles for an unlimited number of players and customize the difficulty level for each child.
The app is available for $2.99:
- Mystery Word Town app for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch
- Mystery Word Town app for Android
Mad Libs
Create silly stories by switching out words with Mad Libs. This fun app helps your children increase their vocabulary while having fun. They can play alone or together creating stories and save them or replay them later. Earn badges for creating stories and share your stories with others.
The Mad Libs app is free, ad-free, and comes with 21 stories included. Additional stories are available for in-app purchase.
Mad Libs app for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch
Kindle Immersion Reading
If your children are having difficulty concentrating on their summer reading, check out Immersion Reading from Amazon. Read a Kindle book while the text is highlighted and the Audible audiobook is read aloud at the same pace on a Fire tablet. Your children can have greater comprehension and increase the pace of reading as they progress.
Learn more about Kindle Immersion Reading: Immersion Reading on Kindle – When You Need Some Extra Focus.
Puzzles
Curvy
Arrange loops to connect them into a circuit in Curvy, an intriguing free puzzle app. This puzzle seems easy until you try it. Many puzzle pieces have multiple connections so you don’t know whether you’ve solved it correctly until you get to the last piece!
Curvy is available as a free Android app in Google Play: Curvy Free. You can also pay $1.50 to get Curvy without ads: Curvy Premium.
Swap It!
The free puzzle website Swap It! lets you see how gears work in sync. Swap puzzle tiles to make the gears move together. Solve the puzzle and move on to the next (more difficult) level.
2048
2048 is a highly addictive puzzle game that will have you immersed in trying to clear the board. Slide matching tiles together to form new a tile that adds up to the sum of the matched tiles. Your goal, should you choose to accept it, is to add tiles up to 2048.
A new tile of either number 2 or 4 appears after each move. The grid is 4×4 so you can quickly fill up the board if you don’t keep matching tiles.
You can play the game in many formats, including:
Dots
Play against the computer in the classic Dots game. Take turns connecting the dots to form boxes. Whoever forms the most boxes wins! This free website can help your child develop analytical skills while having fun!
[tip] Check out:
- 5 Fantastic Puzzle Websites — Free Fun for Everyone!
- 6 Super Fun Puzzle Apps to Stimulate Your Brain!
[/tip]
Coding
Tynker
Your kids can become coders this summer using Tynker, a free iPad app that teaches coding through games. Solve puzzles to learn coding concepts and build graphics, animation and music for games, stories and more.
This video gives you more information about how Tynker teaches coding through gaming:
Tynker is a free app that gives you the Tynker workshop and two puzzles with a total of 38 levels. More puzzles and projects are available as in-app purchases. Tinker for iPad
You can also visit the Tynker website to find out more about their Summer Learning Pack that teaches children how to code.
Your Thoughts
Are you looking for ways to keep your kids entertained and educated this summer? Do you like fun apps that help teach kids skills? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
Well 2048 is my favorite game and I’ll be playing it all day when I’m free. I really love it.
I guess I’m gonna have to try rest to the puzzle games listed.
Thanks
Hi Vicky, Yes the puzzle games are fun no matter what your age! I’m also hooked on 2048, such a fun and challenging puzzle game!
Not only for kids, I guess even parents can play some times with the puzzle game. They are cool and very entertaining.
Hi Dorian, Yes, many of these tools, especially the puzzle games, can be fun for adults too! I currently am hooked on 2048. Doing research for this article took much longer than I planned because I spent way too much time playing that puzzle game!
Its an a great article for the kids. Well done for this great job.
Hi Carolyn,
So nice to see your post on tech tools for kid. Using these tech tools to build and create is a skill that kids can use at home and they will love it for sure.
I loved tools from here is Mathemagics and Mystery Word Town. These are really brilliant tools. Thank you for sharing this awesome tools.
Kind Regards
Yasin Rishad