So you’ve taken the plunge: You’ve finally given in and bought an iPad and now you are ruing your decision because all your child does is play meaningless, inane games that serve no educational purpose.
But before you ban iPad from the lexicon entirely, remember that it is perfectly okay to use it for entertainment value alone. Just because you are being entertained, it doesn’t mean you are not learning! After all, we don’t only watch educational TV do we? It’s the time and spent and the way it is used that needs to be monitored. In fact, my post on how to use TV positively for learning discusses this issue. That being said, when used creatively, there are many apps that can be “App-dapted” for educational purposes.
Jeremy aka The Speech Guy and Sean Sweeney from Speech Techie have some fantastic ideas for Appdapting apps to facilitate speech and language particularly for therapists.
Spending hours trawling through the App Store looking for Apps can be daunting. Relying on App Store ratings in order to decide whether an app is worthwhile or not is often fruitless because family and friends and the social media companies who launch the app often create inflated app store ratings.
The best way to find apps is through word of mouth, real reviews and use of social media.
Some of my ‘Go To” resources include:
AppsGoneFree is an ipad App. As its name indicates, this app provides you with apps that have gone free on a daily basis. Every day hundreds of apps reduce their price to free for a limited time to try to stimulate excitement. AppsGoneFree finds only the apps worth owning.
The Following resources have websites, Facebook Pages, Pinterest Boards and Twitter Accounts. By “Liking” the Facebook pages and/or following on Twitter, you will be able to see new updates.
The iMums – are four mothers from around the globe dedicated to educating parents about the best digital stories, educational apps, fun games and technology products available for their children.
AppyMall contains Apps that are organized in terms of book, game, and educational apps by the following grades and categories:
- Preschool
- Elementary School
- Middle School
- Speech & Language
- Special Needs
Within each anchor store, apps are subcategorized by subject and price so that consumers can easily find relevant learning content for students.
This is a website to collect and share tools, hardware and applications available for the enhancement of technology in education. The information is categorized so that parents, educators and other professionals who work with kids can access the information they need.
Teachers With Apps, co-founded by two lifelong educators, is dedicated to the idea that quality mobile educational apps are the tools of the future but they need to be used responsibly.
KinderTown finds and reviews educational apps for children from 3 – 8 years old.
Two mothers who have children with special needs run this site. Together with a support team of professionals and parents, they source and review apps that are beneficial for children.
This is also available as an app on the ipad.
The Appy Ladies are a diverse group of ladies with various backgrounds and interests, who have a passion for apps and information. They share iOS app reviews, information and resources.
AppAbled is run by parents of Special Needs Children together with a team of expert reviewers. The site provides reviews and showcases many of the app developers.
Learning in Hand’s, Tony Vincent is a former teacher, turned mobile and digital learning expert. Not only does he find awesome apps, but I really love his ‘Tip Tuesdays’
You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and I will try and keep you updated.
Apps are not the be all and end all!
Apart from the numerous apps that are available, the beauty of the iPad lies in the ease of using it innovatively to create your own movies, ibooks and annotated photograph albums. ‘Non-educational’ games can be used to have fun and elicit and shape language development.
Children learn best when they are having fun and just because they are having fun, it doesn’t mean they are not learning. 😆
