Teaching Kids

i suppose there are a ton of good ones. if i had a little one today i'd probably have a few on tap so that if i needed her to stay entertained and she got tired of a book or toys i'd have a last-stand option.
but i'd be 'teaching' her with a slew of things and they wouldn't involve apps.
khairete
S.

I just read to them every night, we counted all the time and I made sure they watched Sesame Street every day. No apps needed.

They didn't exist when our son was that young.
I read to him at every opportunity.
I always took a book with us where ever we went and if we had to wait for anything - it was story time!
We made it fun and something to be enjoyed.
I think interaction with an adult can be the best teacher.
It doesn't require batteries and the kid isn't alone with a machine.

I think helping kids learn involves a wide range of experiences. That means getting off the mobile devices and unplugging. Yes, there is a role for that, but I think we need to open their minds to more things. That means nature walks and museum visits and free play and building things are all learning experiences. It's not just about practicing a specific skill (math facts or spelling words or learning state capitals). It's about using all the senses. Kids need time for free play to develop creativity, they need to be read to and have discussions to develop vocabulary and critical thinking skills. High schools and colleges are telling us that kids lack basic interaction skills (manners and social skills), critical thinking (debating, seeing multiple sides of an issue, listening to various points of view), and an unwillingness to discuss or do research. They want everything right now - which is one down side to instant internet/app access.

Your daughter can learn her ABCs just as easily from the old ABC song and driving around or going into stores and having you say, "We'll be at Safeway soon. Let me know when you see the big S." That's application of skills into the read world. She can learn math by counting out the apples at the supermarket or learning to add in her head ("Let's figure out how many Christmas gifts we need. How many people in our family? How many grandparents? How many gifts does that make.") It's fine to play a game on the phone, but what is she not looking at when she's focused on a small screen.

You don't say how old she is, and I'm sure that makes a difference. What exactly is that you want her to learn?

As Nervy Girl says, read read read, every day. Not to specifically teach words, but to get her to love it and to expose her to lots of types of stories and open her imagination. Get her a library card of her own, and take her to the most underutilized resource in every town. She needs to touch books, not just use electronics. Borrow CDs there too to play in the car and sing along. Borrow DVDs and watch movies together. Turn errands into learning experiences - look around, observe, comment, etc. Do art projects and crafts - the tactile experiences are essential, so is exposure to color and being able to get messy with paint and glue. Build blanket forts and play with Legos or other building toys that are different every time you use them. Play board games - real board games. They teach cooperation, reasoning/counting and more.

Teach her about money by buying a kiddie cash register with play money (available in any toy store), and then play "store" using items from your pantry. Learning to read "beans" on a label and a price of $1.09, then counting out $1.09 in play money - that's learning! Move up to making change (that's a 2nd grade skill or thereabouts). Do puzzles - they teach mental skills, pattern recognition, and cooperation in working together with a seemingly impossible task being completed by perseverance and step-by-step time-consuming work. Put up a small game table in a corner of the family room so you can put a puzzle or game out, play for a while, and step away if needed and come back later. Buy a real toy clock so kids learn to tell time without using a digital read-out. Buy a US map or board game so kids learn geography in a fun way rather than trying to memorize states.

There is a huge aspect to learning which is the sensory aspect - hearing and smelling and touching and moving things around is critical to learning. Those are skills you don't get from touching a smooth screen.

Volunteer - teach her to do things for others that involve effort and not money. Do things for free - visit the fire house and the nature areas and so on. It's all learning.

If you look at some teaching websites, you'll see a wide range of things that are vital for teaching the kinds of skills kids (and adults) really need.

I don't use apps (a friend recommended ABCmouse.com but I liked other
ways of teaching better like those listed below).
-Taught ABC's by using a sign that had the alphabet on it so they'd see
letter reognition AND be able to try & trace the letters.
-Most things I started at age 4.
-Globe (pointed out diff countries)
-map of US puzzle showing where we lived, family & friends lived etc.
Helps w/interest & retention.
-Dora cartoon taught a few words in Spanish that I followed up with others
-I would rhyme things to have fun & as a pre-cursor to what they do in
kinder
-I started using money to teach. Go dust the shelves & get a $1. Then
sometimes going to the Dollar store to pick out a toy to show just how far
that dollar went w/all his/her hard work back at home to get that dollar.
-teaching all the coins so they count how much to make a dollar or how
much change to get back.
-getting change to put in their piggy banks then taking them to the bank to
deposit into their bank accounts.
-driving around, I'd say see that store store starts w/an "S" etc.
-going to the library to pick out fun, age appropriate books that I would
later read at home.
-library reading time when young for socialization, interaction, fun, learning to sit quietly while being read to etc.
-going to nearby mall. You want to ride the train? It costs $1. Let's save
our money for that.
-counting. Found a number scale at the Dollar Store, showing all of the
numbers & teaching them how to cout. See, that's the number 2 & there
are 2 apples pictured there etc.
-you can, also, use beans to help count. Count out 10 beans, 20 beans etc.
-count all of your dolls or Matchbox cars.

No apps. Kiddo is in second grade and I still read to him daily. When he was little we just stocked up on books in the library. Another great tool was unit blocks... legos are just a smaller version. Letters? We had a wooden alphabet 'tray' puzzle (where the pieces fit in) and we'd play bakery with 'letter cookies' he'd scoop off a cookie sheet into a bag; we made letters from playdough and used alphabet magnets to spell words.

My son has a vision dysfunction and doesn't take naturally to computers. So, we learned a lot by just repeated counting, noticing letters, making them relevant (letters in his name, in friends names, etc) and just spending a lot of time exploring his world together. I think the teaching happens when we just see what they are interested in and build on it. That was my approach as a preschool teacher (seasonal curriculum combined with emergent --child led-- curriculum) and as a mom. It's not really about the subject (dinosaurs, construction sites, plants, bugs, holes, communities--- some of the many things the youngsters wanted to explore), it's also about providing rich language, fun opportunities for the kids to express themselves and experience their own ideas made real, and letting them 'play' with their interests. Sorry if this is long and not what you want, but I strongly believe that the 3D world has so much to offer and that the 2D world should be secondary.

My kindergartener asked me if he could have "Hideout" on the ipad. It was so cute! He said maybe we could take the ipad to school and copy it from them (or something to that effect). Anyway, Hideout is a reading app. We also have a math app, where the fish has a number on it and you're supposed to put bubbles together that add up to that number. It's pretty cute, and my 8 year old really likes it. I only download free apps, so I'm willing to try several duds in the hopes of finding a gem. My kids don't mind trying them. They let me know if they don't like them.

I think other posters are suggesting you not expect any apps to be the primary teacher for your child, but I didn't take your question that way. I just assumed you were looking for some fun apps that also happen to teach, rather than only having apps that are games.

We use the IPad as a reward for a good day at school or when we have to wait at a doctor's office or something. There are times when the boys have too much screen time (like yesterday and today when my husband was in charge! Ug!). That's going to happen from time to time, but I try not to fret. We read lots of books and they get lots of outside time and running around time, so I don't worry too much about the occasional day of too much screen time. But it is nice when there are some educational apps thrown in.

You are a troll. You stole your profile picture from Karen Steele http://karensteelecoach.com
Go away.

If the child is school age talk to the teacher. Sometimes the teachers use programs in the classroom, such as Starfall, that can be used by parents at home.

If your child is under school age they will learn by playing. Sitting down and playing on the phone or tablet should be fun and entertaining to them. There's no reason they can't do this just for fun too.

Dora, Starfall, Disney, and any other like those play games, fun things, that teach in a backdoor sort of way. Google educational apps for (your child's age) programs.

There is an app with 50 IQ questions for kids age 4-6 or so. My daughter loves it. It is a preparation app for Kindergarten placement, but it is cute. It is called KidWiz

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kidwiz-kindergarten-gt-te...

We use different apps for practice and/or to keep busy, not so much teaching. If you do a search you can find lots that are free and specific to one subject.

An app here and there is ok.
Kids need to learn like Micky said.