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The best educational apps for kids of all ages right now

Keep young minds whirring during long summertime plane, train and car rides

By Janelle Chew Wen Yie Posted: Tuesday June 25 2019

Photograph: Tim Gouw via Unsplash
You already know that your kid should probably be getting less WeChat and more world history, and less Instagram and more algebra, when it comes to their digital diet. If summertime travel hours already have you searching for ways to keep young minds engaged in meaningful ways, here are some of today’s top-rated educational apps for all ages.

Little kids

Sago Mini Friends

Sago Mini Friends

Mini Friends makes play dates virtual, helping to encourage interpersonal skills like cooperation and empathy through games like fixing a birdhouse, playing dress-up and washing up – all relatable and fun. Plus, you don’t need wi-fi to play, making it great for air travel.

Best for two- to four-year-olds.
Find it 18RMB on iTunes and Google Play.

Endless Alphabet

Endless Alphabet

In Endless Alphabet letters take on a personality as kids drag them into proper places to form words. Part of the Endless app series, Endless Reader, Endless Numbers and Endless Wordplay are also available to help kids tackle different subjects in a fun and accessible way.


Best for four years and up. 
Find it 60RMB on iTunes and Google Play.

Mystery Math Town

Mystery Math Town

Your mission: help a friendly ghost rescue fireflies hidden around Mystery Math Town. Players will need to use maths skills to unlock rooms and passages on their journey. Unlimited user accounts give parents flexibility in setting the right age and skill level for kids. And it’s not just about tapping answers – players will also need to practise reverse maths by actually building equations.

Best for four years and up.
Find it 25RMB on iTunes.

Happy Kids Timer

Happy Kids Timer

It’s never too early to start prepping kids for their school year routine, right? This app encourages kids to bring focus to their daily routine, including tasks like making the bed, brushing their teeth and eating breakfast. Here’s hoping one day you’ll actually be able to get out the door in under an hour.


Best for four years and up. 
Find it free on iTunes and Google Play.

Big Kids

Tinkerblocks

Tinkerblocks

Tinkerblocks was created based on research by MIT and the University of Tokyo to teach programming basics in a way that’s easy to understand. The app’s simple interface lets kids combine widgets to build fun, surprisingly sophisticated mini-apps using your device’s camera, accelerometer and other features, and allows kids to instantly see the results of their work.


Best for six years and up.
Find it 18RMB on iTunes.

DragonBox Elements

DragonBox Elements

This is a game that secretly teaches the foundations of geometry. Through entertaining exploration and discovery, players interact with shapes and their properties to learn the mathematical proofs that define geometry.

Best for nine years and up.
Find it 30RMB on iTunes and Google Play.

Sky Guide

Sky Guide

Study thousands of stars, comets and satellites with this stunningly gorgeous astronomy app. Using a built-in compass, Sky Guide lets users easily locate constellations and other celestial bodies with augmented reality and detailed descriptions.

Best for nine years and up.
Find it 18RMB on iTunes. 

Epic!

Epic!

Epic! is a digital library for kids, where they can explore their interests with unlimited access to 35,000 e-books, audiobooks, learning videos and quizzes. Users may search through the selections by subject, genre, age and audio or read-to-me features. Users can also track their progress with number of pages flipped and time spent reading.

Best for kids 12 years and under.
Find it 50RMB per month on iTunes and Google Play.

Teens

2048

2048

2048 is a sliding block maths-based puzzle game and isn’t as easy as it may appear. While merging tiles to create the 2,048th, spaces are quickly used up, signalling the end of the game. Highly addictive, this will be a great challenge for your teen.

Best for 12 years and up.
Find it free on iTunes and Google Play.

Gudak Cam

Gudak Cam

Fancy vintage film aesthetics? Try Gudak Cam, which recreates the entire process of shooting with a film camera and reintroduces the now-lost element of excitement and surprise when it comes to photography. By using a viewfinder – and without focus and lighting controls – this app will be great for teens to strip photography back to its point- and-shoot basics.

Best for 11 years and up.
Find it 6RMB on iTunes and Google Play.

TED

TED

Redirect your teen’s growing curiosity and developing intellect toward some of today’s most remarkable thinkers and speakers including doctors, artists, designers, professors and scientists changing the world. New videos of ‘ideas worth spreading’ are added weekly.

Best for 12 years and up.
Find it free on iTunes and Google Play.

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