When I first got my iPhone the thought of letting one of my kids even touch it was like “NOT HAPPENING!” Then slowly, I allowed them to play games here and there as a way to keep them occupied. It was such a hit, my kids asked if they could use the tickets they earned from doing chores to play on my iPhone!
Now, as a homeschooler, I’m always trying to think of new ways to make learning fun. I’ll admit, I’m an iPhone newbie, and honestly I didn’t realize was that there were literally TONS of educational games out there! This epiphany lead to what’s now affectionately referred to as “There’s an iPhone in my Workbox!”.
I think it would be even more fun with an iPad, but for now everyone’s happy with the iPhone idea. I purposely leave a workbox empty when I’m filling them, and instead put a sticky note with the game I want them to play on it. (I’m not foolish enough to leave my phone unattended in a workbox overnight, plus my fish would die if I didn’t tend to them.) Then the next day when we start school, someone will remind me that they have the “special note” in their box and I’ll add in my iPhone.
Please note that I pick the game they are to play, it’s not a free for all. However, they do get to play what they want after playing my selected game for 10-15 minutes and really the games are pretty fun, so I haven’t had any complaining what-so-ever.
So what games do we like? We have games on logic, reading, spelling, math, space, and then some that are just plain fun! Below are some of our favorites (Most are free, a few are paid):
Math Bingo, Montessori Crosswords, Words With Friends, Move It, Fish School, Rocket Math, Solitaire City, Stack the States, Starfall ABC’s, Preschool Connect the Dots, iJewels, Jewel Bling Free, Sudoku, Zaner-Bloser Handwriting, Shape Builder, Hangman Classic, SkyView, SpinArt, Tic-Tac-Toe, Word Wagon, Bob Books, Cookie Doodle, Living Earth, Sky Burger.
Oh, and, if the kind hearted Apple people are reading this post, and wish to send an iPad to help in our homeschooling journey, that would be awesome! ;o)
To see more educational iPhone games, just open up your iTunes and search for “Educational Apps”! There are tons!
Have an educational iPhone app you’d like to share? Comment below!
Excellent ideas everyone, thanks for sharing!
I won an ipad recently and have been enjoying just checking out all the apps, the girls are loving them. Looking forward to trying some of your suggestions.
Can't wait to look these up – thanks! Some of our educational favorites are: BookwormiPuzzleWordsRushHrFreeiDiggerPlanetsSolar SystemAnimalChatterWord Warp (for me, too hard for my 3 year old)Falldown is fun too (maybe not educational exactly).
I'm going to have to check out some of these! We have an ipod touch that the family uses, even the three year old. Some of the apps we have, (some free, some paid, some more education than others, lol) are:TanZen (lite version)Tiki TowersInteractive alphabetBrain Questa free dice roller, great for all sorts of things!and of course angry birds. Because there's lots of educational value in that, right? 😉
Touchy Books is awesome!! They are interactive books and more books are added all the time. They even have them in other languages. The app itself is free but you purchase the books. They are pretty cheap .50 to 3.00 depending on the book. There are 2 free books. My girls love Touchy Books and get excited when I buy a new one 😉
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm always hesitant to download new apps until I know if other kids really like them. We're always looking for new ones, though!I did want to add that it actually looks like most of the truly educational ones you listed are not free. I think it's definitely easier to find free "fun games" than free "educational games."
We have an ipod. Its pretty much the same thing as the iphone. We paid for an app for scheduling that I like called First Then. It allows me to put schedules on there for my Asperger child. There are so many great apps. Gotta look into some of these ones!
Great post!We like Sudoku and Mastermind
We have an ipad and here are some of the apps we like:
Alphabet Tracing
Bible Stories Word Search
BrainPop
iteachStates
Math Bingo
Math Drills
Rush Hour
My Spelling Test
Stack the States
Tangram
TapQuiz Maps World Edition
World Book – This Day in History
Air Hockey Gold
Creationary
Glow Coloring
Toddler Puzzle Shapes
Balloons: Tap and Learn
Advanced Puzzle Map of USA
ABC – Magnetic Alphabet
Color Dots
Crayola Color Studio
Math Ninja
Thanks for your great blog and wonderful printables! I am just starting the journey of homeschooling my girls and bought your LOTW program. They are loving it! I saw that you liked the All About Spelling program and I wondered if you knew, there is an iPad app out with letter tiles that can be customized (so would work with the AAS program). I don’t know if it would work with the iTouch, but when you get your iPad from Apple 😉 it might be something you would be interested in. It is called SoundLiteracy. Thought you might like to know. Thanks again for your inspiration and help along the way with homeschooling!