Photo: Luiza Kamalova (Shutterstock)
Kids and their devices, am I right? Parents are constantly worrying about whether and how to limit screen time. But maybe we need to accept the inevitable—it’s really hard to keep them off of their phones, especially when we are always glued to own own, whether through necessity (for work) or due to our own bad habits (or both!)—and instead try to make the time they do spend with their screens a little better.
If you want to pack your tween’s iPhone or iPad
with programs that are more useful than Fortnite and less annoying than TikTok, you can start with these 15 apps, covering everything from helping them learn, to helping them create, to giving them better ways to goof off and waste time.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy’s ambitious goal is to provide a “free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.” This app offers courses in everything your child will study in school, from learning shapes in kindergarten to AP Calculus for high school seniors, and it doesn’t cost anything. It’s the MVA (most valuable app) when it comes to homework help, too. If you’re only going to download one app for your child, make it Khan Academy.
Box Island
I’m generally against games that try to be educational—it’s a trick that rarely works, and I’d hate it if someone tried to make me learn something from a video game—but Box Island is an exception. This story-based adventure/puzzle game teaches the basics of computer programming through puzzle solving on a cartoonish tropical island. And it’s actually fun—not “learning-fun,” but fun-fun.
Universe in a Nutshell
Universe in a Nutshell gives children a way of reckoning with the scale of Universe by presenting a way to compare different sized objects. You can go from a minuscule quark to an entire galaxy in seconds of scrolling, and clicking on any of the many, many objects in-between gives you interesting and often hilarious descriptions of what you’re looking at.
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Minecraft: Pocket Edition
Minecraft: Pocket Edition
I can’t make a list of “good software for kids” without including Minecraft. The surviving, crafting, and building game fosters creativity, cooperation, and critical thinking, plus tons of skeletons to kill. The mobile version is missing some features of PC and console Minecraft, but it’s still a one-of-kind experience that belongs on every child’s iPhone or iPad.
Evernote
There are note-taking and organizing apps designed specifically for kids and tweens, but most kids want to be more grown-up, and Evernote is so easy to use and packed with tutorials, they can skip the baby versions. Your 12-year-old probably won’t need the more advance features like scanning business cards or organizing airplane tickets, but an app that does the basics—organizing your appointments and notes—is useful at any age.
High School Story
Players absolutely love High School Story. This interactive fiction game tasks you with building your own high school, recruiting students, and solving the …….
Source: https://nation.lk/online/15-iphone-apps-every-tween-needs-166908.html