Today’s “Best Educational Apps for Kids” list is Best Science apps for elementary school kids. I did not include those animal related apps, as there will be a separate list of “Best Educational Apps for Kids” on “Nature and Animals”. If you know any good science apps for kids age 6 to 10, please leave the app name in a comment. I will update the list periodically.
Best Science Apps for Elementary School Kids
Bobo Explores Light: A very well designed science app with engaging interactive activities. The app utilizes multimedia contents when introducing science concepts. Kids will have many opportunities to get hands-on to try out some experiments themselves.
DNA Play is a fun game app teaching kids about DNA and genes. The complex concepts of genes and DNA becomes easy to understand with the well crafted games.
The Human Body by Tinybop is an interactive exploratory app for kids to learn about human body. It doesn’t offer lectures, instead, kids go into different parts of the human body, explore, play and observe. Even after playing with the app for a while, I still find something I did not know, every time when I re-visit the app.
The Element is another wonderful chemistry app teaching kids the periodic table. With the interactive images and information, it brings all the elements to life. There is a companion book also.
Chemist is one of my most favorite chemistry app. It is essential a chemistry lab on your tablet. Kids can choose the chemicals, and conditions, such as heated, and operate the experiments, watch the results. It gives kids the freedom to test out different hypothesis without worrying about explosions.
Crazy Gears is a really fun hands-on app, teaching kids about all different kinks of gears, with open-ended play. Kids will get to know the concepts of action and reaction, circular and rotary motion, ratios, tension, … before they can even say these words.
HowToSmile is a free with over 3000 searchable science activities for kids. I found many creative hands-on ideas to explain some complicated science concepts. It is wonderful resource for teachers, homeschoolers, and parents who want to find more hands-on science ideas to share with kids.
KidScience: an app showing you how to do some science experiments at home. You can search for science experiments by “Experiment Name”, “What is in My Pantry”, “Age Group”, “Science Type” (biology, physics, etc.), and “Amount of Time” the experiment takes. All experiments are easy to do, and with science explanations.
Solar Walk: travel through the solar system with your finger on your iPAD or iPhone. You can tap on any planet you are interested in. The app allows you take close look of each planet in the solar system, and you can spin the planet to get a view from any angle. Kids will have fun flying through the space and holding the planets in their hands.
SkyView: shows the stars and constellations on your device screen while you hold your iPhone or iPAD up, like you are going to take a picture of the sky. When you move your device, the view will change with your move. You can get facts on each star or constellation by simply tapping on the object of your interest. There is a paid version also.
Star Walk: Similar to SkyView, but with much more facts and better pictures. Some additional facts include calendar of celestial events like planetary alignments, full moons, solar eclipses, and meteor showers. There is a quick live sky one page that details when planets will rise and set. I suggest go with Star Walk if kids are beyond SkyView Free.
The best science app list continues after next image.
NOVA Elements: teach kids periodic table with multi-media materials, 3D models, and fun experiments. Kids play games to build the molecules that make up a number of objects – coffee, bananas, clothes. The content is scientific enough to learn the true science, and easy enough for early elementary kids to follow. It is a great app to get kids started on elements.
Monster Physics: Kids design, build, and operate their own machines, or moving devices with wheels, joins, ropes, propellers. After they build the machines, they can test out and see if they work or not. It is like a prototype facility on screen. Kids get the opportunity to learn physics with their own inventions and parents don’t have to worry about them breaking anything.
Where’s My Water: one of the first games I played with my son. We still love it. Kids learn fluid physics from playing the games. I have seen quite a few physics games by now, many of them don’t have realistic movements. The subjects either move too slow or not responsive to touches. While playing this game, you feel you are playing with the real liquid of different kinds.
Where’s My Perry: very similar to Where’s My Water, with added challenges, such as hot water meets ice, water turns into steam, … When kids move up the levels, the game scenario become more challenging, kids have to do some strategic planning to have a step-by-step action plan to win the game. This is another benefit besides learning physics.
Cut the Rope: Cut the rope to feed the candy on the rope to a cute monster. Kids learn basic physics concepts, such as gravity, motion, force, and vector. To solve the puzzle, they have to strategically plan out the sequence and timing of the rope cuttings and execute the plan perfectly. It is another great physics game.
Angry Bird: It is such a popular game that people use “Angry Bird” when they really mean “all the games on iDevice”. For this reason, some parents automatically put it into “non-educational” category. While in fact, there are a lot science and strategy in the game, if used correctly, kids can learn lot from the game.
What science games does your child like to play? Please leave a note! I will update the list periodically. Keep in mind, all animal and natural related apps will be in a separate list, which will be posted in the next week or so.
