Perfect for kids who aren’t big into page-turning.

Some kids love the thrill of turning the pages of paper book. They enjoy visually gauging their reading progress and find reading on a comfortable chair or couch simply relaxing. Many children, however, gravitate to tech tools. They jump on any opportunity to swipe, press, or share, and are easily engaged by digital content. Tap into this “tech savvy-ness” with the reading apps below for kids ages 4-11 to help your child build critical reading skills while still having fun.

Age 4-8

Starfall Learn to Read

With this engaging app, kids can practice their decoding skills using 15 mini multi-sensory books, each of which focus on an individual sound, including short vowels, long vowels, vowel teams, and r-controlled vowels. When reading each book, your child can click on the word if she has trouble decoding it and the app will vocalize its correct pronunciation, and if she clicks on the image on each book page, the characters and objects will “come alive” with movements and sounds, providing humor and loads of fun.

Bob Books Reading Magic

This app helps emerging readers learn to blend sounds together to both read and spell words. It contains four levels, starting with basic consonant-vowel-consonant words and progressing into longer, more challenging words, and serves as a great supplement to Orton Gillingham reading lessons. Players must spell basic words first by matching letter tiles to ones already provided as visual hints. Once they have done so, the app sounds out the word and the images become colorful and animated. Later, “visual hints” are not provided and players must drag letters in order to spell words, providing higher level reading and spelling practice.

Homer-Kids Learn to Read

This app helps kids develop their early reading skills, along with other basic skills such as shapes, numbers, and color identification. It also integrates reading comprehension and critical thinking practice, skills that become increasingly important as students move through school. To play, students follow a “wickle avatar” around a map containing various activities, through four different levels. Kids enjoy learning about a variety of topics, including animals, transportation, music, and more, through both listening and reading. The app contains enjoyable worksheets to practice specific skills and 60 books to read.

Age 8-11

Duh Books

This app is a great one for curious kids who love learning about zany, interesting topics. It contains a variety of e-books‎ on various fascinating topics including animals, natural disasters, the universe, and many more. Players learn new information provided in simple terms, enjoy the engaging visuals, and can click on links if they are interested in learning more about a topic. It’s great for kids who love learning new facts and information about the world.

National Geographic Kids

This is a great app for kids who love seeing amazing, hard-to-capture photographs and are inspired by reading new information about fascinating topics. The app contains stories, “weird but true” facts, jokes, photo games, puzzles, and quizzes on topics such as history, science, technology, wildlife, and worldwide cultures. Kids love the engaging, eye opening content and have fun learning loads of new information.

‎As students move through school, the reading requirements will increase rapidly. Help your child develop key reading skills while enjoying the process, and she will be well on her well to excelling in school!

The post The Best Reading Apps For All Grade Levels appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Math is immersed in our daily lives. When we weigh fruit at a supermarket, receive change at a store, or measure flour for a favorite brownie recipe, we are using math concepts. When children reach grade school they begin to “formally” learn mathematics. Yet even at a very young age, children can develop an understanding of basic math principles in fun and engaging ways.

Try the ideas below with your preschool age child:

1. Sequencing. Sequencing is an understanding that events and objects occur in a specific order – an important precursor to both math and reading. To practice sequencing at home, have your child gather a group of toys and put them in a pile. Then, using sequencing words, ask your child to order them. For instance, you might say, “In one line, place the green truck first and the yellow car second. Place the purple block third. Finally, place the green ball last in the line.” You can also create your own sequencing cards describing events in a story. For example, tell your child a story about a girl who wakes up, brushes her teeth, eats breakfast, and goes to school. Then make 4 picture cards describing these events, mix them up, and have your child put them in order.

2. Grouping and Sorting. Make a trip to the supermarket academically productive by teaching your child grouping and sorting. For example, grab an assortment of red, green, and yellow apples and several plastic produce bags. Ask your child to put all of the green apples in one bag, red apples in another, and so on. You can also select a group of tomatoes or plums and have him put the smaller ones in one bag and the larger ones in another. At home, have him sort crayons in containers based on color, blocks in boxes based on shape, or balls in baskets based on size.

3. Time. The concept of time can be a tricky one to grasp at a young age, but these age-appropriate exercises can help your child develop a basic understanding. Try setting a timer to help your child understand how long certain tasks take to complete. For example, time her as she brushes her teeth, eats breakfast, or gets dressed. Talk about which task took longer, how much longer one task took than the other, and so on. Also discuss with her what time she does certain activities. For instance, she might wake up at 7:00am, go to school at 8:30am, and eat dinner at 6:00pm. Discussing time in this manner with help your child begin to understand the concept.

4. Shapes. ‎Have your child play with different shapes to learn both their names and how they feel. Try cutting out basic shapes using felt (triangle, rectangle, square, diamond, etc.) and put them all in a box. Have her take one shape out of the box and tell you its name. Also ask her to describe how many sides it has and how it feels. This kinesthetic approach will help the names and visual representations stick in your child’s long term memory.

5. Estimation and Prediction. Teach your child estimation using every day items at home. For example, have him create a stack of magazines and a stack of books, and, before doing so, ask him to predict which one he thinks will be taller.‎ You can also draw a large square on a sheet of paper and have him estimate how many Cheerios he can fit in that square, then actually fill the square with Cheerios.  Have him compare the actual number by counting them (another important math skill!) to the estimated number.

Math is an important skill that is weaved into almost all aspects of our lives. Even at a very young age, children can learn fundamental math concepts through play and engaging activities. It’s never too early to start learning the basics!

The post 5 Ways to Build Your Preschooler’s Math Skills appeared first on EBL Coaching.