It's pretty amazing when technology and education come together to give kids an interactive boost in their learning. There’s an app for nearly every area of education and for all ages, but since strong reading skills are crucial in early development, these are the ones we’re focusing on today. So if you’re a parent with a young kiddo entering the exciting world of reading, we suggest checking out some of these reading apps for kids to help them grow those skills!
Best Reading Apps for Kids
Khan Academy Kids
With the wealth of free educational content that Khan Academy provides, it’s no surprise that they have a reading app dedicated to beginner students — specifically ages two through eight. They have a guided program full of activities to build foundational skills and understanding, led by colorful and cheerful animal characters. They also have a library where you can choose the specific topic you want your child to work on. The app offers reading as well as math content, but you can find activities for vowel sounds, reading literature, sight words, and more under reading.
Starfall
Starfall is a popular app for kids to practice their reading skills. Aimed at kids in pre-K through fifth grade, Starfall has tons of engaging games that will help kids grow way more confident in things like spelling, reading comprehension, and even poetry. And the best part? It’s free to use!
Teach Your Monster to Read
This one has a cute premise where kids get to “teach” their chosen monster avatar how to read. The program doesn’t have many individual lessons or games — it’s just one long game where kids build on skills in each level. It starts very foundational with recognizing sounds and goes from there.
Teach Your Monster is a non-profit organization that works closely with academic partners to provide formative, accessible content for all kids to grow their skills. Their reading game (as well as their other games that include math content) is free online or you can download the app for $8.99.
Epic!
Epic is an extremely popular book app with access to tons of titles for kids up to 12 years old. This app is less about teaching kids to read and more about giving them an endless supply of fun books to practice their reading skills with. However, each title has an accompanying quiz to test kids’ reading comprehension. Epic! will also keep track of your child’s activity and award badges based on how many titles were read or how many minutes were spent reading per day. And it’s also a win for multilingual families — they offer titles in Spanish, French, and Chinese!
Epic has a 7-day free trial, then users can purchase an annual subscription for $79.99.
ABCmouse
Another go-to option among parents with young learners is ABCmouse. This program has created a very well-researched and comprehensive curriculum for kids in their toddler years through second grade. The app has over 11,000 activities for kids to explore, each with a learning goal for kids to take away. For reading specifically, they have over 450 books as well as lessons in fundamentals like phonics, sentence structure, parts of speech, and more.
ABCmouse offers an annual subscription for $59.99 or a month-to-month subscription for $12.99.
Bark As Your Safety Net
As your kids start to use technology for educational purposes, you may be worried about it opening the door to other, more risky parts of the online world. This is why many parents rely on Bark to be their “safety net” as you and your child navigate tech for the first time.
Whether your child is on a phone, tablet, or computer, Bark will scan for concerning content and send you an alert if they come across anything that requires your attention. Bark can also help block inappropriate content, ensuring that only your approved apps and sites can be accessed by your child. Sign up today with a free, 7-day trial and see how Bark can bring peace of mind to your family!
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Bark helps families manage and protect their children’s digital lives.
