During the year, YDL librarians carefully review apps that promote learning for our school-aged patrons, so we can recommend them to parents.

We maintain another list of apps for kids ages 5 and under.

Criteria we look for in educational apps:

• Have high-quality, age-appropriate educational content
• Do not have in-app purchases (or that feature can be turned off)
• Do not have links outside the app
• Do have age-appropriate content
• Do have opportunities for creation and safe sharing
• Do encourage or inspire activity beyond the device
• Accommodate different languages and abilities
• Available for both Android and Apple devices

The Apps

Free Apps

• Cut the Rope ages 5-8 Innovative game demonstrating basic physics
• Inventioneers ages 9-11 An outstanding tool for learning about real-time physics
• Kodable ages 6-8 Introduction to programming concepts and problem solving.
• MiniPiano ages 4-10 Two octaves, many instrument effects, learn standard tunes
• Pocket Zoo ages 3-12 Information on animals, live zoo cams and educational videos
• Ripped Apart: A Civil War Mystery ages 8-12 Solve puzzles to unlock clues as a Smithsonian intern
• Shadow Puppet ages 7+ Create custom videos
• Toontastic ages 6-8 Teaches storytelling principles and animation

$1.99 Apps

• Weigh the World ages 9-11 Weigh different objects and learn about estimation

$2.99 Apps

• Gro Recycling ages 5-10 Feed the recycling bins and make new stuff out of garbage
• iBomes: Wetland ages 8-11 Explore three different wetland biomes.
• Lightbot ages 9-11 Use programming logic to solve levels in the game
• Piiig Labs ages 6-8 Explore science concepts through hands-on project building
• Rom and the Whale of Dreams ages 6-8 An interactive book app
• Stack the Countries ages 6-12 Learn capitals, landmarks, geographic locations
• Starwalk Kids ages 6-8 Astronomy guide designed just for children

$3.99 Apps

• Monument Valley ages 6+ Guide princess Ida through hidden monuments and paths
• Numbers League ages 6-8 Superheroes defeat villains in original, creative math game
• Toca Band ages 5-10 Put “band members” on stage and create original music or use beats
• Toca Builder ages 6-12 If you can imagine it, you can build it with the Toca blocks
• Toca Lab ages 6-8 Learn the elements from the periodic table from monsters

$4.99 Apps

• Adventures of Captain Underpants ages 7-10 An interactive book app
• Algodoo ages 8-13 Experiment with physics concepts and build in 2D
• Book Creator ages 8+ Kids easily create their own books
• DragonBox Algebra 5+ ages 8-12 Games that teach concepts relating to solving algebraic equations
• Loose Strands ages 8-10 An interactive book app for fans of the Choose Your Own Adventure series