By Diane Lee (WSPA)
Parents, if you’re not using apps to help your children learn you could be missing-out on a powerful educational tool.
We asked you over Facebook to chime-in on your children’s favorite apps. And we also got expert advice on what to keep in mind before downloading them.
We found, it’s a lot easier to make learning fun, nowadays. There are stimulating apps for just about every subject.
Julia Weber prefers the endless alphabet and endless numbers apps for her 2-year-old Jackson.
“I’ve definitely seen a difference since he’s started playing those games that he can actually count by himself. He can recognize letters and pronounce them,” she said.
Jackson has been using apps since he was 18-months-old.
Screen time before 2? Don’t judge.
Tony Perdomo, A Psychotherapist with USC Upstate says just follow this rule:
“If a parent is very involved with the child I would say absolutely let them use it early on, but unfortunately too many parents will just use that as a babysitter and it just takes away from the family contact and then I would say absolutely not, if you can’t balance the 2 then you definitely shouldn’t be doing it.”
Perdomo, who has 8 children of his own, recommends 2 apps in particular that his kids love.
– Touch and write by FizzBrain teaches spelling
– And ABCmouse covers everything from math to colors.
A few others that viewers applaud are Spelling City, Stack the States which teaches geography, and AB Math.
Whichever apps you choose, keep this in mind. Make sure you have good security settings no your device and most importantly test out the app. And watch for any adds to make sure everything is appropriate for your child.
Weber says the apps have made her a better teacher. And she adds, part of the power is knowing when to say “no.” Limiting screen time, keeps the apps fun and, therefore, effective.
