Best Educational Apps for 4-Year-Olds

A majority of people spend a lot of time on their digital devices nowadays. Even kids are entranced by the gadgets, and it’s up to you as a parent to decide what content they get access to (since outright denying them use to smartphones and tablets is not an option!).

We want to make you less worried about your little ones having too much screen time by introducing you to 8 educational apps for your 4-year old.

Since none of them want to grab a book when phones and tablets are so much more entertaining, these apps are made to bring the books to them in an enjoyable format.

Are you ready to see all the amazing choices in store for you and your little one? Let’s go!

#1 Moose Math

If you’re looking for a fun way to have your kid practice or learn math, Moose Math is ideal. This app has a fun, interactive setting with multiple scenes.

Your child has to complete activities that require basic math actions such as addition, subtraction, and counting. For instance, they need to drag a certain number of fruits from a refrigerator as written on a recipe to make juice.

Every time they clear a level, they get a reward from a Lost and Found items truck. Here, they’re allowed to pick one item to add to their city.

As we all know, kids love rewards, and the idea of building their own city is enough to keep them engaged in math games!

As a parent, you’ll get a report card that shows you the progress your child is making on the app. This way, you’ll know what they need more help with, and what they’ve already mastered.

This app comes, free, with no in-app purchases. It’s available for Android, iPod Touch, iPad, and iPhone. Once you download the app, you’ll not need an internet connection to use it.

Features

• Involves interactive activities such as making smoothies or matching little pets with their parents.
• Allows the child to choose items to build a city setting that they like.
• Includes various levels, each with a different setting and an increasing level of difficulty.
• Teaches addition, counting, and subtraction using fun games.

What We Liked About It

• It’s free, with no in-app purchases.
• It involves a reward system that motivates your kid.
• It’s compatible with multiple devices.

Buy It Now!

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#2 Avokiddo ABC Ride

Avokiddo ABD Ride is a fun, interactive game that takes your kid on an adventure to reveal the entire alphabet. At the beginning of the game, they choose whether to take Beck or Bo on the ride.

With their choice character, they go on a hunt to reveal letters from A-Z through various challenges.

For instance, they’re required to pop some balloons to reveal the letter ‘B’ and to crack some eggs to find the letter ‘E.’

Once your child finds each letter, the word is displayed and read out to them. It’s then disintegrated, and they get a chance to fill the letters back to spell the original word.

This game allows for customization since you can choose whether your kid will learn capital or lower case letters. When they have to spell the words, you can also decide to have the letters shuffled or presented in order.

This app comes with a one-time price of $2.99. It has no in-app purchases and is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android. Once you make the purchase and download it, you’ll not need the internet to use.

Features

• Has settings for learning both uppercase and lowercase letters.
• It takes your child through the entire alphabet.
• It’s interactive, allowing your child to give feedback based on what they see or hear.
• Introduced your child to how each letter sounds like.

What We Liked About It

• It only has a one-time fee, after which you get access to all features with no third-party ads.
• You can customize the spelling feature to match your child’s learning level.

Buy It Now!

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#3 Reading Eggs

Reading Eggs is a literacy and numeracy program made for kids between the ages of 2-12. It contains lessons and e-books that you can choose depending on your child’s learning ability and level.

So far, this program has benefited more than 10 million children worldwide. Lessons, books, and game activities are all designed to make learning enjoyable. Fun songs are also included.

Your kid will get rewards when they make achievements. As a parent, you’ll receive reports about the progress of your young one so that you can monitor how they’re doing.

You’ll also get access to resources such as lesson plans that allow you to customize your kid’s learning experience.

This program was created by a group of expert educators with more than 30 years of experience in publishing top quality numeracy and literacy resources. They’re conversant with the needs of kids at different stages of learning and provide for them through the Reading Eggs program.

With more than 2000 e-books in the library, this is the perfect app to get your kid reading fluently.

This app is available for Apple and Android devices.

Features

• Uses e-books, games, lessons, and songs as learning resources.
• Has resources that suit your child’s learning needs and abilities.
• Provides for parents’ involvement through lesson plans and progress reports.
• Covers both literacy and numeracy learning for kids.

What We Liked About It

• This program was developed by a group of experts who used scientifically proven methods to identify the best ways to teach literacy and numeracy to kids at different levels.
• It has numerous learning resources.

iPhones on iTunes: Click Here 

Android on Google Play: Click Here

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#4 Epic! Reading App

Imagine having access to more than 40,000 books at the tip of your fingers. That’s what your kid gets when you download the Epic! Reading App.

In addition to the thousands of books, your child will also get access to videos and audiobooks to help them on their reading journey.

With this app, your child can fill a library with their favorite books and get badges for goals achieved.

It also allows you to create a parent or educator account through which you can monitor your kid’s progress. You can also add books to their library for them to check out.

You can also create collections of the books and videos that you found useful to share with other parents. Check collections by other users to discover more learning material for your little one.

When you download the app, you’ll get a one-month free trial to familiarize yourself with it and decide whether it fits your child’s reading needs. You can then subscribe for a monthly fee of $7.99 that will allow you success to the app’s resources.

The Epic! Reading App is available for your Android, iPad, and iPhone devices.

Features

• Includes more than 40,000 books for extensive reading, making it easier for your kid to find what they like.
• There’s a search feature that allows you to browse for books by title, author, or category.
• Supports separate profiles, for you and for your child.
• Has a customization feature whereby your kid can choose the theme colors they like on the app.
• Provides badges to your child for achievements.

What We Liked About It

• We absolutely loved the extensive e-book and video collection. There’s more than enough for your child to read and learn from.
• The app provides a parent’s profile to allow you to have complete knowledge of your child’s progress and activities. You can even find out how many minutes they spent reading!

iPhones on iTunes: Click Here 

Android on Google Play: Click Here

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#5 AlphaTots Alphabet

This app teaches your kid the alphabet through action words. For instance, they’ll learn the letter ‘G’ by ‘growing tomatoes’ and the letter ‘F’ by ‘fixing a bicycle.’

These virtual activities get your kid excited to get from one letter to the next until they’ve gone through the entire alphabet.

While they learn the letters, they’ll also hear how they sound. There are 26 puzzles and mini-games available to further advance the learning of the alphabet.

A catchy sing-along alphabet song will have your child reciting the 26 letters in no time. This app is available for use on both Android and Apple devices.

Get access with $2.99 for an ad-free experience with no in-app purchases. Your child will not need the internet to use this app.

Features

• Has a sing-along alphabet song to help recite the alphabet.
• Teaches the alphabet through fun action verbs that’ll engage your kid.
• Includes the sound for each letter.
• Has no ads for a child-friendly learning experience.

What We Liked About It

• This app is accessible with a one-time fee and can be used without a Wi-Fi connection.
• It uses fun action verbs and graphics to teach the letters.

Buy It Now!

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#6 LetterSchool

Do you want to help your child improve their handwriting while learning letter sounds and expanding their vocabulary? We’ve found the perfect app for you, LetterSchool!

LetterSchool allows your kid to trace letters with their fingers so that they can get used to writing them down. It’s available in 2 versions, with one being suitable for beginners and the other for advanced learners.

This app makes letter tracing fun by using effects such as arrows, chains, and train tracks. There are also exciting colors, sounds, and animations that are sure to grab your child’s attention.

Don’t be surprised if your kid gets glued to this app for long periods. This app is available for a free download, after which you’ll have to make in-app purchases.

Features

• Teaches tracing for both uppercase and lowercase letters.
• Has fun animations, sounds, and colors that’ll grab your child’s attention.
• Available in two versions to allow you to choose the suitable one for your kid.

What We Liked About It

• The app’s interface is very entertaining, with its eye-catching animations and entertaining sounds.

Buy It Now!

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Reading Head Start

Reading Head Start program is an award-winning, certified program that we would like to bring to your attention. In a market full of reading aids for kids, this one caught our attention because of all the good things it has to provide.

And, you don’t have to take our word as gospel truth. Thousands of parents across the globe have watched their kids’ learning abilities improve, and they recommend it too.

We personally witnessed impressive improvements among the kids we used to test this program, and we can tell you that it’s one of the best we came across!

This is a program created by an educator – another plus! – who wanted to help her kid overcome his reading difficulties. Her name is Sarah Shepard, and she created this program after she had been teaching for 14 years.

Now, that’s a lot of time to identify what works with kids and what doesn’t. That’s why she was able to create this step-by-step program to help your kid learn to read from the earliest age possible.

More than 36,000 children have already benefited, and yours could be the next. This program will build your child’s love for reading, help with their pronunciation, and improve their confidence.

Features

• Uses scientifically backed methods to help your child learn to read at an early age.
• Developed by an experienced reading teacher.
• Help your child build confidence when reading out loud, which will also contribute to their performance in class.
• Fun and enjoyable exercises to engage kids.

What We Liked About It

• It has already helped tens of thousands of kids to read fluently.
• It’s so much more affordable compared to other reading programs or the cost of hiring a tutor for your child.

Check It Out

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Children Learning Reading Program

Have you tried one of those programs where a picture is displayed along with the word, and your child is expected to memorize the words? Well, it might surprise you to know that while this is a very popular teaching method, it’s not the most effective out there.

In fact, it’s the wrong approach to take when you want your kids to learn how to read fluently at a very young age.

Experts have shown that developing phonemic awareness is the key to becoming a fluent reader. This is what Jim Yang, a reading teacher and father of four, based his Children Learning Reading Program on.

If your kid has begun speaking, then this program is for them. Unlike some apps on this list, this program does not rely on your kid’s memorization skills to teach them how to read.

After all, how much would you expect a four-year-old to retain and remember? Instead, it uses step-by-step lessons that help your kid develop the foundational skills they need to read fluently.

It has 2 stages, with stage one being most appropriate for beginners, and therefore suitable for your 4-year old. This stage has 28 lessons through which your child will learn how to read alphabet letters, simple words, and how to blend those words.

We found this app to be really helpful as it delivers true progress to your child’s reading ability. The earlier they learn to read, the smarter they’ll be, and Jim Yang shows you how to achieve this through this program.

Features

• Employs a scientifically proven approach.
• Has two stages, one for beginners and the other for advanced learners.
• Teaches reading not through memorization, but by raising phonemic awareness.
• Helps your child learn to read letters, words, phrases, sentences, and entire stories fluently.

What We Liked About It

• It was developed by a reading teacher and father who has personal experiences in teaching his own kids using this method.
• This program initiates learning from the most basic stage, and advances onwards to ensure that each kid at any reading fluency level is well-catered to.

Click to Read On!

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Buying Guide

With so many programs available, here are 3 tips to help you choose the right one for your child:

Your Child’s Learning Ability

Can your child already identify letters, words, or even read sentences? Or are they a total beginner?

This should be the main factor that you consider when choosing an educational app. By considering this, you’ll be able to choose an app that serves your child’s specific needs.

Resources

What resources does the app offer? As you have seen on our list, each app has different resources to help your child with their literacy, numeracy, and comprehension skills.

Decide whether you want games, e-books, audiobooks, or other activities. Make sure to go for an app with activities and resources that’ll engage your child so as to keep them learning.

Budget

There are free apps, some that require a one-time fee, and others with monthly and yearly subscriptions. This makes it very easy to find one that suits your budget.

Just make sure that it’s kid-friendly and kid-safe and does not expose your child to inappropriate third-party content.

Conclusion

As you can see, your child can spend screen time while learning stuff that will help them become smarter and better students. Through these apps, they can develop a love for reading, which will help them excel in all levels of education.

Make sure to choose an app that caters to your kid’s individual needs. Most importantly, ensure that they enjoy it because that’s what will keep them reading.

As they advance in their literacy and numeracy learning, you can then look for more lessons to help them progress further. We are confident that you’ll find a brilliant app from our list to give your child the learning aid they need.

Happy learning to both you and your little ones!