our favorite preschool iPad apps

it still amazes me every day how far technology has come.  i remember getting particularly excited about logging on to the computer in school (or home) and having to put all these scripts into the DOS system to get anything to work. it was only a matter of minutes before oregon trail & number munchers were at our fingertips.  bring back memories yall? and now we are talking to watches & counting calories & heart rates by a little bracelet.

ben is no exception to this. this kid has serious technology issues like every other child out there, so I have to strategically hide & charge my iPad from him or he goes nuts. how I'm blogging at this current minute without grabby hands in my face is beyond me. it quite possibly has to do with the fact that we're outside and he can dig and explore.

we have a handful of apps that we love to play. not only are they "playing" and get to touch the iPad, but he's learning. parent win! we love suggestions on new ones to check out (put them in he comments below!!!), here are our favorites:

story central by disney: perfect for readers and non readers alike, this app has all types of stories available. you are gifted a few books to start & then you can purchase additional tokens to buy more books.  best part, you can get a preview of each book before you buy & they have reader levels so you can explore which are perfect for your reader. ben's favorites are the nat geo animal books. don't worry non readers, story central will read aloud as well highlighting the words as you go.

little writer by alligator apps: one of the first apps I ever downloaded for ben & he's grown so great with this particular app.  this app teaches basic "drawing" or writing of shapes, lines, alphabet, numbers & words.  perfect for 3+

toddler-preschool workbook & games by alligator apps: another first download for us, this is all about recognition. not all categories are free, but the ones available for free are equally fantastic.  categories include animal sounds, alphabet, directions, colors & more. perfect for ages 2+

abc games by innovative investments: just downloaded this about a week ago & love it so far. haven't done much exploring in the app, but there is alphabet tracing, letter recognition based off sound, puzzles and more. some items are free, some are purchase. perfect for 3+

all of these are free to download and begin using, but do have in app purchasing options for additional content.  these apps also have great parent controls (unless your preschooler is a super reader) as well so you don't end up with a surprise bill for things you didn't realize you purchased.

happy learning!