Free Apps and Websites to Teach Kids While Having Fun

Posted on | by KD Novelties

With the increased popularity in mobile devices, almost everyone is constantly on their phone or tablet. Whether you are checking Facebook, your email, watching a show or playing a game, almost everything can be done from the comfort of a mobile device of some sort. As this becomes more and more of a popular practice, kids are getting hooked too. While it is important to make sure that kids do not spend too much time in front of screens, there are ways to make their screen time valuable to their education. With the accessibility of mobile technologies and development software, many companies have created fun and interactive apps that can actually help teach kids about a variety of different things while also having fun.

There are thousands of apps out there, and it can be difficult to keep track of them all. When downloading an app, a lot is taken into consideration, but price probably factors in more than most other attributes, especially for parents. Luckily, there are plenty of different free apps out there that can be fun as well as educational for kids to interact with. Kids can learn a great deal, about math, reading, chemistry, geography, engineering, languages or even coding and outer space.

Here are some apps that may be worth looking into – and it may not hurt to try, especially since they are free!

● Math Playground can help teach math to kids from a first to sixth grade level. It offers activities that involve logic puzzles, math games, and arcade-style number games, as well as interactive tools for teaching fractions, functions, percents, and more.

● Kodable is an app available on more recent Apple iOS devices that teaches elementary-aged kids how to code. This growing field is becoming more and more in-demand, and your child can learn basic concepts of modern computer programming from quite an early age and get a head start.

● Kid Science: Chemistry Experiments, a kids app that features videos of simple chemistry experiments as well as full text descriptions that explain what is happening in the video and why. Once each video is complete, kids can take a short quiz to test just how much they’ve learned.

● Duolingo is a great app for kids and adults alike who are interested in learning a second language. Duolingo features a variety of short game-like exercises that teach vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar. Duolingo has over 20 languages you can choose to learn from including Spanish, French, Chinese, and Arabic among others.

● The NASA Kids’ Club website is a fun and interactive place where kids can learn about space through games and simulations.

There are so many free apps out there that can be both fun and educational. Even companies like Khan Academy have become popular with kids, teens and adults alike, and many of these apps can be used to help supplement school-work or your own personal sense of curiosity.

For more free resources and parenting tips please visit our website at KDNovelties.com or the KD Novelties Blog.

Keeping Kids Active

Posted on | by KD Novelties

Obesity is a serious health concern in the United States and it is a growing threat to children, too. Due to sedentary lifestyles and poor dieting habits, more and more children are diagnosed as being clinically overweight every year, and an increasing number of these children are diagnosed as obese. Activity is important and it is incredibly beneficial to your overall health. By encouraging kids and teens to be active from a young age can help set good habits early on and will most likely help them stick with such habits as they get older.

There are many ways to help foster and develop skills that will encourage activity, while making sure that your kids are healthy too.

1. Be a good role model. Kids learn a lot by example and they easily pick up on things that their parents do, especially when they are younger. By being active yourself, your children are more likely to follow suit.

2. Be their cheerleader. Being positive or making activities fun can definitely be helpful. Many people, especially adults, see working out as a chore but if the idea of staying active is established and understood as a fun activity early on, this association may not exist and kids may be more likely to be and stay active.

3. Buy them “active play” gifts. Every kid wants a tablet or handheld device these days, but no matter what you end up getting your children for birthdays or during the holidays, make sure to get some things that encourage active play such as a bicycle, sports equipment, jump rope, etc.

4. Limit sedentary activities. You don’t have to be moving all the time in order to be fit, but with more and more people opting to sit in front of the TV or with a mobile device in hand, it can be easy to feel dissuaded from doing any other sorts of activities, especially ones that are more physically involved. Sure, it’s fine to watch a show, movie, or play a game, but it is important to limit screen time for a variety of reasons and can help open up opportunities for children to choose more active ways to pass the time.

5. Make time! And make sure there is time. Families are busy these days, and it can be difficult to schedule much of anything, but try to make sure that your family has some time to move around, too. Check in with your child’s school to see if they are active during the day and if there are any opportunities to participate in a sport or other active extracurricular after school as well.

6. Make sure that nutrition plays a role. Being active is important, but so is eating healthy, too! Make sure that your kids are hydrated, that they have access to healthy snacks and meals wherever they are prepared whether they are at home or at school.

There are so many ways to better incorporate activity into a daily routine, and the more a habit is positively enforced the more likely it will stick. There are so many benefits to eating well and staying active, especially for children who are still growing and developing constantly.

For more ways to keep kids active and creative parenting resources visit the KD Novelties blog.

Engaging Kids With Creative Reading

Posted on | by KD Novelties

Creative reading may not be a term that many people are familiar with, especially since it is not quite a term that exists. Creative writing is a familiar topic for many, but what is creative reading? When people think of the act of reading, they often imagine the quiet activity of reading books silently, page by page, on one’s own time. While this is certainly a viable method of reading, it is not the only one. There are many ways in which you can have fun with reading, especially with children who are just learning to read and are developing their imaginations as well.

Reading Aloud with a Flourish
As a parent, one of the first ways you can introduce reading to your children is by reading aloud. The act of listening along can be entertaining enough for some children, but really putting effort into your oration can help engage even the most reluctant readers (and listeners!). Give each character a voice and really get a feel for what they are saying; read the narration with dramatic intent; make sound effects! There are so many ways in which you can make reading aloud really fun and engaging.

Get In Character

You can also create a plethora of games surrounding whatever it is you are reading with your children, too. Encourage them to play dress up and act out scenes as they happen! Or even join in on the fun and reenact parts of the book once you’re done reading together. You can even try and create new scenes of your own. Asking your kids to come up with their own scenes and scenarios can help their growing imagination, but it can also help their creative and abstract thinking skills, too. When you’re done reading, or while you’re reading, you can also encourage your kids to put on a puppet show, or any other kind of reenactment revolving around your story material.

Think Outside the Box
There are so many other activities that you can incorporate into reading to make it more fun and educational, too. Conduct a trivia contest between chapters or create your own games revolving around the characters, setting, and other factors that pertain to the book that you are reading. Ask your kids to ask you questions, too! You can even ask simple questions like “Who is your favorite character and why?” Asking them actively engages them and it promotes critical thinking in a way that is entertaining as well.

Make it Personalized
What could be more fun than starring in your own book? With personalized books for kids by KD Novelties, your children can star in their own stories and adventures with their own personalized book. These books make your child the star, placing them at the center of the action and taking them along on a fabulous journey. There are personalized books for all occasions and milestones in your child’s life to choose from, who knows, this can be the start of creative reading with your child!