We’ve done a lot of traveling lately, and flying cross-country with a toddler is rough, let me tell you.
- Refusing to nap
- Crawling all over her dad and me
- A few instances of hysterical crying
- Constant hunger
- Entertained by nothing
Also, discovering AFTER boarding the plane that she was bored with all her favorite iPad apps was not helpful. So today I’ll do you a solid and give you 14 of the best toddler apps, so you can avoid the pain we went through. Below in this handy dandy widget, I have placed all our favorite toddler apps. Many she’s been using since she was 1. (When you’re desperate you’re desperate.)
Some of these have “lite” or free versions, but for pretty much all of them I upgraded to the paid app. You might get the free app and then if your kid loves it you can decide to upgrade later. But everything I paid for was well worth it! I was amazed at my daughter’s ability to do puzzles, and how fast she picked them up. It’s like there was a day when all of a sudden she could do them. She has learned so many objects, letters, numbers, shapes, and colors from these apps!
In addition to these apps, I highly recommend having some shows or games on your iPad or phone that don’t require internet streaming. Daughter loves the PBS Kids app, but you have to have wi-fi to use it. Even paying for the airplane wi-fi doesn’t work because it can’t handle streaming. It’s truly worth deleting half of what’s on your phone to add a show that will give you some peace! LOL. PBS Kids is the only app below that requires streaming. It’s a fabulous (free) app though so it’s worth it just to have it in general. Your child will be able to spend countless hours of travel time mesmerized by these games! So enjoy, and know that all of these apps are toddler- and mommy-approved!
The list of 14 educational apps for toddler
- The PBS KIDS Video. The PBS KIDS Video. gives kids and parents access to thousands of free videos, including full episodes and clips from top PBS KIDS series.
- Daniel Tiger’s Play at Home. Meet Daniel Tiger, PBS’s newest neighbor. Playing is learning as you explore bedtime, music, bathtime, and play pretend doctor at Daniel’s house.
- Daniel Tiger’s Day & Night. Learn about morning and bedtime routines with PBS KIDS’ Daniel Tiger. Help Daniel get ready for school in the morning and for bed at night.
- Shapes Toddler Preschool. Easy toddler and preschool activities that help kids explore shapes. Simple games for shape play.
- Endless Reader. Endless Reader is filled with fun, crazy, monsters that are sure to entertain your child while they learn, making this one of the best iPad apps for kids. Endless Reader introduces kids to sight words and phonics with interactive animations that demonstrate the meaning of the words as well as how to spell them.
- Endless Numbers. Set the stage for early numeracy learning with Endless Numbers! Kids will adore the learning number.
- Endless Wordplay. Endless Wordplay sets the stage for spelling, word building, and wonderful rhymes!
- Peekaboo Barn. Open up the world-famous Peekaboo Barn, perfect for toddlers. Inside the little bouncing barn, friendly farm animals are waiting to pop out and surprise.
- Peekaboo Wild. Parents need to know that Peekaboo Wild is a colorful educational app that teaches the names of ten animals in either English or Spanish.
- Peekaboo Barn Lite. Listen to the animal sounds and guess who’s hiding in Noah’s Ark. Touch Noah’s Ark to reveal who’s hiding inside.
- Peekaboo Fridge™. From the makers of Peekaboo Barn comes the freshest—and healthiest—pop-up party! Who’s having a party in your fridge? Open the door and find a fun-loving fruit, vegetable, or other delicious, healthy food. Learn the name of the food, watch it greet you, and dance along to a disco party!
- Peekaboo Forest. Peekaboo Forest is a beautiful discovery and narrative app based around the illustrations of Charley Harper. Touch the vividly illustrated forest scenes to see charming animations, learn the names of animals, and hear the real sounds these creatures make in the wild. Search for deer, squirrels, weasels, and more as the season’s change.
- TinyHands. TinyHands Towers 1 is an educational game for children age 1.5 and up. The game consists of 15 beautiful boards Designed to help toddlers acquire basic concepts such as big VS. small, before VS. after, and bottom VS. top.
- TinyHands School. TinyHands Sorting 3 is the third game in our Sorting series. Like the other two games of this series, this game teaches about sorting, but it also contains more complex sorting environments such as sorting by concept combinations and contextual classification. It is recommended for children age 3 and up.