One of my biggest challenges in using iPad in the classroom has been finding good apps for early childhood classrooms. There are lots of great apps for young children, but fewer that are actually suitable for classroom use. Â I’ve written about my favorite apps in my 5 Best Apps Series, but I still struggle to find the good ones. Â Over the last few months, I’ve found a few websites that I turn to when I’m looking for apps.
Kindertown is actually an app for apps. Â They review apps for for the Early Childhood set, ages 3-8. Â They sort the apps by age, by subject area and by whether it’s paid or free. Â I’ve found a few of my favorite apps by using Kindertown.
My Hullabaloo by Matt B. Gomez is another favorite source for Early Childhood Apps.  What I love about his site is the way he often shares exactly how he uses the apps he recommends in his Kindergarten classroom. He’s particularly good at finding apps that take learning on the iPad beyond simple drill and practice, which is something that I’m working on doing more often with our classroom iPads.
APPitic is another well known source by Apple Distinguished Educators. Â Here’s what they say about their website: “APPitic is a directory of apps for education by Apple Distinguished Educators (ADE’s) to help you transform teaching and learning. These apps have been tested in a variety of different grade levels, instructional strategies and classroom settings.”
http://ipadapps4school.com/Â I’ve only recently discovered this site. Â It, along with it’s sister site, Free Tech For Teachers provides thorough descriptions of Apps and other ways to use technology in the classroom. Though this site covers the whole K-12 spectrum, rather than just early childhood or even elemenatry school, Â I’ve still found it useful.
Another great resource is Smart Apps for Kids.  They consistently review apps and send an email each Friday with a list of apps that are free for a short period of time. There are several more app review websites that I’ve used over the last few months.  They all offer reviews and tech tips:
Where do you find your best apps? Is there a website you love? Let me know in the comments!
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Teachers With Apps is also a wonderful resource to find the best educational apps! We are veteran teachers still in the trenches, what sets us apart from the others is that we field test all the apps we review with a cross-section of students. We feel that you can’t know the magic of an app until you place the device in the hands of the child! Please check us out at http://www.teacherswithapps.com
Yes! I rediscovered you guys just after I published this post! I had followed you on Twitter, but not Feedly, and truthfully, I tend to neglect Twitter a bit more than I should. 😉 I’m religous about reading Feedly though, and I put you there last week. I’m excited to start reading your reviews, particularly because they’re from a teacher’s perspective!