SonyaHeading back to school at any age is full of excitement, and maybe a side of anxiousness, for kids, parents, and teachers. Getting ready for school has become of ritual with picking up some fresh new items. New backpacks, school supplies, a few new outfits and sneakers, too! Kids grow so quickly over the summer months, don’t they? It’s also the time of year to makes sure our kids are up to date with their technology. New phones a new laptop perhaps? Set them up for success right from the start of the school year. And don’t forget about the apps!
Now is the time to introduce, discover or rediscover some of the great apps for students. They can help with productivity, organization, creativity, eating, sleeping, and overall mental health.
Here are some useful apps that have caught our attention..
For younger kids just kicking off their educational adventure, Animal Typing is a simple and fun way to teach kids how to type. The kids will see an animal go faster and faster depending on how quickly they type. This helps in creating a fun experience while practicing basic keyboard skills — something that my kids didn’t have a chance to learn in school but has become an important tool in high school and university.
While school is essential, having kids do chores is also at the top of the list for parents. With Chore Pad, parents can let their kids take an active role in doing chores with incentives to encourage them to complete their tasks. This is great in helping a child form a foundation in daily and weekly routines and responsibilities.
Khan Academy is a great tool that helps students of any age learn anything …and for free! With thousands of interactive exercises, videos, and articles at their fingertips this is a super handy space that can help build or clarify lessons taught in the classroom. Subjects include math, science, economics, finance, grammar, history, government, politics, and much more. My kids used this in high school and it helped give clearer explanations on subjects that us as parents had little or no clue about! There’s also a young student version available.
For those students interested in coding, Swift Playgrounds makes it fun to learn to code and build real apps without requiring any coding experience. Solving interactive puzzles and learning the basis of app building, you experiment with a wide range of challenges and samples. Teachers have also used this iOS app for lessons in the classroom with success.
The start of high school can seem daunting to some, with Notion students writing, plan & get organized in one place while customizing it to work the way they do. The notion is a digital notepad which can be used to jot down all sorts of information. Create private pages for lists, random thoughts and diary entries, or shared ones for documents you’d like to invite friends to collaborate.
To increase study habits, Quizlet is the easiest way to study, practice and become more confident in whatever you’re learning. Create flashcards or find one to study from, with over 500 million sets created by teachers and students.
Learning to put down the phone and focus on studying can be challenging for some. With Forest, it encourages users to establish new, better habits. The sense of achievement and responsibility will encourage less time in front of the phone.
Mental health is a significant aspect of success in school, and Headspace wants to make sure users stress less, sleep soundly and get happier. An everyday mindfulness and meditation app to make mindfulness a daily habit, ensuring students as well as parents and teachers, take into account their mental health. We love this app for the various options on mediation times and the concept that this can be done anywhere.
When heading into university or college, students should be prepared for what’s to come, and Flipd helps them reach their daily, weekly, and monthly productivity goals. Designed for high-achieving students and productivity enthusiasts, it tracks the user’s progress daily. It will also use motivation and encouragement to keep going.
For most students, this is their first time away from home and creating nutritious meals is a new challenge. Paprika is an excellent way for students to plan meals, organize recipes and even create grocery lists. Students can download their favourite recipes and store them in this handy meal planning app, ensuring it’s not pizza every night.
Organization can be the key to success for some students, and with Structured, students can visualize their timeline in a day planner. Having all the tasks for the day laid out helps reduce distractions by planning the day ahead of time and staying on track for all your to-do’s.
Detailed notes are important when cramming for an upcoming mid-term or final. GoodNotes allows students to create handwritten notes on their digital devices. Effortlessly write out equations, draw mind maps, mark up PDFs and more. Handwrite all over the page, experience limitless note-taking on the iPad and sync to all your devices.
Any other great apps you love? Let us know!