Here are three ways parents can use AI to help with summer learning and family fun.

1. Summer learning schedule

Design an age appropriate summer learning schedule by writing instructions for ChatGPT to build it. In the prompt, include your child’s topical interests so that the plan will be engaging. Here is an example I wrote to cover mid-June through July for a kindergartener.

Design a summer learning program for a kindergartener who will be entering school for the first time. Have the expertise of a kindergarten teacher. Cover topics like math, reading, writing, and art for a 5 year old child. Include activities that are local, free, and sometimes include the outdoors. Also use fun themes like animals, insects, the ocean, or the jungle. Output ideas in a calendar from mid-June to the end of July, 2025.

Check out what ChatGPT had to say! The prompt output a 6-week schedule of action-packed themes like Bug Bonanza, Jungle Journey, and Garden & Growing fun. Here is an example of Week 2: Bug Bonanza.

I also love the reading suggestions it provided, which helped me think of the next prompt.

2. Summer reading list

Ready to encourage readers this summer? Generate a custom summer reading list for the age and stage of your child. Include your child’s interests along with preferences for fiction, nonfiction, best sellers, or any other criteria that best meets your needs. Then, head to the local library to check them out.

Here is an example prompt to get you started:

You are a children’s librarian. Provide a summer reading list for a 1st grader who is interested in animals. Provide a mix of best sellers, fiction, and nonfiction.

Now look at that. A Kate DiCamillo book came up. SO CUTE!

3. Summer craft ideas

Looking for ways to unleash your child’s creativity this summer? Query ChatGPT for craft ideas. Don’t forget to include any context or parameters that work best for your family. Here is the prompt I wrote:

You are a preschool teacher. Please provide your students with 10 fun and free craft activity ideas to do with recycled materials that parents can easily get from home. The themes should relate to summer learning and special interests the students might have like animals, beaches, and camping trips. Please provide instructions and materials lists for each craft.

Newspaper kites, bottlecap turtles, and pinecone beach creatures? Who knew how creative ChatGPT could be? Notice that I could have improved my ChatGPT prompt by asking it to include images upfront for the craft prompt. So at the end of the prompt, I added clarifying requests to include images. The bottlecap turtle image that ChatGPT generated wasn’t exactly like the instructions, but it sure it sweet.

Suggestions for writing a ChatGPT prompt

To get the most relevant output from ChatGPT or other AI tools, consider some best practices for writing prompts (reference: OpenAI prompt engineering):

• Give ChatGPT a role or persona
• Use clear and specific language with context
• Provide an example of the output you desire
• Include parameters like format or length or type of media

Download ChatGPT

Ready to get started? Access ChatGPT on the app store or via the web, for free!

ChatGPT (Free⁺, App Store) →

The post 3 ways to use ChatGPT as a parent’s helper for summer learning appeared first on Moms With Apps.

Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes

Hoot and Squeak Maths ($0.99, App Store) →

Hoot and Squeak Maths
By pkclSoft

Practice adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with the colourful and fun Hoot and Squeak Maths. Hoot the owl wants to sleep, but Squeak the monkey has other ideas. Kids choose from one of three difficulties which determines how many questions they need to answer. They can then choose which operations to focus on, and the size of the numbers used in the questions. Math questions are presented in a multiple choice style with each correct answer being rewarded with a fun (and really well done) animation. Get the answer wrong, and Squeak gets closer to waking up Hoot. The sound and graphics design is quite good. My only reservation that the animations can’t be skipped, but otherwise this is a well done app and a worthy addition to the math app genre. Additionally, Hoot and Squeak Maths supports VoiceOver navigation and the Apple Schoolwork app and has a strong focus on privacy.

Please, Touch The Artwork 2 (Free, App Store) →

Please, Touch the Artwork 2
By Meynen Studio

Take a journey through the paintings of James Ensor in Please, Touch the Artwork 2. Guide the skull-headed protagonist as they traverse from scene to scene, collecting objects hidden throughout the paintings. Collecting enough objects opens up new areas and new paintings. If you can’t find an object, there’s a handy (and free!) hint button that will point out what you have missed. The art gets quite trippy in the fourth act (for example, heads on plates), so be aware that it may not be appropriate for young kids. Overall, the app is a relaxing and fun way to explore art, and also completely free.

Emoquest (Free⁺, App Store) →

Emoquest
By Harrison Shu

Emoquest uses social stories to help kids with social skills and to recognize emotions. Each story, such as Sharing is Caring, is presented on a single screen with animated characters and voiceovers (but no text). At certain points in the story, you are asked to decide what should happen, or what emotions a character is feeling. Choosing an option such as not sharing will cause the story to back up so that you can try again. The voiceovers are crisp and the graphics and animations are simple but clean. Several stories are available to try for free, with a monthly subscription needed to access everything.

The post App Friday June 2024 appeared first on Moms With Apps.

Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes

Peekaboo Barn for Baby/Toddler (Free⁺, App Store) →

Peekaboo Baby & Toddler Books
By Lidwien Veugen

Lift the flap books are a staple for young kids. Lift the flap, see what’s behind it, close the flap, lift it again, and continue until the page gets chewed on or the flaps tear off. Peekaboo offers a stylish take on the concept, with fun graphics and animations, voiceovers and written words. There are seven books with seven pages each, and on one item hidden on each page. One book is available for free, with the others unlocked with an in-app purchase. Better still, the objects hiding on each page change, so each pass through the book is slightly different, and there can be a surprise each time. Peekaboo is a beautiful, fun app and is ad-free.

Matexo (Free⁺, App Store) →

Matexo
By Logis Studio Inc.

Often, math apps are simply multiple choice quizzes with cute graphics. Matexo changes that by turning math into puzzles. On the surface, Matexo turns equations into slickly designed paths, and asks you to drag number and operations onto the path to turn one number into another. If you are given 2 and 4, you drag +2 onto the path and, congratulations, you’ve solved it. Not so fast though. There are multiple equations and multiple paths that all need to be solved, and those paths can cross, so placing one number affects more than one equation at a time. Mix in multiplication and division, and puzzles get tricky, but in the best brain-teaser way. Matexo is definitely worth a look for puzzle aficionados. The app is ad supported, with an in-app purchase to remove ads.

Vancouver's Lost Creeks (Free, App Store) →

Vancouver’s Lost Creeks
By Ryan Froehlich

Yes, this was made as a school project by my son, so I can’t not feature it here. Vancouver (the one in Canada) used to be covered in creeks that were rerouted underground, diverted, or simply vanished over the years. Sometimes there are still traces of these creeks, if you know where to look. Fortunately, there’s now a handy app that superimposes the lost creeks over a map on your phone and lets you go hunting for them. Plus, our intrepid developer has already visited and photographed some of the sites and included them in the app.

The post App Friday March 2024 appeared first on Moms With Apps.

Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes

Thinkrolls: Fun Kids Games 2-8 (Free⁺, App Store) →

Thinkrolls: Games for Kids 2-8
By Avokiddo Ltd

Thinkrolls challenges kids to solve puzzles, answer math problems, do pre-coding activities, or even create and share their own puzzles all with cute rolling round characters. The main activity has kids solving logic/physics puzzles by placing objects (such as snakes that can extend or crackers that can be crunched) into a maze that their character must traverse. Once they’ve planned out their solution, they can interact with the maze to actually complete it. Even better, kids can exercise their creativity by making their own mazes and puzzles, or playing ones created by other kids. Thinkrolls has been updated with Christmas activities including sorting presents, and playing hide and seek. Plus, there are a ton of other activies, such as pre-coding with the aptly named Pirates’ Code, or practising numbers, shapes and sequences. Thinkrolls requires a monthly or annual subscription but comes with a one-week free trial.

Catch Santa Claus in My House (Free⁺, App Store) →

Catch Santa Claus in My House
By Dualverse, Inc.

Catch Santa is a simple photo app that lets you take a picture and add Santa, elves, and of course reindeer to the image. You can choose to take a photo or use an existing one from your photo library, plus you can do basic contrast adjustments, straightening, cropping and erasing to make the Santa stickers better fit your image. Catch Santa lets you prove to your kids that Santa was there, or to teach them about photo manipulation. Several stickers are free with the remainder sold as relatively inexpensive packs via in-app purchases, and purchasing one also removes ads.

Avocado's Christmas Castle (Free, App Store) →

Avocado’s Christmas Castle
By Traditional Animation LLC

Avocado’s (no relation to Avokiddo) Christmas Castle is a simple but fast-paced game that asks kids to sit in a castle tower and catch falling objects in a basket. Kids catch candy canes, presents, ornaments and more, along with power-ups that freeze time or stop things from stacking. Anything not caught piles up at the bottom of the tower, and the game ends if the stack gets too high. The app does contain a link to the Avocado the Puppet YouTube channel that parents might want to check out before handing this to their kids. The game is simple, fast, fun and free without ads.

Unknown app (Free, App Store) →

A Charlie Brown Christmas
By Loud Crow Interactive Inc.

This is probably my favourite Christmas app, so I couldn’t not include it. A Charlie Brown Christmas takes the classic TV special and turns it into a pop-up activity book narrated by the (now grown up) actor that voiced Charlie Brown himself. The story includes word highlighting, features voices and music from the original special, allows kids to interact with almost everything, and even invites them to decorate a tree for the Lights and Display Contest. The app hasn’t been updated in a while, but it still works and is still a classic.

The post App Friday December 2023 appeared first on Moms With Apps.

Unknown app (Free, App Store) →

Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
By Loud Crow Interactive Inc.

The Great Pumpkin is a Halloween classic and Loud Crow did an amazing job making it into an app. The characters and story are presented in a pop-up book style where kids can listen to the story or turn off narration and read it themselves. There are animated touches everywhere from leaves, to candy, to characters and decorations that playfully wobble when tapped or dragged. Kids can draw faces (or anything else) on a pumpkin which will be integrated into the story, and they can even create their own character and have it show up during the trick-or-treat and party scenes. There are secrets to find and pianos to play, but of course the main draw is the story itself. The app is older, so it may not fully adapt to all modern screen sizes, but it still works and is still a delight.

Unknown app (Free, App Store) →

Pumpkin 3D
By Graphics Software Labs

Decorate your front porch and carve the perfect pumpkin with this 3D app. Kids choose the pumpkin they want, select eyes, mouths, stems, plus they can add bats, spiders and other seasonal decorations to complement their pumpkin. As it is in three dimensions, kids can move the camera around to get just the right angle, and they can adjust the lighting to make it extra spooky.

My Town: Halloween Ghost games (Free⁺, App Store) →

My Town: Halloween Ghost Games
By My Town Games Ltd

My Town has taken their doll house game and turned it into a fun haunted house. It’s actually two games in one, as kids can play with the normal bright and cheerful house, with all of the usual moving family members around, looking in cupboards, setting up objects and just using their imagination. However, flip a light switch and the house transforms with Halloween decorations, spooky objects, costumes and secrets. Kids can try the game for free, although there will be ads as they move between rooms. A My Town subscription will remove ads and unlock all content, and also unlock all other apps in the My Town+ line.

The post App Friday October 2023 appeared first on Moms With Apps.

Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes

Gentler Streak Workout Tracker (Free⁺, App Store) →

Gentler Streak Workout Tracker
By Gentler Stories LLC

Gentler Streak is a workout app that focuses on balance. It encourages you to stay active and healthy but also incorporates rest and tries to keep you from pushing too hard and burning out. An Apple Design Award finalist and former Apple Watch App of the Year, Gentler Streak now works on iPad with the introduction of health data on that platform. Initially I was hesitant to give the app access to my health information, but fortunately all of that data stays on the device. The app shows you a suggested range of activity levels to strive for, suggests and tracks workouts, offers lots of tips for well being, and is filled with fun touches like offering up lines of food emojis to show how many calories you’ve burned. I am not a fitness expert, but for the rest of us Gentler Streak is a playful and encouraging app to help us stay active. You can use the app and see basic metrics for free, with a subscription (and a 7 day free trial) for more advanced tips and features such as suggested workouts and longer term trends.

Algorithms: Explained&Animated (Free⁺, App Store) →

Algorithms: Explained & Animated
By Moriteru Ishida

Once they get past the basics, beginning programmers often struggle with visualizing how information gets moved around and manipulated inside a computer. That’s where Algorithms comes in. Algorithms presents animated views of techniques commonly used by programmers, to show how they work. For example, how do computers sort lists of things when you hit that sort button? How can it be done more efficiently? How does basic network security work? How do computers search for things? What’s a hash table? Each algorithm is shown through a series of colourful animated images along with text descriptions that show how and why information is stored, manipulated, and moved around. Notably it does not show actual code, but it does give user something more important — the right mental model for those wanting to code the algorithm, or for those simply curious about how things work. There are many algorithms included for free, with a single in-app purchase to unlock the rest.

AntVenture (Free, App Store) →

AntVenture
By David Marleau

AntVenture tells the stories of four remarkably literate ants as they venture out of their nests. After selecting an ant, the app encourages you to walk outside as it narrates the story (there are no images or text for this, only audio). At certain parts of the story you are presented with a choice based on what you see around you, or how you want the story to progress. It presents an interesting and unusual experience as you listen to things from the perspective of a tiny creature. Unfortunately the app seems to not work well in the background, as I had to keep the app open for the entire story rather than putting my phone away as I walked, which I would have preferred. Despite this, I have not seen an app like this before and it is worth a look for older kids or adults interested in a change of perspective as they go for a walk.

The post App Friday September 2023 appeared first on Moms With Apps.

Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes

Barbie Color Creations (Free⁺, App Store) →

Barbie Colour Creations
By StoryToys

Barbie Colour Creations is a relaxing colouring and sticker book. Kids choose one of the dozens of characters and scenes, and are given friendly art tools to colour and decorate as they choose. Tools include the usual markers, fills, and pencils, but also make-up brushes and lipsticks. Plus, the image can be zoomed and moved to help with those finer details. The colouring tools are the main draw of the app, but for those wanting a pre-coloured character, a special brush will fully colour them with a few finger swipes. Sticker book scenes (called design challenges) have kids colouring and designing their characters and props, then adding them as stickers to create the scene. All images can be saved to your device’s photos to show off later. There are currently only a few scenes, but more are being added. Barbie Colour Creations offers a seven-day free trial and then requires a subscription for continued use.

Code Land: Coding for Kids (Free⁺, App Store) →

Code Land – Coding for Kids
By Learny Land

Code Land starts out like many pre-coding apps, getting children to guide a character along a blocky path with simple arrows, but impressively progresses into visual programming. Kids begin in Logic Land solving simple puzzles such as guiding a fire truck to put out a fire, or making a conveyer belt go in the right direction. They then progress to pre-coding activities, moving robots and vehicles, and learning basic coding concepts. Finally, they move on to an actual programming language, much like MIT’s Scratch, where they apply the concepts they’ve learned. Kids can also experiment in a more free-form way in competitive games that get the child to write a program, then see how the program performs in the game. There are further sections that let kids make simple platform games, machines, or dance parties, and grow a garden. Code Land is packed with activities and comes with a 7 day free trial, after which a subscription is required.

The post App Friday July 2023 appeared first on Moms With Apps.

Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes

Unknown app (Free, App Store) →

Lost Words: Beyond the Page
By Plug In Digital

Lost Words is a stunning, atmospheric, and emotional adventure game. Izzy, a young girl, wishes to be a writer and her grandmother encourages her to keep a journal of her life and to write stories. Players move both through the journal and the fantasy world she creates, running, jumping, and cleverly using words to interact with the world. None of the puzzles or jumping sections are very difficult as the true heart of the game is the story itself. Izzy must deal with the loss of a loved one, process how it affects her and those around her, and find hope. It’s a powerful, emotional story, told through the journal and through the fantasy world, with high-quality art, music, and narration. You can play the first two chapters for free, with an in-app purchase unlocking the remaining six.

LEGO® DUPLO® Disney (Free, Google Play) →

Lego Duplo Disney
By StoryToys

Lego Duplo Disney invites kids to play with Mickey and Minnie Mouse (and friends) in a world of Duplo blocks. Kids choose from several play packs themed around boats, trains, castles and a café. Each pack comes with different play areas containing a wide assortment of activities. Kids can have Mickey go fishing, build a boat with blocks, make a cake, ride a carousel, count candles, or just play with the characters and use their imagination. There are tons of things to tap on and move around with the world responding to the child’s actions. Graphically, the app does a great job of depicting building blocks against colourful backgrounds. Characters are three dimensional rather than the usual paper cutouts, and, in a nice touch, walk or run when moved around. Blocks click together in a satisfying way, and behave in ways you expect. In fact, being able to build things out of blocks is a great addition to this style of app, and it would be great to see that expanded into more of the areas. Kids can access the Mickey’s Boat play pack for free, with additional packs requiring an in-app purchase or a subscription.

[Link to Lego Duplo Disney on Apple App Store]

I received a complimentary promotional code to review this app.

Marvel HQ: Kids Super Hero Fun (Free⁺, App Store) →

Marvel HQ
By StoryToys

Marvel HQ offers books, videos, game and activities for young fans of Marvel characters. Kids can choose early reading books featuring their favourite heroes and the power to tap on a word to hear it spoken. They can watch videos that teach them how to draw the characters, or even craft their own super gear out of real world materials. There are profiles of the characters, colouring pages, short videos of animated versions of the heroes, and jigsaw puzzles. Kids can chase the Green Goblin in a simple lane-based game featuring Spider-Man, and surprisingly can solve pre-coding puzzles with the Hulk. There’s a good amount of content already in the app, with the promise of more being added. Marvel HQ lets kids trying a small number of things in each area for free, with a subscription (and free trial) to unlock all content.

I received a complimentary promotional code to review this app.

MultiBuddy ($4.99, App Store) →

Multibuddy
By Daniel Springer

Multibuddy is a simple times tables quiz app. Kids choose a table from 2 to 9 and are presented with a quick text-based quiz that asks if numbers are divisible by the table they chose. After several correct answers, or four incorrect ones, the quiz ends and the app gives you a score. There are also a set of tips to quickly decide if a number is divisible by another number. Multibuddy isn’t flashy, but it is a different take on the times table app, as well as being fast, solidly designed, and (currently) free of advertising.

The post App Friday June 2023 appeared first on Moms With Apps.

Tip: Many good apps these days have subscriptions with free trials. This is great as it lets you preview the app and decide if it is right for you. Remember, you can cancel a free trial right away and still get the full free trial period to test out an app. That way you don’t get charged if you accidentally forget about it, and you can always re-subscribe seamlessly if you wish to pay to continue to use the app.

Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes

Dynamilis Handwriting Practice (Free⁺, App Store) →

Dynamilis – Kids’ Handwriting
By Shool Rebound SA

Dynamilis is a smart, full featured app for improving handwriting. Yes, it allows kids to trace letters, but it goes far beyond that with exercises that teach kids to apply the right amount of pressure when writing, to lift the pencil at the appropriate time, to control their strokes, and to develop fine motor skills. Dynamilis does this through interesting games, such as using pressure to guide a submarine or to uncover fossils, using colors to show kids when to hold the pencil down and when to lift it when writing, using precision to fly a helicopter, and much more. As you might guess, the app works best with a stylus, in particular an Apple Pencil that can measure pressure and angle. Dynamilis analyzes each child’s writing, recommends exercises, and tracks progress. It is the most impressive and comprehensive printing and handwriting app I’ve seen. Dynamilis requires that you create an account and offers a seven day free trial, with a subscription to continue using the app.

Unknown app (Free, App Store) →

Subjects — student planner

Subjects helps students track their timetables, assignments and grades. It offers a convenient calendar view so students can see their schedule for a week, month, or day. The homework tab shows all past and future assignments with due dates and check marks for completion, plus optional grade tracking. The app can notify you about approaching classes and assignments, and it offers widgets for your home screen that will let you see what’s coming up at a glance. Of course, students have to enter all of this information, but for those willing to do so, the app offers a clean and helpful way to track their course work. Subjects is free to use, with an optional subscription to unlock on screen widgets, notifications, and syncing across multiple devices.

Voice Dream - Natural Reader (Free⁺, App Store) →

Voice Dream Reader

Voice Dream Reader reads documents out loud using a number of synthesized computer voices. It can of course read text files, but also PDFs and electronic books (ePUBs), Word documents, Google documents, PowerPoint, and audio files. It even has an option to run optical character recognition on scanned documents. It can also import web pages from Safari using the share button and store them to read now or later. You can organize your library of documents into folders if you wish, and there are also options to sort things by type or where they came from. The reader displays the document and will highlight words as it speaks for certain documents like ePUBS or web archives. You can double tap to start the narration at a given place, or skip ahead and skip backward, speed up the narration, and highlight important passages. The reader helpfully continues when you leave the app, so you can keep listening in the background. Voice Dream Reader comes with a seven day free trial, and a yearly subscription to keep using all of the features (that’s a yearly subscription, so be sure to cancel during the free trail period if you don’t want to continue using the app).

Swim Out ($2.99, App Store) →

Swim Out
By Lozange Lab

Swim out is a stylish puzzle game where you attempt to swim to the pool exit, while avoiding all of the other swimmers and various hazards along the way. It reminds me a bit of the Rush Hour parking puzzle games, except in this case you are moving the entire time, as are all of the other swimmers. Soving each puzzle involves recognizing patterns and thinking ahead. The difficulty ramps up quickly, but each puzzle is relatively short, so failing doesn’t cost too much time and gives you insight into the next attempt. For fans of puzzle games, this is a fun one, with lots of variety and plenty of satisfying challenge.

The post App Friday May 2023 appeared first on Moms With Apps.

Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes

Automatoys (Free⁺, App Store) →

Automotoys
By Idle Friday LTD

Automotoys is an elaborate three-dimensional marble maze. Each maze is full of creative parts that move marbles up and down elevators and ramps, across bridges, and through simple mazes. Kids control everything with a single tap and hold to make all of the parts move. The goal is to move a single marble from start to finish, with faster times earning more stars. Some parts of the maze give you a chance to stop and think, while others require a precise sequence of taps to complete, which may be unsuitable for younger children. Automotoys is exquisitely detailed, creative and well-produced, with tons of fun interactions. Kids can play three levels for free, with the remaining levels unlocked with a single in-app purchase.

Study Snacks: Language & More (Free⁺, App Store) →

Study with Subwords
By Klemens Strasser

Study with Subwords takes the concept of flashcards and turns it into a game of building words. You create lists of words, either by adding the already created lists, or making your own. Lists can be words, such as the names of the planets, or can be associative lists, such as words and phrases in both English and French, or the capital cities of countries. Once you’ve created a list, the app splits the words and phrases into one to three letter chunks (subwords) and presents them as a colourful jumble of circles filled with letters. For simple word lists, you put together letters to build words from the list. In the case of associative lists, the app quizzes you and asks you to put together the correct answer from the subwords (such as what is the capital of Sweden), complete with a hint system if you get stuck. Study with Subwords is playful and fluid, and turns the idea of flash cards into a fun game instead of just rote learning. The app is free to use, with a premium subscription available for access to further pre-made lists, or the ability to scan lists using the device’s camera.

Ear training: notes and chords (Free, App Store) →

Ear training: notes and chords
By Alexey Ovod

Ear training is exactly what it says: an app for training your hearing to identify notes and chords. The app is quite full featured and flexible, with sections for note recognition, chords, intervals and scales. For each section you can decide which notes and chords on which to test yourself, and you can even change the instrument, music notation and language. It keeps track of which things you have mastered and which need work, presenting them in a chart (but it does not support multiple users). The app is ad supported, and unfortunately does not have an in-app purchase to remove ads.

Chess Openings Trainer (Free⁺, App Store) →

Chess Openings Trainer
By Piero Toffanin

Chess is an extraordinarily well-studied game with many opening moves mapped out over the centuries. Chess Openings lets you explore those moves not just with text, but by moving the pieces. The app shows you four different potential openings at a time in the free version (and many more with an in-app purchase), and pops up text based on the move chosen. It continues letting you explore moves and counter moves, explaining the name and value of the moves. Finally, after several moves you can replay the opening. The app does not teach the basics of chess, and the explanations are somewhat technical so some knowledge of the game is required, but it may be fun for future chess masters.

The post App Friday April 2023 appeared first on Moms With Apps.