I received a Kindle Fire tablet for Christmas from my husband David and his parents. Though it is not a true tablet, it works almost just like one. I love it. And so do my preschool students. They always ask me: Did you bring your iPad? Ok, it’s not an iPad but I’ll go with them. LOL

The Kindle Fire uses Android apps. I have found many educational learning apps for preschool students and most of them were FREE.  They are easy to download and easy to operate. Once introduced to the apps, most of the 3-4 year old students can maneuver through them on their own.

I want to highlight some of the favorite preschool educational apps that have been great learning tools to enhance and reinforce learning in the classroom. These apps are not meant to replace teachers or their interaction with the students. They are more for reinforcing the activities teachers have planned and meet the interests of many students of the iGeneration.

The apps allow young learners to use their fingers on the touch screen and build their fine motor muscles for pre-writing skills.

Shape Builder — slide puzzle pieces into the correct spot to complete a picture, voice tells picture name and gives sound object makes when puzzle is complete

Alphabet Matching — memory matching game to remember and locate two matching letters at a time, voice tells letter names when clicked

Jumpstart Preschool: Magic of Learning

Giraffe’s Matching — larger game board than alphabet matching, memory matching game to locate animal pictures, gives animal sounds when student clicks each square

ABC Preschool — trace letters and numbers using different colors

Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Games — shapes & colors, letters, counting; voice calls out a command to locate the correct object out of a choice of four

Cookies & Milk — students bake virtual cookies by dragging ingredients to the bowl, stirring, and decorating then eating and enjoying a glass of milk

Connect the Dots — tracing letters by connecting the dots

Alphabet Book — letters, numbers, and shapes; identify the correct choice out of four options

FishPop — pop the fish by touching them with a finger being careful not to pop the octopus and make a black inkspot, must be quick to pop all the fish as they swim past

My First Book — listen to a story book with interactive features to touch the screen

The Story of the Monkey — storybook

Fruit Sorter – sort different fruit into four boxes as the pass by on the conveyor belt before they drop off

iStory Books —  storybook

Check out these apps and open up a new world of technology for preschool students. My students tend to enjoy and learn more from apps and strengthen their fine motor skills using a tablet rather than the desktop computer. The apps periodically update, keeping things new.