educational

Here I was, thinking I was so excited to have my kids back in school, but I totally forgot one thing: homework. Drilling your kids on their math facts is the most fun ever, right? Ugh. Well, if you have the amazingly inventive Osmo for i…

Warning: It's a jungle out there. No, really. There's a crazy, colorful jungle filled with wild animals and plants for kids to explore, and it's right there on your smart device. Since we always love the kinds of educational apps that ki…

Often, when I see something that claims to be made "for kids, by kids," my suspicious brow goes up and I prepare myself to be underwhelmed. Not the case with #MetsKids , a new website that is -- ahem -- made for, with, and by real life k…

Every year when our kids ask us about 9/11, we turn to BrainPop to help us tackle this challenging topic. This year, we're adding another helpful resource that we discovered on the 9/11 Memorial website that we think you'll want to check…

It may sound a tad hokey, but reading really is fundamental to school and life in general, which is why we've worked hard to put together 8 of the very best reading apps for older kids as part of our Back to School Tech Guide 2015. Wheth…

My kids have been back to school for a couple weeks now, and that means I'm reviewing spelling words with the big kids while I cook dinner every night. My preschooler doesn't want to be left out, so he's asking for "homework" too. That's…

Even though our kids will be getting lots of STEM in school these days (at least, we hope so), we love the idea of encouraging their love of learning about science, math, and related subjects outside the classroom too. YouTube can actual…

I have a kid who really wants to be creative, but usually needs a good push before he'll dive into a project, and now we've found an app that delivers on that so beautifully. The brand new WonderBox app hails from Duck Duck Moose , one o…

Some of our kids are really picky when it comes to books -- not too long, not too short, with just the right plot points and character types. Then there are the ones who go through books so quickly that we can barely keep up with suggest…

We're big fans of dedicated kids' tablets around here. We even have a list of our favorite tablets for kids , for those parents who aren't quite ready to hand over a $500 iPad to a preschooler. Even if it is a hand-me-down. And this is w…

Every summer I vow that we're going to do enriching activities to keep everyone's brain sharp, but then my resolve melts faster than ice cream on a hot day once we start enjoying the lazy, unscheduled days of summer. But, I've found a gr…

Since so many of you write us asking for the best Android apps for kids , we are so honored that Google Play reached out too, asking us to be this month's expert kids' app curator in their family category! We get to join the likes of tru…

My kids are already saying they're bored during the afternoon when it's too hot to play outside too long. So yeah, they may be getting more screen time than usual, but I've been trying to justify it by finding some educational YouTube ch…

Seeing as how we live in an age where everything from Nutella to x has its own national day, I should not be surprised that today is National Moon Day. At least it celebrates something totally real and inspirational, and if it's marketin…

I've vowed that someday we're going to take our kids to Paris like I did on a brief, very memorable weekend there in college (ooh, the croissants) but it's not on the schedule yet. While we save up our money, I've been letting my kids pl…

I am pretty sure that it's written somewhere in the fine print of the Parenthood Contract that we're supposed to take tons of photos of our kids. So it's always a nice bonus when the subjects of our countless pics develop their own inter…

Since my kids have been out of school for over a month, I'm on the lookout for ways to keep their minds engaged. My latest find is the Motion Math: Cupcake! app , and it's been a huge hit around here. We've lauded Motion Math apps before…

Getting our kids on board with STEM early in the game seems like a great way to go. And just because it's summer doesn't mean that gentle parent-ly nudge in the right direction has to take a break. An easy way to get kids hyped about thi…

With school out for the summer, I know that many of us will be letting our kids have a bit more screen time during these long, less-scheduled days. And if you'd like that time to be educational, at least some of the time, definitely chec…

School's out (finally). Time to really sink into summer's sun and fun. But for many parents, summer also means tackling this gnawing question, how are we going to keep these children entertained? Well, for your tech-head kid, we're happy…

Later this week, my kids and I will gather around the television to watch the nail-biting action of the Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals . But before we start to marvel at the super kids who don't get frazzled spelling words from aut…

If you've ever looked, then you know how hard it is to find examples of female role models in STEM, which is why these parents decided to create this new card game Women in Science for their daughter, and now, for all our kids. Yeah! Not…

My kids got a huge kick out the original Makey Makey invention kit that we featured here on Cool Mom Tech a couple of years ago. And now they've launched a Kickstarter campaign for their new Makey Makey GO , which has killed its goal in …

We're in those final weeks of school before summer break, which means my kids and I need to figure out how they're going to occupy themselves and keep their brains and hands active. Turns out I'm getting some great ideas from the online …