Page: Best free and discounted apps for kids for fine motor skills
Best apps for kids for developing fine motor skills.
Below we present the best and most educational apps and games for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners along with 1-2 graders featuring fine motor skills development. These apps will help kids develop good eye-hand coordination and dexterity. Interactive play with the fingers on the iPad screen like tracing lines, shapes, letters and numbers or simple drawing can be a great help!
Best for: Teacher & parent tools, Attention & concentration, Early literacy, Eye-hand coordination, Thinking & problem solving
What it is: a set of activities for developing handwriting skills (tracing, writing). Built-in sets include: practice sets (shapes, prewriting exercises, dot-to-dot activities, mazes etc), numbers, lower case letters, upper case letters and words.
What you do with it: add student's profile, customize the settings, add your own material (optionally), practice with your child or student (or let them practice on their own), monitor the progress. The typical single activity consists of 'learning' (watching the correct pen strokes for each shape/number/letter), practicing on your own following the visual guides and replaying/reviewing the learned material.
For detailed info we highly recommend the demonstration videos on the producer's website.
What we liked:the concept, range of built-in material (from pre-writing exercises to whole words, from basic letter tracing to puzzle-like activities), number of exercises (plus the option to create your own exercises), the options for following and monitoring student's progress, high flexibility and configurability, very informative instructions and help files (including demonstration videos).
What we didn't like: only a teacher or parent can assess the quality of student's strokes (there is no automatic recognition of drawn shapes so even when you draw abstract lines instead of the proper ones you'll always be rewarded with 'your such a good learner' message. Some letters (e.g. in the 'words' set of exercises) are small and will difficult to trace with a finger. Navigation could be more intuitive in some cases (some exercises require you to press a button to see a picture or play audio instructions).
Bottom line: an excellent, very flexible tool for parents and teachers with loads of high-quality educational material already built-in.
Best for: Brain teasers, Attention & concentration, Early math, Eye-hand coordination, Interaction, Memory, Music & art, Thinking & problem solving, Understanding of the world
What it is: a set of activities for concentration, color recognition and fine motor skills.
What you do with it: see our video presentation
What we liked: concept, simple graphics, simple navigation, spoken instructions, good educational value.
What we didn't like: the design may be just too simple for some kids, after (aparently) repetitive tasks they may lose interest, for younger kids parent assistance is required. A little bit too pricey.
Best for: Education, Attention & concentration, Early math, Eye-hand coordination, Interaction, Memory, Thinking & problem solving, Understanding of the world
What it is: a pack of 18 games and activities concentrating on fine motor skills, critical thinking and problem solving.
What we liked: the concept, great graphics with very realistic animated insects, easy navigation and operation, the number and quality of (most) of the activities, adaptive learning system (difficulty increases or decreases depending on the child's progress), the sound backgrounds, the 'stamp collecting' rewards feature.
What we didn't like: no spoken instructions (in our opinion the 'visual instructions' were sometimes not sufficient). Some activities may require some help or additional explanation from a parent. We didn't like the human-like sounds (when insects are touched), the numerical scoring system with a timer (not very useful for younger kids), the activities where the insects are 'hurt' (caught with fingers or flung with a slingshot). The app could have even more educational value if it contained some real-life facts about the insects (e.g. presented in the Stamps section).
Bottom line: a great set of fun activities for developing fine motor skills, critical thinking and problem solving.
Fingerfun HD - Kids Motor Skills Development, Preschool Educational Game for Toddlers
by Kujifun
Price: free
May contain `more apps` links
iPad
Overall Score: 93/100
version reviewed: 1.0.2
reviewed:
Best for: Interactive play, Eye-hand coordination, Interaction, Thinking & problem solving, Understanding of the world
What it is: an app for developing fine motor skills with 4 themes (zoo animals, botanic garden, water world, farm) and about 80 illustrations.
What you do with it: place your fingers (1 to 10 at a time, depending on the difficulty level) simultaneously on the screen to match a button pattern displayed to reveal the hidden image. The name of the revealed animal or plant will then be read out.
What we liked: the concept, simple illustrations, very easy operation (just place your fingers on the screen), automatic difficulty adjustment depending on the child's competency level, 2 pronunciations (American or British English), sound backgrounds.
What we didn't like: the 'reward' animations are very simple. Some sort of scoring system would make this app more enticing to use (some kids may not find enough motivation to go past a couple of items).
Bottom line: an interesting tool for developing fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.
Best for: Interactive play, Attention & concentration, Early literacy, Eye-hand coordination, Interaction, Language, Thinking & problem solving, Understanding of the world
What it is: an app for learning the alphabet while enhancing cognitive and motor skills.
What you do with it: construct the letters of the alphabet sliding pieces and fasteners in place.
What we liked: concept, graphics, smooth operation.
What we didn't like: only uppercase letters, just one level of difficulty, navigation could be improved.
Bottom line:for boys learning their ABC's (but there is room for enhacements)
Magic Sorter - Sea Tales - 10 in 1 - to develop important cognitive and fine motor skills
by MobileIgromatic
Price: 2.99$
iPad
Overall Score: 89/100
version reviewed: 1.0.3
reviewed:
Best for: Interactive play, Attention & concentration, Eye-hand coordination, Interaction
What it is: 5 minigames for strengthening sorting, matching and fine motor skills.
What you do with it: depending on the activity match the objects with the silhouettes (basic geometric shapes, sea creatures), match by the color or by the size or solve a simple (6 large pieces) puzzle. After you complete the task a simple reward animation will be played.
What we liked: bright, colorful, kid-friendly illustrations and animations, very easy operation, all objects are very easy to handle (maybe apart from the puzzle game). Very clean interface, with no distracting elements.
What we didn't like: the app would have even more educational value if the names of the objects or colors were spoken.
What it is: a set of 3 activities for developing fine motor skills (from 10 to 30 difficulty levels, depending on the activity).
What you do with it: listen to the instructions and perform the required action: tap the maximum number of squashes in a given time (fine motor control), trace, drag and rub lines (advanced finger and hand movements) or pinch peppers (pincer grip development).
The app has a simple reporting feature (all attempts are timed).
What we liked: the concept. Good variety of activities. High educational value. Additional information for teachers/parents. Ease of use. No distracting elements. The 'reveal the picture' bonus feature (see our video below).
What we didn't like: the achievements/results could be presented in more kid-friendly way. May be not engaging enough for the older kids. No multiple user accounts.
Best for: Interactive play, Attention & concentration, Eye-hand coordination, Interaction, Thinking & problem solving
What it is: 5 puzzle activities for strengthening sorting, matching and fine motor skills (shapes, sea creatures, underwater scene, sizes and colors).
What you do with it: slide the pieces into correct place (shapes, sea creatures, sizes and colors activities). The Underwater Scene: complete the jigsaw puzzle with 12 pieces.
What we liked: bright, colorful, kid-friendly illustrations, very easy operation, no distracting elements.
What we didn't like: the app would have even more educational value if the names of the objects or colors read out. The navigation could be a bit more consistent.
Best for: Education, Attention & concentration, Eye-hand coordination, Interaction, Language, Understanding of the world
What it is: a set of activities for developing language and fine motor skills.
What you do with it: the activities include:
- Animal School - 15 flashcards with animal photos and sounds
- Animal Play - a set of 4 mini-game (recognizing an animal by the sound it makes, a drag-through-maze activity, spot a hiding animal and match animal to its shadow)
- Animal Show - a short video with photos and drawing of animals
- Prize Page - a sticker scene
What we liked: the concept. Nice, clear photographs and illustrations. Ease of use. Spoken instructions. Animal sounds. Multiple educational aspects covered in the Animal School and Animal Play activities.
What we didn't like: only 15 animals (randomly chosen). Link to other apps as a part of the main menu. The Animal Show activity is not too engaging (and requires parental assistance). The 'animal-in-the-box' scene concept. The background music (can be turned off in the settings).
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