Tech Tools for Learning at Home

Captivating music creation app for young musicians

Bottom Line: For iOS-infused preschool and kindergarten classrooms, this could be an excellent intro to electronic music.

Kids connect the dots with multisensory, interactive media creator

Bottom Line: Kids will love playing with this one, but it needs more developed features and additional support to be effective for classroom use.

Ideal, easy-to-use way to help kids learn basic animation

Bottom Line: This introduction to digital animation offers lots of opportunities for creativity for young students.

Simple game-design app has endless creative potential

Bottom Line: Letting students design, play, improve, and share their own games opens up opportunities for learning potential in many subject areas.

Beautifully designed digital sketchbook for any age

Bottom Line: The simplicity and effectiveness of the app make this a powerful sketch and note-taking tool for the iPad.

Podcasting app is super easy to use, if you can do it all in one take

Bottom Line: There are few easier ways to publish a podcast, but that ease of use comes at the cost of one-take creation and few tools for post-production.

Loop beats like a pro with stellar music-maker

Bottom Line: A stellar, approachable tool for constructing your very own digital beats and tracks.

One of the best creation tools available for aspiring game developers

Bottom Line: Great choice for a full unit or class on game design; fuels students game-making dreams.

Extremely powerful photo editor will equally delight pros, amateurs

Bottom Line: It successfully walks the fine line of photo-editing features, offering satisfying experiences for those making quick edits and those crafting perfect images.

Solve, create, and share puzzles that gush with STEM learning

Bottom Line: This challenging yet kid-friendly set of logic puzzles wonderfully allows kids to solve problems and experiment with light science concepts.

Gentle chess puzzle game ideal for young newbies

Bottom Line: For kids who are new to chess but want to learn how to play, this fun intro to the game provides a well-done tutorial combined with a light overarching storyline.

Popular game's education mode offers stunning view of ancient world

Bottom Line: This game is an absorbing experience that offers students a unique, living and breathing view of ancient Egyptian art, life, and culture.

Spiraling sandbox of adventure and creation gets kids to dig deep

Bottom Line: An irresistible and seemingly limitless incubator for 21st century skills that, with a little guidance, can chart new courses for learning.

Addicting gameplay jazzes up geography

Bottom Line: Game-based platform can get kids interested in world geography and expose them to different cultures on a surface level.

Vocab-building word puzzles inspire creative problem-solving

Bottom Line: Wide-open problem solving builds creativity, vocabulary, and spelling skills, but controls can be tricky.

Practice typing by exploring and defending a world made of paper

Bottom Line: Great for practicing touch-typing skills, this adventure game draws players in with a slowly revealed backstory.

Amusing puzzler challenges kids, teaches programming principles

Bottom Line: This high-quality puzzle game is a fun way for students to learn effective and efficient programming skills.

Best entry in classic strategy series might not be best for classrooms

Bottom Line: As with all games in this series, Civilization VI is a great learning experience with the right support, but older, cheaper versions may be more practical for classrooms.

Design and launch a rocket into space in realistic astrophysics sim

Bottom Line: This accurate rocket sim encourages trial-and-error learning and makes for great (and often explosive) physics and engineering experiments.

Improve designs, collect favorites in robot creation sandbox

Bottom Line: A well-made and enjoyable STEM app that leverages what's great about play -- experimentation -- to spark engineering interest.

Versatile robots teach many engineering and coding skills

Bottom Line: The scalability of the Cubelets learning experience makes them an excellent addition to any school or STEM club.

Creative sandbox opens the door to coding in any subject area

Bottom Line: Scratch draws students of all types into coding and lays a foundation for future learning.

Top-notch tool empowers kids to invent, build, and control wirelessly

Bottom Line: Easy-to-use, versatile electronic invention set that works wirelessly with your hand-held device.

Nature identification app limited but worthwhile

Bottom Line: Even though it can't always make a match, the free price tag and large active community make this photo-snapping app useful for classrooms.

Awesome astronomy app takes students on a journey through the universe

Bottom Line: A quality, affordable way to bring true astronomy study to the classroom, even during the day, with a plethora of viewing options.

Brilliantly designed iOS coding app great for newbies or pros

Bottom Line: If you have iPads or Macs, this is an inspired choice for learning how to create and tweak code.

Family-focused site for learning AI well-suited to classrooms, too

Bottom Line: Makes artificial intelligence and machine learning accessible to students of many ages and abilities.

Beautiful exploration of fascinating math beyond classroom topics

Bottom Line: For students who get bored by the usual curriculum, this tool will open their eyes to math's deepest problems and most curious corners.

Creative, smart mix of activities for pre-K to 2 is a breath of fresh air

Bottom Line: This early-learning standout offers scaffolded, creative learning of foundational skills.

Explore the concept of numbers through puzzles and fun gameplay

Bottom Line: Though there are a few kinks, kids experience fun gameplay while internalizing fundamental number concepts.

One-stop shop for a wealth of fantastic PBS Kids educational content

Bottom Line: Robust collection of learning resources covers an impressive array of topics.

Free, expansive digital library unlocks treasure trove of books

Bottom Line: This large collection of books and videos on a wide variety of topics is an easy -- and free -- enhancement to any classroom library.

Flexible learning environment offers goal-oriented personalized pathways

Bottom Line: A robust resource for targeted, individualized instruction in most standardized subject areas.

Adaptive math practice wrapped in role-playing adventure

Bottom Line: Standard math problems plugged into magical adventure yield helpful data.

Pretend play meets social skills at this cute interactive gathering

Bottom Line: Beautiful, imagination-provoking app is so easy to use, kids will likely want to return for many more parties.

Songs and activities help kids express, recognize, understand emotions

Bottom Line: Daniel Tiger and his friends present excellent examples for kids who are just learning healthy emotional expression.

Sesame Street winner teaches kids how to keep calm and carry on

Bottom Line: Highly effective tool for whole-class instruction or one-on-one intervention.

Brief bursts of physical exercise add classroom fun, build brainpower

Bottom Line: In a genre of its own, GoNoodle is a ready-to-go, classroom-friendly exercise program that challenges students to get moving.

Relaxing and serene app helps incorporate peace into daily life

Bottom Line: If you're looking for a captivating app to teach relaxation and calming skills to students, Calm is an essential tool to add to your toolbox.

Cool assessment targets kids' strengths; sprawling content overwhelms

Bottom Line: A great starting point for conversations about students' strengths; skip some of the digital content.

Unique take on self-exploration relies on prompts to guide reflection

Bottom Line: With plenty of ways to express and document their thoughts and more, this app can help students learn something new about themselves.

Pop culture site promotes social justice critique, activism

Bottom Line: This site offers smart, fun resources for exploring the layers of meaning in media and finding causes to fight for.