You asked and we answered!  We loved hearing from you and because our last app roundup, Worthwhile Screen Time: The Best Apps For Kids Age 6-8, was a hit, we decided to give it another go for the slightly younger crowd. 

We understand that pre-school age kids have a big job— learning, feeling, thinking, doing. While we often aim for educational experiences to come from everyday learning and real-time play, that isn’t always the case. The good news— educators and engineers have joined forces to create some wildly educational and totally fun apps for kids! 

Here are our favorite picks for apps that make screen time worthwhile for kids ages 4-5:

Articulation Station

Articulation Station was created by a certified Speech-Language Pathologist for parents, SLPs and other educators to help work with children and adults with speech sound delays. Articulation Station is the only articulation application offering practice at the WORD, PHRASE, SENTENCE and STORY levels all in one app! These activities are so fun your kids will love practicing their sounds and forget they are actually “working” on their articulation.

Math Prodigy

Prodigy is a curriculum-aligned math game for Grades 1 – 8 and is loved by teachers, parent and most importantly, kids! It has content from all major topics and will help ensure your students (or kids!) are ready for standardized testing. (If you can make that fun, you’ve done something right!) With a diagnostic test to place students in the correct grade, embedded assessments, and automatic differentiation, Prodigy ensures that each one of your children succeeds at their own pace.

Baby Sign and Learn

Recommended by speech therapists, the Baby Sign and Learn app features an animated video to keep kids’ attention and makes learning fun. With interactive quizzes and colorful flashcards, this app will inspire your baby to sign, even when they’re young.

Teach Your Monster To Read

The Teach Your Monster To Read series takes children on a journey covering the first two years of learning to read, from matching letters and sounds to enjoying little books. Children rehearse tricky words, plus reading whole sentences and captions

The Rocket Cupcake Co. by GoldieBlox

Attention, future coders! Goldie and her friends can’t remember whose birthday it is… The obvious solution is to deliver cupcakes to EVERYONE in Bloxtown! The Rocket Cupcake Co. is for ages 4 and up, and teaches coding concepts that engineers of all ages can be proud of. Learning while fulfilling missions and having fun— that’s what birthday dreams are made of!

StarFall 

Starfall’s emphasis on phonemic awareness, systematic sequential phonics, and common sight words in conjunction with audiovisual interactivity. Starfall activities are research-based and align with Individual and Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics. The program emphasizes exploration, play, and positive reinforcement—encouraging children to become confident and intrinsically motivated.

Wheels On The Bus

Enjoy the classic song, The Wheels on the Bus, with your little ones! With 11 beautiful and colorful verses filled with fun interactions, your children will play and learn at the same time! The 10 different games in the app provide hours of entertainment in which your children will not only have fun but also develop their, memory, logic and fine motor skills.

Leapfrog

The Leapfrog interactive educational app provides a well-rounded curriculum that helps build key developmental skills. Designed by educators and built by the leading brand in learning for kids, LeapFrog Academy™ provides learning games for kids ages 3, 4, 5 and 6 years old that explore a variety of skills that are important to development such as reading & writing, math, science, critical thinking, creativity, health and feelings.

Tongo Music

Voted Best of 2016 (AppStore) and Parents´ Choice Gold Award 2017, kids will discover the wonderful world of music with Tongo Music. The app is produced by experienced music teachers and illustrators for children and the whole family.

Tiny Robot Maker

Tiny Robot Maker connects digital play with children’s favorite offscreen activities, providing hours of creative fun. Make funky robots from colorful pieces of scrap metal, cogs and pipes. Then collect them in your robot gallery. Kids can choose their best robot designs to print on their own greeting cards, coloring pages, and art activities.

The Monster At The End of This Book

Having reached no. 1 in books in the App Store, this animated storybook app will humorously help teach your child about emotions and early reading skills. The Monster at the End of This Book enhances the classic Sesame Street book with completely immersive experiences that make children part of the story. Join lovable, furry old Grover as he tries his very hardest to tie down pages and build brick walls—all to keep readers away from the monster at the end of this book.

Avokiddo Emotions

Give your children a serious case of the giggles when you introduce them to a zany zebra, shy sheep, jolly giraffe, and modest moose! Avokiddo has many incredible apps to teach and entertain your young kids. Dress up, feed, play and care for these cute animals and discover dozens of emotions in this endless play funhouse. Pretend play with over 110 objects, foods, toys, and musical instruments and find out how to please your lovable pets.