50 Educational Apps for the iPod Touch

I have been getting a lot of questions about the Apps we have on our iPod Touches at school, so here you are:

English

miss_spell
Miss Spell

Free
Check to see whether the word lists are spelled correctly or not.

Super_Hangman
Super Hangman LE & Global High Scores

Free
Fairly standard Hangman app, with good graphics

Storykit
Story Kit

Free
Create an electronic story book by writing text, and either drawing on the screen or using your own photos. Record sound effects too!

Spell_it_lite
Spell It Lite

Free
Basic spelling app where you can select different levels. You can hear audio, get hints etc

Stanza
Stanza

Free

This app gives you the ability to read e-books, including over 50,000 free titles.

iSign
iSign Lite

Free
A Sign Language app that teaches basic signs using animations. We will be using this when our Grade 1 students investigate communication.

Language

English_Chinese_Dictionary
KT-Dict CE

Free
Chinese-English dictionary. See here for more details on how we use it at school.

Finger_Lite
Finger Lite
Free
Turn your iPod Touch into a wireless Chinese writing tablet.

Spanish_Tutor
Spanish Tutor
Free
Puzzles, writing, flashcards – this free Spanish app has it all.


Maths

Number_Line
Number Line
Free
Excellent little app for ordering decimals, percentages and fractions. Would suit middle to upper primary.

Basic_Math
Basic Math
Free
Choose from the 4 operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication & division) and complete multiple choice questions on them.

iChoose
iChoose
Free
App which allows you to select from coin toss, yes/no, dice roll, card choice, rock/paper/scissors and many other options. Great for probability and statistics.

Math_Match_Lite
Match Lite
Free
Match the tiles on the screen, e.g. 9 and 7 + 2. Great for reinforcing basic skills. It also times you completing each board.

Math_Quizzer
Math Quizzer
Free
Choose from addition, subtraction, multiplication & division (or a combination of these) and then complete the questions. Multi-choice answers are provided below.

Brain_Blaze_Divide
Brain Blaze Divide
Free
This is ok… You go through the sets of division problems, unlocking a new set each time you correctly answer each set. Only thing is, it allows you to work with one set at a time (e.g. division by 1, division by 2 etc), rather than mix them up. Still, it’s a good starting place.

TanZen_Lite
Tanzen Lite
Free
A neat little app that allows you to complete tangram puzzles (set to very zen-like music). A well thought through application.

Tape_Measure
Tape Measure
Free
Basic ruler in inches or centimetres.

Units
Units
Free
Excellent little app which will quickly show you any unit (area, temperature, length and weight, to name a few) in most other units, e.g. for Length it shows you Miles, Nautical Miles, Yard, Foot, Inch, Kilometre & Metre. The perfect app to illustrate why we should think about whether we need to spend time teaching our kids this stuff when it does it for us so quickly…

Sci_Soc_Stud

Geared
Geared
$0.99
App which our Grade 5’s will be using to reinforce understanding of simple machines. This game gets progressively harder as you solve more challenging problems.

world_wiki
World Wiki
Free
As it implies, gives you access to demographic info on most countries in the world.

Google_Earth_001
Google Earth
Free
Excellent iPod Touch version of the desktop programme created by Google. Absolutely awesome.

History_Maps_of_the_World
History: Maps of the world
Free
View historical maps of the world.

iEphemeris_Lite
iEphemeris Lite
Free
Astronomical app showing moon phases, the surface of the moon, the distance between the earth and the moon… You get the idea!

Weather_Bug
Weather Bug
Free
Live local weather forecasts, 7 day forecasts, maps and (in certain areas) video footage of weather conditions.

Flower_Garden_Lite
Flower Garden Lite
Free
Neat little app where you plant, water and grow flowers and send bouquets via email.

Health_&_PE

Epicurious
Epicurious
Free
Great app for recipes, complete with photos, clear instructions and the ability to create shopping lists.

iFirstAid_Lite
iFirst Aid
Free
Great basic first aid information for all. Once you have registered, you can access info on CPR, bleeding, burns, choking & poisons. I was pleased to see for the CPR section, you can choose between Adult, Child 1-8 years and Baby. There are visuals which aid instructions.

StepTrak_lite
Step Trak Lite
Free
Neat app which acts as a pedometer. Simple to use, really effective. You can upload your results to MapMyWalk.

Music

Mini_Piano
Mini Piano
Free
A one octave piano keyboard. Works beautifully.

Shaker
Pocket Shaker
Free
Select a percussion instrument from an extensive list, then play it!

Kalimba_Free
Kalimba Free
Free
A realistic looking kalimba, in the key of C or G.

Drum_Kit_Lite
Drum Kit Lite
Free
Decent drum kit with some good audio output! Our music teacher plans to use it with the class to play rhythms en masse!

Touch_Chords
Touch Chords
Free
Takes you through some easy, medium and advanced chords, and also ‘Little Hands’ chords (where you don’t play all the strings). Nice introduction.

Art

Art
Art
$0.99
Great list of historical artists, their lives, their art, and so much more. If $0.99 seems a little much, why not try the lite version, which is free.

Doodle_Kids
Doodle Kids
Free
Neat little app created by a 9 year old Singaporean boy. We’ve used it for fine motor skills, creativity etc. You can take screen shots of your creations and email them later.

Make_a_Face_Free
Make a Face
Free
This app lets you make crazy faces using various noses, mouths, face shapes etc.

Comic_Touch_Lite
Comic Touch Lite
Free
Add captions and speech bubbles to photos. A bit like Comic Life on a Mac.

Whiteboard_Collaborative_Drawing
Whiteboard Collaborative Drawing
Free
Neat little app that allows you to connect more two iPod Touches together. Great for communication!

Early_Years

abc_Pocket_Phonics
abc Pocket Phonics
$0.99
I think this is a great little app for the early years. You learn to form letters, hear the sounds of each letter, then blend sounds to make words at the end. The Lite version has the first sounds only, but the full version has sound blends as well. Give it a go! See here for more details on how we used with with K2.

Early_Reader
Early Reader
$0.99
Another great little app for beginning readers. It covers the basic sight words, phonics, etc and is easy to use. You can turn the voice on or off.

Word_Magic
Word Magic
$0.99
This app has missing letters which the kids need to select from a list to complete the word. There are a range of settings you can customize, including lowercase or uppercase letters, the missing letters at the beginning, middle or end of the word, and the length of the word (to name but a few).

ladybug_tree
Ladybug Tree
$0.99
This is a good app for developing touch-pad skills. You catch ladybugs (the Kiwi in me wants to say ‘Ladybirds’, but I’ll let it go!) and put them in a jar, and see how many you can catch in the time given.

iWriteWords
iWrite Words
Free
Trace the letters on screen. It’s ok, but not the writing format we usually teach. Good for fun though.

Tozzle_LIte
Tozzle Lite
Free
Great little puzzle for developing touch-pad skills. Tap and drag the pictures into the correct places. My 2 year old loves this one.

Humpty_Dumpty
Classic Nursery Rhymes Lite
Free
This version only has Humpty Dumpty on it, however it is nice the way you can listen to the nursery rhyme and then put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Misc

Skype
Skype
Free
Fabulous communication tool you will all know and love, I’m sure.

TED
TED
Free
Link straight to the amazing TED website where you can access all of the fabulous videos for Technology, Entertainment & Design.

Myst
Myst
$4.99
This computer game has been reconfigured for the iPod Touch. I hope to use it later in the year as a stimulus for creative writing. The visuals are really great, and it is a critical thinking sort of game (which I like).  There is also Myst Free for you to check out first, if you’re put off by the price tag.

Chess_free
Chess Free
Free
App that allows you to play chess. Simple and to the point.

Learn_chess
Learn Chess
Free
Nice and simple way to learn to play chess. Good mix of visuals and instructional text.

Phew! That’s it for now! I am always on the look out for new apps, so if you have some great ones to share, why not leave a comment?

Photo Credit: Peteris B

Cross posted at uTech Tips

13 thoughts on “50 Educational Apps for the iPod Touch

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  2. Pingback: 50 Educational Apps for the iPod Touch | Tip of the Iceberg M CIKU 词库

  3. Great list. Here is another…

    My wife and I just released our first educational game for little kids called “Pocket Wally Sight Words”.

    The Sight Words app turns learning sight words into a game where the child wins virtual prizes. We just launched about a month ago and we are looking for as much feedback as we can get.

    Our website is http://www.pocketwally.com – you can learn more about the game there as well as see a demo video.

    You can find the game in iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=333215699&mt=8

    It sells for $.99.

    Thanks so much.

    Barry

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  4. Pingback: 50 Educational Apps for the iPod Touch | Tip of the Iceberg « iPod News

  5. Looks as if some terrific teaching and learning is going on in your classrooms. I’m now itching to get some iPod touches for our students.
    The Chinese language lessons are a very good example.
    Thanks!

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  6. Thank you very much, I cannot wait to try all of them. I am a Language, may I suggest an good flashcard app – gFlash (free or pro), great for study quizzes and vocabulary.

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  7. I’ve had a lot of luck using SimpleMindX, the mind mapping app. My 9th graders love that it’s so much neater than paper and pencil, and they can email or Bump their mind maps to me. Also, it’s an app that can be used in any class and any subject.

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  8. Excellent list! I would just like to add “East of the Web” to the English site – a free app that has an abundance of short stories for all ages. They are all rated by recommended ages and catagorized into genres as well as page lengths are noted. On the website, there are also some lesson plans to go with some of the stories, and there are language study type games too.

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  9. Hi Keri-Lee this looks a great help for teachers but what about a grandfather who has an Ipod Classic and a recently gifted IPhone. Are these apps applicable to either of these. I can imagine the former no but what about the latter?
    You’ll probably find your iceberg is thawing a bit over this way with the approaching summer.

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  10. Pingback: iPads in the Kinder Quad « TeachingSagittarian

  11. Pingback: MSHS Tech Facilitator » Learning with Smartphone Apps

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