STEM Learning
2020 STEAM Apps for Kids
These apps are fun, but they aren’t just games; they’re tools that can help your children build a strong foundation of STEAM skills. Learn more!
At Blocks Rock!, we’re big proponents of STEAM. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. According to The National Center on Early Childhood Development Teaching and Learning, “each of STEAM’s five subjects share a common approach and focus. They require gathering and using evidence to create knowledge or solve problems.”
This interdisciplinary approach helps students:
- Learn problem-solving
- Think innovatively and creatively
- Improve executive function: a set of skills that are critical for decision making, planning, memory, and more (NCECTL)
- Improve their logical thinking
- Understand mathematics and language
In addition to improving these essential skills, research shows there is a positive relationship between early STEAM experiences and future success in school (NCECTL).
Developing STEAM skills can happen through free play, but there are also ways you can foster these skills in kids. One way to do that is through using apps designed to improve STEAM skills. While these apps are fun, they aren’t just games; they’re tools that can help your children build a strong foundation of STEAM skills.
Check out some great options for STEAM apps below! You can use this at home, in a classroom, or during homeschooling.
Blocks Rock! 3D Companion App
Since we recently updated our app with 30 new designs, we have to tell you about the Blocks Rock! 3D Companion App first!
Combine digital and hands-on learning with the expansion to the Blocks Rock! traditional tabletop game. The Blocks Rock! 3D Companion App enables players to build complex and fun patterns that will make their brains light up.
In 2016, researchers at Indiana University conducted a comprehensive study that showed Blocks Rock! to be highly beneficial to STEM learning. Blocks Rock! can help with color identification, shape identification, hand-eye coordination, math skills, and spatial skills. You can purchase the game here, and find the free app on Google Play or Itunes.
Khan Academy Kids
Children can learn reading, language, writing, math, social-emotional development, problem-solving skills, and motor development. Open-ended activities and games like drawing, storytelling, and coloring encourage creativity and self-expression.
Khan Academy Kids is free, forever — no ads and no subscriptions necessary. App Store/iTunes, Google Play
Play and Learn Science
The Play and Learn Science app contains a suite of educational games from PBS KIDS designed to encourage early science learning! Kids can play a range of games that help them learn core scientific concepts, all while building and developing problem-solving skills.
Hopscotch: Coding for kids, a visual programming language
Hopscotch is an app that kids use to learn to code. It is designed for kids 7-13, but anyone from any age can use it. On Hopscotch, you can make your own games, apps, animations—anything you like!
Draw and Tell HD
Draw, create stories, and color and share pages with family and friends. This Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner is for ages 3-9; it’s 100% FREE with no ads or subscriptions needed.
Monster Math: Kids Fun Games
Go on a wonderful math-filled adventure and learn Common Core math standards with Maxx, the mighty monster in Monster Math! Have your child be the best in their grade and practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division with this fun free math game. Help Maxx save his friend Dextra, explore new worlds, battle enemies, and find allies!
Solar Walk Free - Explore the Universe and Planets
Explore the Universe and Planets is an impressive wealth of information about astronomy and space presented as an amazing 3D model of our Solar System that can be rotated and zoomed easily.
PBS KIDS Games
Looking for fun, educational games for your kids to play? The PBS KIDS Games app has over 100 free learning games with your favorite PBS KIDS characters. Kids can play anytime, anywhere! For ages 4+.
Coosi Box: Let your imagination run wild
Coosi Box promotes children’s unrestricted creativity with a twist. Your child can pick a theme they like most, fill the screen with whatever their imagination tells them to, and watch their own creation become part of a hilarious animated story scene. The same scene will be different every time, so there will always be loads of surprises and fun!
Explore more at-home STEAM learning activities!
Are you interested in more ideas for home learning?
Check out our Home Learning Resource Library with over 100 activities!
