20 Top-Rated Kids’ Apps for Learning, Creativity, and Play

In a world where screens are everywhere, finding high-quality apps that enrich rather than distract can be a real challenge. For parents, educators, and caregivers, choosing the right apps means balancing safety, engagement, and educational value. The best apps for kids don’t just keep them occupied—they spark curiosity, teach new skills, encourage creativity, and even foster healthy habits.

Whether your child is just beginning to explore digital play or you’re looking for tools to support learning and development, this guide breaks down some of the top-rated apps across age groups and categories. Each app listed includes a description, key features, age recommendation, platform availability (iOS/Android), and how to play or use the app effectively.

Educational & Learning Apps

Khan Academy Kids

• Age: 2–8
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: Completely free and ad-free, this award-winning app delivers hundreds of interactive lessons covering math, reading, problem-solving, and social-emotional learning. Friendly animal characters guide children through stories, songs, and games that feel more like play than lessons. It’s built in collaboration with educators to ensure meaningful educational progression.
• Key Features: No ads, offline access, comprehensive curriculum, progress tracking.
• How to Play: Kids navigate with swipes and taps through a colorful digital library of books, videos, and games. Lessons are presented based on developmental level and adapt as children learn.

ABCmouse.com

• Age: 3–8

• Platform: iOS, Android, Web
• Why It’s Great: A full early-learning curriculum broken into fun, gamified lessons. It covers literacy, math, art, and science in an engaging way, offering a sense of progress and achievement through virtual rewards.
• Key Features: 10,000+ activities, leveled learning paths, avatar customization, and offline access.
• How to Play: Children choose a path and complete interactive games and videos to earn tickets, which they can redeem to decorate their digital room or dress their character.

Moose Math by Duck Duck Moose

• Age: 4–7
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: With playful characters and five engaging activities, this app helps children practice basic math while participating in fun missions around a virtual town.
• Key Features: Focuses on number sense, addition, subtraction, geometry, and measurement.
• How to Play: Kids tap and drag items to solve puzzles, complete shopkeeper tasks, and progress through a colorful, animated neighborhood.

Duolingo ABC

• Age: 3–7
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: This lightweight, engaging literacy app from Duolingo teaches letter recognition, phonics, and early reading in under 5 minutes a day. Perfect for short attention spans.
• Key Features: Daily bite-sized lessons, colorful design, offline mode.
• How to Play: Children trace letters, match words, and listen to sounds while earning fun animations and stars.

Prodigy Math Game

• Age: 6–12
• Platform: iOS, Android, Web
• Why It’s Great: Designed like a fantasy video game, this app motivates kids to solve math problems in order to defeat enemies, complete quests, and unlock gear. It’s classroom-aligned and offers teacher/parent progress tools.
• Key Features: Customizable avatars, real-time math battles, curriculum tracking.
• How to Play: Players explore worlds, collect pets, and engage in turn-based math battles where answering correctly unleashes attacks and powers.

Creativity & Exploration Apps

Toca Life World

• Age: 4–10
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: A mega sandbox app where kids create their own characters and stories across a growing world of interactive locations. There’s no pressure, just endless imaginative play.
• Key Features: Open-ended play, no rules, no ads, monthly updates.
• How to Play: Kids tap, drag, and drop to interact with anything on screen—placing characters in scenes, creating scenarios, and recording their own animated stories.

ScratchJr

• Age: 5–7
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: Perfect for early coders, this app lets kids create stories and games using visual blocks that snap together to animate characters and actions.
• Key Features: Drag-and-drop programming, creativity-driven outcomes, STEM-based learning.
• How to Play: Children build scripts by snapping coding blocks together to move characters, create sounds, and tell stories in a fun, no-pressure environment.

Crayola Create & Play

• Age: 4–8
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: Combines Crayola’s brand of creativity with learning games, seasonal themes, and coloring tools. It’s perfect for screen time that encourages imagination.
• Key Features: Safe digital art tools, STEAM mini-games, regular content updates.
• How to Play: Kids select from activities like coloring, crafting, or puzzles using a simple menu and touch controls that mirror real-world creative play.

LEGO Builder’s Journey

• Age: 6+
• Platform: iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch
• Why It’s Great: A narrative-driven puzzle game where players build creative solutions to environmental challenges using virtual LEGO bricks.
• Key Features: Stunning visuals, ambient music, brain-teasing puzzles.
• How to Play: Children guide characters by constructing bridges and paths with LEGO pieces, each level introducing new building logic and design thinking.

Sago Mini World

• Age: 2–5
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: This open-play app features friendly animals in colorful environments designed to promote discovery and humor without rules or objectives.
• Key Features: Dozens of mini-games, no ads or time limits, offline play.
• How to Play: Kids explore by tapping characters and scenes, triggering animations and silly surprises as they discover new worlds.

Reading & Storytime Apps

Epic!

• Age: 5–12
• Platform: iOS, Android, Web
• Why It’s Great: Epic! gives kids access to a massive library of digital books, audiobooks, and educational videos. With personalized recommendations and reading logs, it helps encourage daily reading and independent exploration. It’s a classroom favorite that supports both leisure reading and academic skill-building.
• Key Features: Over 40,000 titles, reading logs, awards, audiobook support, offline reading.
• How to Play: Kids browse the catalog or follow recommendations, tap to read or listen, and earn badges for progress. Parents and teachers can track engagement.

Homer Learn & Grow

• Age: 2–8
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: This app customizes learning paths based on a child’s interests and age. It uses phonics, storytelling, and themed activities to build early literacy and cognitive skills. It also touches on social-emotional learning.
• Key Features: Personalized lesson plans, phonics games, offline access, daily practice reminders.
• How to Play: Kids follow interactive lessons guided by animated characters. Each activity is brief and designed to promote language development and story comprehension.

FarFaria

• Age: 4–9
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: With hundreds of books organized into themed worlds, FarFaria allows kids to choose read-aloud or read-it-myself modes. Stories come with word highlighting and narration for fluency support.
• Key Features: Narrated stories, themed categories, offline use, read-along features.
• How to Play: Children choose a genre or category, then pick a book to read independently or follow along with highlighted narration.

ReadingIQ

• Age: 2–12
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: Built by education experts, this leveled digital library aligns with school standards and offers guided reading support. It’s great for both enrichment and remedial reading.
• Key Features: Leveled reading system, fiction/nonfiction options, teacher tools, offline access.
• How to Play: Kids explore categories by grade level or theme, read books at their level, and optionally take comprehension quizzes.

Audible for Kids

• Age: 6+
• Platform: iOS, Android, Alexa
• Why It’s Great: Audible’s curated children’s section includes classics, fantasy series, and educational titles—ideal for screen-free story time. It’s also perfect for long rides or bedtime routines.
• Key Features: High-quality narration, offline listening, family library management.
• How to Play: Parents set up accounts, download books, and kids listen on the go using simple play controls.

Fun Games with Purpose

PBS Kids Games

• Age: 3–8
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: Features dozens of learning games starring beloved PBS characters like Daniel Tiger and Curious George. Activities cover literacy, STEM, and social skills with fun, kid-safe design.
• Key Features: No ads, offline play, familiar TV tie-ins, broad topic coverage.
• How to Play: Kids tap on characters and explore themed mini-games with intuitive swiping, matching, and dragging motions.

Sago Mini Friends

• Age: 2–5
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: This gentle social-emotional game promotes kindness, cooperation, and exploration through fun house visits and pretend play.
• Key Features: Ad-free, no reading needed, empathy-based gameplay.
• How to Play: Kids visit neighbors, play activities like baking or gift-giving, and engage in free-form role-playing with adorable characters.

Thinkrolls Play & Code

• Age: 4–9
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: Thinkrolls uses puzzles to teach logic, sequencing, and cause-and-effect. It’s great for early problem solvers and introduces basic coding logic in playful ways.
• Key Features: 200+ logic puzzles, STEM concepts, no ads, coding activities.
• How to Play: Children solve mazes by dragging blocks and switches that guide a character through increasingly complex environments.

Endless Alphabet

• Age: 3–6
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: With quirky monsters and interactive word puzzles, this app helps preschoolers learn letters, sounds, and definitions.
• Key Features: Engaging animations, silly humor, vocabulary building.
• How to Play: Kids drag letters to complete words, then watch short, animated definitions that bring each word to life.

Dr. Panda Town

• Age: 4–8
• Platform: iOS, Android
• Why It’s Great: A large pretend-play world with tons of interactive locations, from cafes to schools. Encourages storytelling and exploration.
• Key Features: Open-ended play, role-playing tools, diverse scenes.
• How to Play: Kids place characters into scenes and act out stories—there are no goals or levels, just creativity and discovery.

Balance Is Everything

Digital tools, when used thoughtfully, can offer kids new ways to learn, create, and connect. The key is balance. Choose apps that are developmentally appropriate, screen-free of ads and distractions, and ideally designed with educational experts. But just as important? Get involved.

Take a few minutes to sit with your child, explore the app together, and ask questions. Co-play or co-read moments can transform screen time into meaningful time—and help you stay connected in the process.

By being an engaged guide, you empower your child to use technology with confidence, curiosity, and care.