18 Fun and Educational Toddler Apps to Help Kids Learn

PBS Kids Games should be a staple in any house with a toddler. GH Chief Technologist Rachel Rothman and her little ones use this app daily in their house. "PBS Kids Games is great because it covers a lot of popular titles with content and games you can feel good about," she says. You'll find Daniel Tiger, Arthur and all the other popular characters come together to create games so fun kids won't even realize they're educational, making it a great app for kids and students alike. The app is also constantly updated with new games so your kids won't run out of content to explore.

Make learning fun with this educational and exciting app that uses stories, quizzes, games and videos to get kids started on a path to learning about reading, math, science and art. Our testers said they loved and used this app even before they began officially testing it for GH, and our experts appreciate that you can follow your kid's progress on a virtual map that outlines their learning progress so you can both see how far they've come in real time (and celebrate their victories).

This app earned itself a GH Parenting Award in 2022 for its exciting way of teaching a variety of important topics like math, reading and social-emotional awareness. Our parent testers like the personalization options that let families with more than one kid customize their learning for each little one, and appreciate the diverse offerings for those of different ages and education levels. Our kid testers liked that the app gave them the chance to record their own voices so they can show off their mastery of each skill.

Learning your 123s can be difficult for toddlers, and this app will help get them on the path to becoming a math wiz. The free preview lets little ones learn 123 and you can download the full version to get games, videos and more on all numbers 1-20. In fact, all of the iOS apps and Android apps by the Sesame Workshop are great, putting all the Sesame Street friends to good use helping kids do everything from learning their letters to using the potty. But Elmo Loves 123s is one of our favorites because of the cute ways Elmo helps kids learn their early numbers.

You can never have too much Daniel Tiger, and kids and parents will adore this app that helps them explore and understand emotions. This fun pick features games, sing-alongs, art exercises and a "feelings photo-booth" that lets kids take pictures of themselves to better understand expressions. We're fans of all things Daniel Tiger, and appreciate how this app helps little ones get more in touch with recognizing feelings, expressing themselves in positive and valuable ways and understanding social-emotional cues.

Ring ring! It's Elmo. Your kid can learn valuable social skills while making important phone calls to their favorite Sesame Street character. Like FaceTime but with Elmo, this app helps little ones get used to talking over video chat, and lets them practice for those long distance calls with Grandma. Rothman notes that her kids were particularly enthralled by this app during their early toddler years. Aside from video calls, this app also lets you receive voicemails and listen to messages from your furry friend at any time.

Kids can learn reading, writing, math, social-emotional skills and more when they hop on the Khan Academy Kids app. Just like the regular Khan Academy app, which kids can graduate to once they turn four, this toddler-friendly app will help them learn the important skills they'll need once they enter preschool. It allows you to create a personalized learning path for your child, plus, you don't need to worry about paying a subscription fee or slogging through ads since this app — and all the educational content that's constantly being updated — is completely free.

This beautifully animated app lets kids put characters in different scenes, from everyday locations like the grocery store to exotic locales like the jungle. They can place characters and objects in the scene, or tap on items to find out what things are called and learn new words. It's a great introduction to pretend-play and online gaming, letting kids play games like matching and ball, learn logic by building each scene and manipulating characters and objects to different areas, expand their vocabulary and more.

Epic! will inspire and encourage early readers to fall in love with books. With more than 40,000 bo0ks on the platform that are ready to read, it's easier than a trip to the local library, and you can search through them by age or interest. Plus, there's even books and quizzes in foreign languages to help introduce your little ones to Spanish, French or Chinese at a young age. You get a free month-long trial before being charged a monthly fee; check with your school, though, because sometimes they can set up free subscriptions for their classrooms.

Your baby gamer will adore the games found on this app that tiny tots won't be able to get enough of. Using sounds, animations and numbers, this app makes it simple to introduce a variety of topics to your kids. Created by a dad who wanted to give back, these free and simple interactive games for the littlest of kids include balloon-popping games, virtual instruments to play and even fireworks so that the youngest members of your family can join in the app fun, starting as early as six months.

Nostalgic parents probably remember the Very Hungry Caterpillar from Eric Carle's beloved books from their own early reading days. Not only has this books stayed a staple in the nursery for decades, but its app version helps introduce kids to educational themes with one of their favorite literary characters. This app lets kids take the Caterpillar through games that tackle very basic math, problem-solving and science.

There are a million apps that claim to help kids learn the ABCs, but this one is backed by a nonprofit education company. Kids interact with letters and learn how to make sounds and words. While you can chose to pay for the upgraded version to get a few more bells and whistles, like math lessons, we found the free version to have an impressive amount of content all on its own.

Friendly-looking shapes help kids learn colors, matching and sorting in this preschool-friendly app. You might want to use it as a de-stressing tool, too. Kids can challenge their brains while they practice shape, color and pattern recognition and play some fun games with cute shape characters. One of our favorite things? It's offline, so you don't have to worry about being hooked up to Wi-Fi while playing, and since you pay a couple dollars upfront for access, there aren't any additional paywalls or ads to wade through while playing.

It can be hard to get your steps in if you spend the majority of your time at home on screens, but this adorable app helps encourage your little ones to get active. When it's time for a movement break, this app has videos that gets kids up and exercising so they don't spend all day lounging on the couch. From dance to yoga to mindfulness, there's over 300 videos on here to get you started. The simple, follow-me videos even have an educational twist sometimes (one of our favorites teaches kids about making patterns). That might go over your toddler's head, but they can still try the moves. While it's geared toward a little bit older kids, little ones can get in on the fun and copy the moves with you.

Yogis and meditators will appreciate this app geared toward giving toddlers their first taste of mindfulness. A bit of meditation can help everyone manage their emotional wellbeing and stress levels, and Cosmic Kids has over 80 yoga videos and 28 mindfulness sessions. For families looking to get into yoga, this mindfulness app offers videos of workouts geared for kids. (Your toddler may have to do modified versions of the moves since the app is made for a little bit older kids.) The host, Jaime, puts routines together that are themed to Frozen, Star Wars, Minecraft and other kid faves.

It's a little bit like the game Guess Who, where kids have to identify animals who are dancing, wagging their tails or crying. There's also a social/emotional learning component to it, since sometimes they have to identify animals by what they're feeling and pick out who is surprised, crying, happy, sad and more. This app lets kids interact with animals of all sorts and learn more about emotional cues and what they mean. We appreciate that it engages a variety of skills and senses.

Winner of the KAPI Best App award in 2020 (amongst a variety of other awards throughout the past few years), this open-ended app lets kids explore the in-app world and build 3D structures. It's all the fun of Legos without the fear of your kids leaving them on the floor for you to step on. Featuring games with animals, cars, trains and more, this app lets your kids use 3D bricks to build while learning more about how the world and the many things in it function. When they get older, they can connect and play with friends.

Classic children's book writer Sandra Boynton is known for her dozens of board books for little ones, and this app brings one of your favorite ones to life. With this app, her Moo, Baa, La La La! book becomes interactive, and kids can hear animal sounds and do things like tap the screen to turn day to night. This e-book experience is great for traveling, since you don't have to bring anything along with you to create the perfect bedtime routine and read your little one's favorite book.