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Best Science Apps for Kids

10 Best Science Apps for Kids (ages 4-21)

Posted on November 4, 2011May 28, 2024 by Pragmatic Mom

I am starting to buy into this idea of teaching and really connecting material through games and apps. I was sort of on board with this concept, but since playing around with The Elements (a Harry Potter version of the Periodic Table) that my brother-in-law turned me on to, I am now a believer as I saw, with my own eyes, how captivated my kids were with the Periodic Table, an otherwise dull chart. Since my recollection of Organic Chemistry is quite scant, I really appreciate how I don’t actually have to do much except show my kids where the content is located to get them to read up on the elements.

The apps for virtually dissecting a frog or a rat are also revelations in terms of taking something that usually gets reserved for high school and college students and suddenly making it accessible (and fun!) for preschoolers is the power of the iPad apps.

What are your favorite science apps for your kids? Please share!

best science apps for kids, best science apps, best apps for kids, best kid science apps

p.s. My 7-year-old has been playing with Coaster Physics where you design your own roller coaster and take a virtual ride. It also demonstrates physics principles of potential and kinetic energy and G-forces. I was quite surprised to see how easy it was for him to use (I had a much harder time using it), and how much fun it was.

Reader Recommendations

This is from my Mom Friend Gwen: I couldn’t get on your website to post this but I thought I’d share a couple of science apps worth looking at. Where’s my water?  by Disney and Crazy Machines- both great for the iPad.

Best Apps with Science Concepts for Kids

Where’s My Water?

The game stars Swampy the Aligator who just wants to take a shower, but the pipes are broken! $.99

Crazy Machines

The aim of Crazy Machines is to build crazy contraptions to complete the tasks set forth by the wacky Professor. Give free rein to your imagination and unleash the most incredible of chain reactions! You can, for example, have a billiard ball drop onto a lamp switch and turn it on. $1.99. Crazy Machines 2, $2.99.

Crazy Machines 2

Toca Doctor

Real Mom of NJ says, “For the little littles, try Toca Doctor. It’s very cute and introduces a little anatomy and medical care. My 3-year-old LOVES it.”

Let your kids be a doctor for a day! Examine a patient and solve fun puzzles and mini-games that take place in the human body. Beautiful artwork and fun sounds guide your kids through 21 different puzzles!

Toca Doctor app for kids,

The Elements

The Elements is both a book and an iPad app. My brother-in-law told me about it saying that it’s the Harry Potter of Periodic Tables. I didn’t realize that it was $14 but after purchasing it, I do actually think it’s worth it! The only downside is that it’s a huge app at 1.7 GB. My little boy and I played on it for a long time, identifying gold and silver. My recollection of Organic Chemistry these days is limited to NaCl (salt) and H2O (water) so we both just marvel at the spinning and mesmerizing solid elements. If you click further into each element, there is a great page of truly fascinating information for each one. My oldest child who would not otherwise be interested in the Periodic Table of Elements raved about this app and had to be sent off to bed still protesting that she wanted to explore it further. Good stuff for girls!!

Harry Potter Periodic Table iPad app Book PragmaticMom Pragmatic Mom science apps best

The Elements periodic table iPad app book PragmaticMom Pragmatic Mom

These are the books:

The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe by Theodore W. Gray

The Photographic Card Deck of The Elements: With Big Beautiful Photographs of All 118 Elements in the Periodic Table by Theodore Gray

 

 Weird but True

My kids love their magazine subscription to National Geographic Kids and there is a feature in the magazine called Weird But True: Check Out These Outrageous Facts. Things like: the sound of waves crashing comes mostly from air bubbles, apples float but pears sink, and an earthquake in Chile shortened the length of an Earth Day by 1.26 microseconds.

Now this page has become an iPhone/iPad app. And it continues to fascinate kids. All my kids love this app and there is a very long list of Weird But True Facts on different topics so it’s very tough to run out of Weird But True facts. My kids also enjoy the gizmo to rate each fact. The best thing about this app is that it’s a sneaky way to get kids reading. It’s just $1.99.

Weird by True National Geographic iPhone iPad app science PragmaticmOm



Virtual Frog Dissection

I have talked extensively about my great love for this app which, while designed for high school and college students, works wonderfully for kids as young as preschoolers. I recommend the iPad version over the iPhone. You really need the larger screen. The iPhone version also does not have the great non-fiction pages comparing human to frog anatomy plus all the great pages on frogs (Classification, Appearance, Eating and Living, Special Senses, Life Cycle, Digestive System, Organs, EcoSystem, Frogs and Toads: A Comparison). At $3.99, the non-fiction pages alone are worth the price of the app! Also, having your child dissect a frog without the mess and smell … priceless!

Virtual Frog Dissection app iPad iPhone best science apps for kids PragmaticMom

 

Virtual Rat Dissection

The folks who created Virtual Frog Dissection have a rat version. I hate rodents so this iPad/iPhone app makes me squeamish, but this is not to say that your child who loves to dissect a frog won’t also love to go at a rat! It’s also $3.99. Again, I’d opt for the iPad version to get the great science-y non-fiction pages and to really have the room to do the actual dissection. Just looking at this rat, though, is creeping me out.

Virtual Rat Dissection iPad iPhone science app for kids children students PragmaticMom

 

Cell and Cell Structure


The same company that made Virtual Frog Dissection and Virtual Rat Dissection just came out with Cell and Cell Structure. I would put this app more in the “Like a Tutor” category versus “Really Fun.” It has new-age music but is chock full of information that seems to span both middle school and high school biology. I would use this app for kids who like science and let them play around with this. Alternately, I’d use it for review if my child is studying for a biology cell test and needs something more riveting to review and remember all the technical terms. $1.99

Cell and Cell Structure iPhone iPad PragmaticMom Pragmatic Mom best science apps

Cell and Cell Structure iPhone iPad science app best high school PragmaticMom Pragmatic Mom

 

parts of the cell 7th grade science project

And here’s a fun science project to go with parts of the cell using cake and candy. My daughter did this for 7th grade science but I found a link here that details what she did.

 

Coaster Physics

I thought this was a fascinating concept. The user gets to design and test their own roller coaster. Along the way, you can see things like speed versus acceleration, G-forces, and the physics of kinetic energy. This would be very fun for a child who likes hands-on experimentation, particularly after visiting a 6 Flags theme park and thinks he or she can create a better roller coaster. This would be great for homeschooling too! I tried to create a roller coaster but I keep inadvertently sending part of mine underground which makes it tough to get acceleration or G-forces. Ah well, I was never that good at physics. My little boy, on the other hand, would love this! His roller coasters might actually work! The graphics are surprisingly easy to use to design and “ride” the roller coaster. It’s actually a pretty amazing app for just $0.99.

I’d use it for iPad though it’s also available on iPhone. You need the bigger screen to really manipulate the basic roller coaster into one of your dreams since you are using your finger to move it around. My 7-year-old son is having a blast using this to design roller coasters and now understands how Potential Energy converts to Kinetic Energy which makes me happy. His roller coaster design has also improved and now the car doesn’t have to go through metal poles or underground. This is a really well-done app!

Coaster Physics iPhone iPad app design frictionless roller coaster PragmaticMom
Coaster Physics iPhone iPad science best app PragmaticMom game

Using nothing but LEGO components, the team at Brickride builds supercool rollercoasters.

This is a time-lapse video of how they made the roller coaster.

 

ILive Grammar Botany

You get a 2-for-1 deal with this app in terms of getting an iPhone/iPad app created for grammar with botany as the content. It’s sneaky science. It’s $4.99.

science grammar iPhone iPad app ILiveGrammar Botany PragmaticMom

 

To view any of the apps at iTunes, just click on the small icon.

 

To examine any of the items listed, please click on image of item.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

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18 thoughts on “10 Best Science Apps for Kids (ages 4-21)”

  1. realmomofnj says:
    January 23, 2013 at 12:52 pm

    For the little littles, try Toca Doctor. It’s very cute and introduces a little anatomy and medical care. My 3-year-old LOVES it.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      January 24, 2013 at 8:13 am

      Thanks so much Real Mom of NJ! I will add it to the list!

      Reply
  2. Sugar Aunts says:
    February 10, 2013 at 8:49 pm

    What a GREAT resource! Thank you for putting this list together. I wanted to invite you to join us in our Share It Saturday link up party. Each week, so many creative and fun ideas are shared and it is so wonderful finding new ideas and blogs! Yours would fit right in! http://www.sugaraunts.com/2013/02/share-it-saturday-6-and-our-week-in.html

    We also have a Pinterest board dedicated to the link up party and are inviting all contributors to become a collaborator on the group board. It is a really great way to get many new viewers to see your posts. The link for the Pinterest board is on our post. I hope to see you there!
    Colleen at Sugar Aunts

    Reply
  3. The Iowa Farmer's Wife says:
    February 14, 2013 at 4:49 pm

    What great apps! thanks for sharing on the Sunday Showcase!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      February 14, 2013 at 10:03 pm

      Thank you so much for co-hosting the Sunday Showcase The Iowa Farmer’s Wife!

      Reply
  4. js says:
    April 20, 2013 at 10:18 am

    I recommend this Timeline Eons app, a graphic representation of the entire natural and human history.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      April 22, 2013 at 7:49 am

      Thanks for the heads up JS! It sounds like a great app!

      Reply
  5. Sherry says:
    May 30, 2013 at 11:01 pm

    What a great list of apps! I have two boys–a 7 year old and a 10 year old. My goal is to try to sneak in some education over the summer. I think they will love the Weird but True, Coaster Physics and the Virtual Frog Dissection.

    Thanks for collecting this list!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      June 2, 2013 at 12:12 pm

      Thanks Sherry!
      I’m thinking the same thing. I am going to have my 8-year-old try out a bunch of educational apps as soon as school gets out and I’ll post on those too. It’s nice when other moms add what apps they like for their kids. There are so many apps out there that I find it gets overwhelming to figure out the good ones that kids will actually use.

      Reply
  6. Terri says:
    June 19, 2013 at 3:07 am

    Love all of these suggestions! As a homeschooling mom, I am always looking for new resources for all subjects to keep my boys engaged. I recently found a new digital magazine that my boys LOVE called Brain Dump. At only $6 per year, it’s a great deal!

    Reply
  7. Stacy says:
    July 19, 2013 at 6:35 am

    Outstanding blog post, I have marked your site so ideally I’ll see much more on this subject in the foreseeable future…

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      July 19, 2013 at 8:21 pm

      I really appreciate that Stacy! Thank you!

      Reply
  8. Leah says:
    August 8, 2013 at 10:31 pm

    Thanks for linking this up to the Friday Follow Along. I can’t wait to show these to my 4 year old. He is so curious and I love to be able to feed into his curiosity with real and valid information.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      August 9, 2013 at 11:25 am

      Hi Leah,
      Thanks so much for hosting Friday Follow Along. I’m so glad that your son will like the post. My kids like apps and I’m happier when they are educational. And I think kids get an intuitive sense for hard sciences if they are exposed early and perceive it to be fun.

      Reply
  9. Lisa D says:
    March 22, 2016 at 1:37 am

    What about apps for Android?

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      April 4, 2016 at 8:45 pm

      Hi Lisa D,
      I have an iPhone and iPad so I didn’t research Android but I should! Thanks for your great suggestion! I think most of these apps have an Android version though.

      Reply
  10. Stefanie says:
    August 22, 2017 at 7:12 pm

    I love the elements one and the cake idea is cute.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      April 24, 2018 at 2:50 pm

      Hi Stefanie,
      The bonus for the cake is that the class gets to eat it. Plus, my daughter said that her science teacher says automatic A for anyone who makes the cake.

      Reply

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