Reading, or at least the options when reading, has changed pretty significantly since I was a kid. I remember asking my mom to go by the library every few days to pick up new books to read. Now, technology and apps make it possible to get a new book without ever leaving the house.
Here we’ve broken down some of the best apps out there along with their specialty. Some may be better for a 5-year-old than a 10-year-old, some are free while others are paid. What we’ve tried to do is get a little bit of something for everyone to learn and love to read.
There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. – Will Rogers
Literacy, Especially in Children is vital for their lifelong success
Before we dive into some of these great apps let’s talk a bit about how important literacy is for your child’s success in life. According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 2/3 of children who can not proficiently read by the end of the 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare.
Let that sink in. There is an outstanding correlation between those that are either in jail or on welfare and are illiterate.
UNICEF states that over 1 billion people cannot read or even write their name and of those billion people, 2/3 of them are women.
There are statistics across the board that show the importance of reading and reading early in one’s life. Unfortunately, literacy and vice versa illiteracy are often passed down by parents. Hence, children are at an automatic advantage or disadvantage based on their parent’s ability to read.
Best Reading App For Kids New To Reading
HOMER Reading: Learn to Read
iOS | Android | $7.99 per month
HOMER reading does everything very well and it’s popularity shows it! It is tailored to a great age range, from 2 to 8 so your kid can use it regularly for six years. It has over 1,000 lessons and does a great job matching words with their corresponding images both interactively and by choosing matches. The downside, it cost $7.99 per month, and thus it isn’t possible for some families.
Best Reading App For Kids Who Are Already Reading
Epic! – Kids’ Books and Videos
iOS | Android | $7.99 per month
Epic! does a great job at having a wide variety of books for a lot of reading levels. In total, they have over 35,000 books categorized by age ranges (5 and under, ages 6-8, and ages 9-12). They have books in Spanish and even award-winning books. Again, similar to HOMER, this app will set you back by $7.99 per month.
Best Free Reading App For Kids
50000 Free eBooks & Free AudioBooks
This app, as mentioned, is completely free. It has over 50,000 books on the app all for free. The mix of books is about 3/4 older books that have been around a while and 1/4 newer books. Of course, with the fact that these are all free means that some books you look for may not be on the app. However, with 50,000 free books, I’m sure you can find a great one to read.
Best Reading & Writing App For Storytellers
Wattpad
Wattpad is a fun one, it allows anyone to both read and write their own story to be read by the 65 million users on the app. If your kid has any interest in sharing stories about themselves or their life, this is a social platform to do so+. Also, your kid can find other writers that are a similar age or write about things they are interested in. The books don’t go through an editorial process so keep in mind some might be rough, but that’s part of the fun of it!
Best Interactive Reading App For Kids
Skybrary – Kids Books & Videos
iOS | Android | $4.99 per month
Skybrary is a fun and interactive reading app that brings the kids into a make-believe world of learning. Kids can go on virtual field trips to learn within the app, they can earn stickers and build their own story within the app. While there are no ads in the app it does cost $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year.
Best App For Reading In Other Languages
Monkey Junior: learn to read
iOS | Android | Free / In-App Purchase
In many instances, it’s great to teach your kids how to read in another language beyond English. This app is perfect for your kids to learn different languages. Of course, they have English, but they also have these other languages to learn:
- Spanish
- Chinese
- French
- Russian
- Vietnamese
There are over 5,500 lessons with interactive educational games, stickers, and illustrations. Best of all, there are no ads at all!
Best Read Along Kids App
FarFaria Read Along Kids Books
If you want your kid to be able to read along with a book, this is a great app to choose! It supports ages 1 to 9 and highlights text to keep the kid at the same pace as the reader. Children love this app so that they can feel like they’re being taught and interacting with the app.
What If My Child Has Trouble Reading?
It is not uncommon for children to have trouble reading and sometimes this can be associated with speech development. The root cause could be dyslexia, ADHD, slower processing speeds while reading, etc.
Thankfully, there are lots of resources out there that can help you both figure out why your child is having trouble reading and helping him or her gain the skills they need.
This is a great resource for parents that have children who have difficulty reading. The key here is that there are experts that can help your child and the sooner they are able to work with your child the better. As with most learning, it builds on past learnings. Hence, the earlier you identify and get the help your child needs the less he or she will fall behind in developing their reading skills.
We hope you liked this list and found something that will work well with your little kiddo. If there are any reading apps that you want to recommend, send us a note in the feedback below and we can add it to this list! Happy reading!
