Let's face it, the days of playing with Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels are quickly being replaced with iPhones. However, as a teacher, I am always on the lookout for educational iPhone apps. As always, I have found some good ones that are not only educational but fun too! At least they were fun for the preschool crowd. Before you go off and start flaming me for advocating me for allowing preschool kids to play with an iPhone, let me remind you that most states require kids to learn about technology. Even the pre-k guidelines in the majority of states have basic technology requirements stipulating teachers must teach children basic computer skills. Therefore, I am only preparing my children for the inevitable.

Wheels on the Bus by Duck Duck Moose Design

If you could not figure it out by the title, this iPhone app is based on the classic "Wheels on the Bus" song. It is a good sing along and the kids get to tap and slide their way way through different scenes.

For those interested in how this follows along state guidelines:

o Repeating Music
o Vocalization
o Fine Motor Skills
o American Culture
o Foreign Language

SightWords

This is a sight word game. It is your basic flash card type. While I did not look at all 300+ words, it did look like it was close to the Dolch site word list with words like "and, mother, father." They touch the screen to hear the word pronounced. Arrows at the bottom of the screen help them navigate.

For those interested in how this follows along state guidelines:

o Reading
o Fine Motor Skills
o Vocabulary

ABC Phonics by Brain Counts Games

This game has your child matching pictures of animals to words. So cute little animals pop up on the screen and your child must match it to the correct word. It also has a flash card activity for practice before you play the game to improve the scoring. It has levels to unlock to make it like its more competitive counterparts.

Kids Math Age Brain Counts Games

Also by Brain Counts, this game gets kids playing math games. It has counting, adding, multiplying, and dividing. The drawback is you need to adjust the level for your kid. It is a little difficult for a pre-k kid to do this for himself or herself. However, if you only have one kid, you can set it once and let them have at it.

Overall, finding education games for the iPhone is much easier than you think especially for pre-school kids. I would think that no one would target this age group but they really do and the games are fun. The kids really like them and they hold their attention. You can get your child learning reading, math and even writing while driving down the road just by downloading a few apps.