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"Two 5-year-old boys, one with autism, were having some friendly playtime when they had a communication breakdown. One boy didn't respond to the other and walked away. The ignored kid got frustrated and pushed over a small staircase, causing the first boy to fall. Their speech therapist, Jordan Sadler, decided to address the issue by recreating it in an iPad app called Puppet Pals. She restaged the scenario as a movie, even taking photos of the room for the background and of the kids for the characters. Using the app to show an instant replay of the scuffle, Sadler and the kids identified what went wrong and then recreated the scene, this time making better decisions. Creating custom stories to help kids learn communication skills or understand complex situations is just one of the ways parents, therapists and educators have taken advantage of tablets to work with kids with autism."

"Computer coding is becoming an increasingly popular activity for today's technology oriented kids. Even kids who do not plan to grow up and become computer programmers are enjoying the control and autonomy that coding delivers. Coding encourages kids to be creative, think logically and develop critical thinking skills that they will need throughout their lives. The skills young students develop through these early coding experiences can also help them to succeed in their education. With coding, kids get to try out new solutions to problems and tinker around with what can happen in various situations. The following seven visually oriented and child-friendly apps can help to teach even the youngest children how to code."

"This is great news for parents and kids who are reeling from the news of school closures due to the Coronavirus. Joe Wicks, famous as The Body Coach, has said he will become 'the nation's P.E. teacher' by giving daily online P.E. classes for kids! Starting from Monday he will be holding kids' workout classes on his You Tube channel, and he will be doing them every weekday at 9am during the school closures. The workouts are designed to be kid friendly, will last half an hour, and won't need much space so they can be done indoors if you're self-isolating."

"Kids across the nation are back in school, and moms and dads everywhere are rejoicing. If your kids still bring lunch to school, you can use some of that extra kidless time to download a few of these apps, which contain some great ideas for kid-friendly food. Peanut butter and jelly gets boring, so spice up those lunches with recipes from these apps."

"If Minecraft has taken over your kids and you hardly know who they are or what they're talking about anymore, you're in good company. But, although you may love that the game helps build 21st-century skills such as creativity, innovation, and collaboration, your kids' obsession can be overwhelming. Perhaps most puzzling is that every waking moment they're not playing Minecraft, they're in front of YouTube watching Minecraft. For fans - and they are legion - Minecraft YouTube videos are a huge part of their enjoyment of the game. There are tutorials (for ideas on new things to create), "Let's Play" videos (footage of people playing the game), challenges (new gameplay ideas to try), mod showcases (which show off cool thing kids can download to modify their Minecraft worlds), and more."

"Coding books for kids are a fun way to spark an interest in web design, game making and programming. Although much of this information is available online, presenting information in a book format can help kids improve their literacy skills, and give them an easy reference without having to search. Some of the books are 'how to' manuals, while others are more interactive workbooks. There are also younger kid-friendly "lift the flap" books, that encourage little hands to explore and learn. Here is a run down of 10 of the coolest coding books for young learners."

"Move over, Space Camp: Coding is quickly growing as a popular activity for kids, and not just for those who dream of being programmers when they grow up. The logical thinking required to code can help kids succeed in school and other day-to-day activities-it's no wonder why big companies are getting behind the effort to help students learn the needed critical thinking skills.  If you want to help them get started, there are a number of visual, kid-friendly apps that teach users how to build games and code other simple activities on their own."

"In our modern day, it is easier to learn and teach kids with the use of technology. Educating our children is made easier with the use of new devices available today. iPad games and apps for kids are not just a mindless waste of time. There are tons of educational apps that can help your kids learn more. Finding the best ones is the challenge. This is a list of six great learning apps for children. "

"A few days ago I shared here PBS Kids Video app that provides a wide variety of educational videos for kids. Today I am adding another wonderful iPad app in this direction. Brainfeed is one of the top ranked apps in the iTunes store. Designed to inform, entertain and inspire, Brainfeed provides children 7+, tweens, teens and even inquisitive adults with a safe corner of the web to explore a universe of educational videos. Each video in Brainfeed  is handpicked by a team of enthusiastic educators from around the globe who are tasked with finding short (under 10 minutes) and documentary style videos that meet the following criteria:Curriculum-based, entertaining & engaging, visually stimulating, high quality content, age-appropriate , and child-friendly."

"Today I am sharing with you a number of useful websites that are particularity designed for younger learners. Yes, finding kids-friendly website is not an easy task and it even becomes harder for those busy teachers and parents who can hardly afford an extra hour or two to conduct online searches. The list below is not comprehensive but it does include some of the best websites for helping kids learn better."

"Teachers know that video making is a tried and true way to get kids engaged in building, demonstrating, and sharing knowledge. These apps and sites feature user-friendly tools and features that make it more fun than ever before to get kids' productions edited and polished."

"YouTube is a terrific resource for teachers looking for content to share with students. There are tons of videos that will reinforce key concepts and help kids get excited about what they are learning in the classroom. Since there are plenty of videos on YouTube that are not kid-friendly, YoouKids has developed an iPad app that helps teachers organize which clips they want to share with their students."

"Teachers know that video making is a tried and true way to get kids engaged in building, demonstrating, and sharing knowledge. These apps and sites feature user-friendly tools and features that make it more fun than ever before to get kids' productions edited and polished."

"There has been a string of high-profile cases where children have racked up thousands of dollars in credit card charges through in-app purchases. In these cases and others like them, the iOS devices used by the children have not been properly locked down by the parents. In this three-part series, we will show you how to set up a kid-friendly iTunes account, lock down your device to prevent in-app purchases and perform some maintenance that'll prevent your tot from sending emails or tweeting on your behalf. You can jump into part two below, where we take a deep dive into the settings and show you how to lockdown your iOS device. "

Making is as old as learning itself. While the maker movement may only be about a decade old, the human desire to create dates back to the earliest forms of human activity, from making stone tools to drawing on cave walls (Halverson & Sheridan, 2014; Martinez & Stager, 2014). Thinkers such as Pestalozzi, Montessori, and Papert helped paved the way for the maker movement by stressing the importance of hands-on, student-centered, meaningful learning. Instead of viewing learning as the transmission of knowledge from teacher to student, these thinkers embraced the idea that children learn best when encouraged to discover, play, and experiment. More recently, maker education is being used as a way to connect do-it-yourself informal learning to classrooms. Driven by new technologies such as 3D printing, robotics, and kid-friendly coding, making is emerging as an effective way to introduce students to STEM, particularly women and minorities. By incorporating elements of making into the classroom, educators can bridge the gap between what students are passionate about and what they're learning in school.

"Mindsnacks has a fantastic vocabulary app that I often recommend for teaching children tier three words. If your students are looking to expand their Spanish vocabulary you may want to check out Learn Spanish by Mindsnacks. This powerful app has tons of games for children to explore and free content for them to check out. It's engaging, colorful and kid-friendly."

"Learning by making has been around since long before edtech-just think about what the adventurous explorers or intrepid settlers of yore would have thought of "Do-It-Yourself." But with thousands of kid-friendly tech tools and a whole World Wide Web of resources out there, creative, interesting opportunities for learning-by-making abound for everyone. Okay, so with all those resources, where should you start to build a makerspace? Here at EdSurge, we've rolled up our sleeves, put on our protective goggles, and built a Maker Guide from scratch, just for you.  Read on for ideas from the educators and entrepreneurs who think making 24/7, including what is involved with project-based learning and making in the classroom and tried-and-true lessons from the field on starting your makerspace. Making on a budget? We surely do. We've got ideas for stocking your space with resources from your arts and crafts closet, plus inspiration from educators working to bring makerspaces to low-income and all-girls classrooms."

"Learning by making has been around since long before edtech-just think about what the adventurous explorers or intrepid settlers of yore would have thought of "Do-It-Yourself." But with thousands of kid-friendly tech tools and a whole World Wide Web of resources out there, creative, interesting opportunities for learning-by-making abound for everyone. Okay, so with all those resources, where should you start to build a makerspace? Here at EdSurge, we've rolled up our sleeves, put on our protective goggles, and built a Maker Guide from scratch, just for you.  Read on for ideas from the educators and entrepreneurs who think making 24/7, including what is involved with project-based learning and making in the classroom and tried-and-true lessons from the field on starting your makerspace. Making on a budget? We surely do. We've got ideas for stocking your space with resources from your arts and crafts closet, plus inspiration from educators working to bring makerspaces to low-income and all-girls classrooms."

"Learning by making has been around since long before edtech-just think about what the adventurous explorers or intrepid settlers of yore would have thought of "Do-It-Yourself." But with thousands of kid-friendly tech tools and a whole World Wide Web of resources out there, creative, interesting opportunities for learning-by-making abound for everyone. Okay, so with all those resources, where should you start to build a makerspace? Here at EdSurge, we've rolled up our sleeves, put on our protective goggles, and built a Maker Guide from scratch, just for you.  Read on for ideas from the educators and entrepreneurs who think making 24/7, including what is involved with project-based learning and making in the classroom and tried-and-true lessons from the field on starting your makerspace. Making on a budget? We surely do. We've got ideas for stocking your space with resources from your arts and crafts closet, plus inspiration from educators working to bring makerspaces to low-income and all-girls classrooms."