18 Reading Apps to Fuel Your Kid’s Imagination (+ Ideas to Improve Reading)

Starfall Learn to Read is a free app for iOS devices that helps little ones develop the skills to recognize letters and the sounds they make in combination. Mastering word recognition is the beginning of comprehension, and learning young is the key to a lifelong love for reading, which opens the doors to infinite opportunities.

Today’s youngsters are quite sophisticated and adept with electronic devices. Why not take that combination as a chance to introduce elementary phonics and letters to your little ones? Homer is a free iOS app filled with colorful figures and fun games that provide the building blocks for developing a child’s reading skills. Download it today!

Bob Books are beloved by beginning readers, and now you can download Bob Books Reading Magic, one of the educational reading apps available for Android. Fun games teach kids to sound out words, which helps them build confidence as they increase their recognizable written vocabulary. The road to advanced scholarship begins with Bob.

If you know “A says Apple” then Hooked on Phonics is the tool you want to help your little one prepare to read. It’s free to download and is loaded with proven phonics training. Brilliant interactive games and videos make learning the basics fun, then your child can practice reading over 100 colorfully illustrated stories.

Reading Eggs has less to do with breakfast and more to do with breaking the literacy barrier. Your subscription offers access to several levels of skill development for kids as young as 2 through 13. Phonics, sight words, and reading comprehension are just some of the areas of focus in the interactive games and activities.

You’ll say “wow” when your youngster starts reading lessons with the Reading Raven from iTunes. Starting with the first module, kids are given the tools they need to recognize letters, sound them out, and form sight words. Within a short time, they’ll be building vocabularies and reading with confidence. Their path to literacy begins here.

A child’s capability to learn is unlimited, so doesn’t it make sense to offer unlimited resources? Epic! Creations Inc. believes learning doesn’t come with limits. Epic! is available on iTunes only for iOS, free to download, and is described as the “leading digital library” for kids up to 12. Access e-books, games, quizzes, and more.

From the Care Bears to Adventure Island, FarFaria offers familiar friends, twelve different fairytale kingdoms, and thousands of songs and stories. FarFaria is dedicated to helping your preschooler learn to read and then keeping them intrigued through their primary grades. Download the free app, then subscribe for customized content for up to six family members.

“Reading Rainbow” gave millions of children the building blocks to reading with confidence over the years. Now that same proven and beloved program is available for iOS and Android devices for today’s kids and families on the go. Housed in The Cloud, Skybrary brings old-school lessons up-to-the-minute and at your child’s fingertips.

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Recognizing letters and words is a great start for learning to read. What’s next? Tales2go is an innovative service for older children. Offering an extensive database of audiobooks, Tales2go provides increased opportunities for active listening, increasing vocabulary and comprehension while improving reading skills. Boost your youngster’s confidence with Tales2go, in the classroom and at home.

A Story Before Bedtime takes a time-honored tradition to the next level. Choose pre-recorded books for your tots to listen to before bed, or record a story of choice. Far-away family members can record books, too. What a great way for your little ones to stay “in touch” with relatives they may not see often.

Did you learn to love reading with LeVar Burton? Now your children can share your experience with a high-tech twist when you subscribe to this reading app. Check out the Skybrary to read your favorite stories, or access the interactive animations and recorded stories. There are even options for tracking your reader’s progress.

Prolific writers started writing long before they became household names. Even if your youngsters aren’t aspiring authors, they’ll benefit from the exercises in StoryKit. It’s fun to create an electronic storybook together and encourage your kids to express themselves with words. Reading is more fun when you’re creating your own story. Good writers start young.

Free books. If you’re looking for ways to get your kiddos to improve their reading skills, then you’ll appreciate the free iOS app from the International Children’s Digital Library. With thousands of titles from over sixty countries, your little one has the opportunity to read books you might not otherwise see in your local library.

MeeGenius from Amazon Digital Services is a delightful app for kids to read-along from hundreds of e-books chosen especially for beginning readers. Narrated stories with each word highlighted mean your child will hear and see the letter combinations to build sight words and confidence. Before you know it, they’ll be reading without assistance.

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Your young tykes will be delighted with the iStoryBook app from Amazon Digital Services. Colorful illustrations, audio, and text make each story captivating. Providing the aural input as well as seeing each word helps children building word recognition skills. Free to download, but opening the door to your child’s new reading habit is priceless.

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The Amazon Kindle app is now available to download on Apple for all of your iOS devices. This amazing tool gives you more options for accessing literature for your child and syncing it to your iPhone or iPad. Buy books and magazines on Amazon or access the thousands of books included with Prime.

The Owl Teacher has a great resource she’s eager to recommend: reader’s theatre utilizing “Partner Plays.” These printed scripts engage your readers to improve comprehension, to introduce a variety of concepts, and hone oral fluency. It’s flexible and tailored to students’ needs, so it’s ideal for the classroom, homeschool, or tutoring small groups.

When you can turn a complicated concept into a game, you’ve got the battle half-won. English is not an easy language to comprehend, so the “Context Clues” game from Upper Elementary Snapshots is a fun way to teach vocabulary and parts of speech. Download and print the free materials to use in your next lesson.

Reading fluency and comprehension go hand-in-hand. Turning a random group of letters into a word is exciting for a beginning reader, and learning how to turn a random group of words into a sentence feels magical. This Reading Mama offers a fabulous resource to help kids visualize and vocalize phrases for improved reading performance.