Check out our picks for best reading apps for kindergarteners!
We’re all about finding innovative ways to use tech to build strong, confident readers. Lucky for us, there’s a wealth of fun, kid-safe apps available to give beginning readers the foundational skills to succeed and develop a healthy love of reading in the process.
Check out this list for a few of our top picks of best reading apps for kindergarteners—all rated four stars and above on Common Sense Media.
Best Reading Apps for Kindergarteners
1. Bob’s Books – Reading Magic #2
Best App for Beginning Readers
Bob’s Books Reading Magic #2 is a step-by-step educational app focused on teaching kids how to read and spell.
The app presents a series of illustrations, each challenging kids to complete a scene by dragging and dropping the letters into slots to spell the words.
Your child can hear the pronunciation for each letter they select and once the scene is complete, the image comes to life in bright colors.
Pros
This app is extremely interactive and gives kids lots of support in the beginning stages as they move from lesson to lesson. The app’s narration is gentle and soothing, and kids can ask for hints whenever they feel stuck. It’s a great companion to the popular Bob’s Books series of picture books.
Cons
The app stops offering hints as players advance to harder levels, which may frustrate users who enjoy the extra support.
Age Range: 4+
Price: $3.99
Available on iPhone and iPad
2. Dora ABCs Volume 2: Rhyming Words
Dora takes kids as young as preschoolers on a quest to learn letter sounds and rhyming words. To win the game, Dora must cross a grumpy troll’s bridge and kids must help her across by correctly matching pictures to their sounds in exchange for tokens to pay the troll. Once they have enough, Dora can cross the bridge to the next level.
Pros
Dora ABCs has a parent portal where you can follow your child’s progress. You can see their strengths as well as which words they’re struggling with so you can work through their tough spots together. Kids love Dora’s spunky and lively personality, and the app is a hit with fans of the popular show.
Cons
Some parents feel the app could use a few more levels and less repetition. Others disagree on whether the games are challenging enough or too difficult for their little ones.
Age Range: 3+
Price: $1.99
Available on iPhone and iPad
3. Reading Eggs – Learn to Read
A trove of alphabet and spelling games, phonics activities, word puzzles and 2,000+ story books, this award-winning reading app for kindergarteners is a complete program designed by experts to help your child learn to read.
Starting with fundamentals for preschoolers and kindergarteners, it also has a level for older “continuing readers,” so your child can keep the reading play going as they advance.
Pros
The breadth of activities and the in-app reward system offer endless fun for kids and hold their attention while they sharpen a variety of reading skills using just one app.
Cons
The games can advance in difficulty too quickly for some beginning readers, and the cost for the monthly subscription is considered steep by some parents.
Age Range: 3+
Price: $9.99 a month for 1 child, $4.99 for additional
Available on iPhone and iPad
4. Sight Words Adventure
Sight Words is a great app for helping readers in kindergarten through third grade to build on existing spelling skills and expand their vocabularies.
The app presents 320 words that many kids tend to find challenging to master, and breaks them down letter by letter.
Activities include reading games, writing games and a hide-and-seek game.
Pros
Your child can create their own account so they can save their progress, and you can use a separate portal to follow what skills they’re learning.
Cons
Because the app uses a lot of repetition to aid retention, kids may not find the games very exciting at times. The experience could benefit from more variation, as well as context (such as showing how the vocabulary words are used in a sentence or in stories).
Age Range: 5+
Price: $1.99
Available on iPhone and iPad
5. Dr. Seuss’s ABC
Dr. Seuss’s ABC is a digital version of the classic book, designed to teach preschoolers and kindergarteners the basics of the alphabet using 52 shapes and 26 sounds. It challenges kids with creative language and alliteration to get them excited to learn their ABCs.
In the spirit of Dr. Seuss, kids can rub letters together to make new ones while making silly sentences.
Pros
Imagination has no bounds here. Kids love the whimsical illustrations and quirky characters, and to help pre-readers follow along, each word is highlighted as the narrator reads the story out loud.
Cons
Like the print edition, this Dr. Seuss book was written with the youngest readers in mind, so some kindergarteners might find the app a little too young.
Age Range: 3+
Price: Free-$3.99 a year
Available on iPhone and iPad
6. Reading Raven
Among the top reading apps for kindergarteners, this one teaches preschoolers and kindergarteners pronunciation and writing skills through a myriad of activities, from letter tracing and voice recording and playback, to guiding word bubbles to a circus lion’s mouth. Your child can learn the names of each letter of the alphabet, how to write them and how to start writing words.
Pros
Reading Raven wins for its interactivity—and allowing kids to record and play back their pronunciation is a hit.
Cons
The app doesn’t provide progress reports in the parent portal, so you would need to follow your child’s activity in real time while they’re using the app.
Age Range: 3+
Price: Free-$2.99
Available on iPhone and iPad
8. Epic!
Time to put all of that new vocabulary and spelling practice to good use!
With thousands of high-quality books and videos for kids of all ages, interests and learning levels, Epic! is the place for your child to practice the amazing new skills they’re learning with the help of the apps on this list.
Pros
Our library isn’t just a great place to start for kindergarteners on their reading journey. Kids as young as age two can find fun, engaging and educational stories to help foster early literacy skills they will carry with them for life.
Cons
Your kid may not want to stop reading. If you’re on board with that, you’ve got nothing to worry about!
Age Range: 2+
Price: Free-$7.99 a month
Available on iPhone, iPad and Android
Sign up today!
Those are our top picks for best reading apps for kindergarteners!
Set your child up for success before they even walk into a kindergarten classroom with a combination of age-appropriate books and a little help from some great-quality apps.
Concerned about introducing screen time too young? Check out our post, Tech Time: Quantity or Quality? for tips every parent needs to know, and expert guidelines to help set healthy boundaries in your home.
