Fun Apps Remove Wet Blanket from Rainy Days

Spring showers may bring flowers, but they can also keep children indoors and restless. Playing video games on a tablet or smartphone might keep kids busy, but there’s a way to make rainy days fun and educational at the same time. With a little online research, parents can find and download apps for their kids that entertain and teach. 

Angry Birds Space HD helps children learn about space exploration. Developer Rovio teamed up with NASA for this version in which children learn about NASA vehicles, space exploration and the Mars mission while playing.

Kids are encouraged to think creatively with 4 Pics 1 Word, What’s the Word. In this game, children must choose a single word based on the four pictures they see. With more than 400 levels, this visual brainteaser app has the potential to keep kids guessing for hours.

Learn the U.S. states early with Stack the States. Great for elementary school-aged children, and even geography-challenged adults, Stack the States asks geography questions; when users answer correctly, a state drops from the virtual sky. As states falls, you rotate them and fit them in a stack at the bottom of the screen. Each time the stack reaches set height, the user collects a state for their permanent collection and moves on to the next level of the game.

For the younger children, parents cannot go wrong with Dr. Seuss. With Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat Color & Create, children become graphic designers. Based on the classic children’s book, kids can color 16 different Seuss-themed “pages” using 32 colors of crayons and paintbrushes. They can even add bling with digital stickers and a glitter cannon. Parents can share their child’s creations through email or print it for posting on the refrigerator – the “old–school” social media site.

Also, don’t forget e-reader apps like Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iBooks and Barnes & Noble’s NOOK, which can deliver children’s books to a smartphone or tablet in an instant for those long, rainy days at home.