With the help of Google’s App Inventor for Android, I have created a really useful and totally bare bones app to help my Kindergarten-aged daughter with her “sight words”.  I took the “Primer” words from the Dolch Word List and made this easy app that displayed one randomly after pressing a button. As she progresses, I’ll add the other levels of words until we have the whole list of 220. Of course, I could have just printed out flashcards, but where’s the fun in that?

You have to have Google App Inventor to use it. If you have Google App Inventor, feel free to download the “press” version here and the “shake” version here.

If you aren’t already part of Google App Inventor, you can sign up for it here Google App Inventor.

UPDATE – 12/14/10: I’m happy to report that thanks to my daughter’s rapid progress, I’m planning an update with another – tougher – round of words.

Another great reason to go to the American Museum of Natural History.

American Museum of Natural Historys Explorer App Makes Paper Museum Maps Ancient Artifacts – Gizmodo Review

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Nice little roundup of some iPad apps for kids. I’m really on the fence about how much app time I want my kids to have before they are reading entire books.

However, some apps have clear educational value and there’s a lot to be said for keeping things calm in the back seat on those summer road trips.

iPad apps entertain kids on the road – USATODAY.com.