The internet might have been used for education in classrooms when you were in school, but chances are mobile devices weren’t.

As your child may have already been telling you at the dinner table, Apple devices are now a significant and exciting part of education in the classroom (though I doubt they would put it like that themselves!).

Teachers are incorporating technology into their lessons to bring them alive and provide a level of interaction that many of us never experienced at school ourselves.

One of these is of course the Apple iPad. And if you have one at home, you can download applications that teachers are using in their classes – and introduce them to your children, or even have the children introduce them to you! Even if you don’t have an iPad, you can usually access them on an iPhone or iPod, too.

Below we have provided 5 great apps teachers rave about – but of course there are plenty out there to explore yourself. Ask your child if they know the names of the games and applications used by their teacher – you should be able to download them and have some fun at home.

1. Math Bingo

Cost: $0.99

A favourite amongst primary teachers, Math Bingo fuses important foundational math skills and rules of the popular game bingo.

Visually entertaining, the game focuses on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or a mixture of all of them. It also lets you choose a difficulty level, a feature often missing from educational games. Games last 45 seconds, giving the player chance to answer as many problems as possible before the buzzer goes.

Storing 30 player profiles makes it a teacher favourite – each player can also choose their own avatar, and the game keeps track of every game played by each player – with a scoreboard for the top scores. Achievements are unlocked and recognised by awarding ‘Bingo Bugs’ which are remembered for each player. You can play the bugs after the game by using your finger, or even moving the device around.

The app provides enough different modes and settings to keep kids going for a while, and can get very addictive!

The company who makes it, ABCya, have many other great games for kids which you can check out on their website, here. If you like the Bingo format, ABCya also offer the game to assist in subject areas.

2. Squeezables Multiplication

Cost: $0.99

Squeezables focuses on multiplication so it’s limited compared to Math Bingo in terms of content, however it offers fun customisations that are unlocked with achievements – and there’s a storyline to go with it.

The aim of the game is straightforward – to progress, the player faces sets of questions aimed at improving times tables skills. Each completed set helps Whizz, the main character, to save friends from the Maths Monster (don’t worry, he doesn’t look that fearsome!).

Achievements are trophies and stars, and information is saved for each player (4 profiles can be saved in total) so kids can continue the game over several sessions.

As with Math Bingo, the makers of Squeezables offer other great applications – check them all out here. Other versions of the game teach addition, subtraction and fractions among others, so if you like the concept it’s worth taking a look.

3. Operation Math

Cost: $2.99

If your child loves action movies, this app will give them hours of fun while improving their skills with everything numbers based. Operation Math is designed for kids aged roughly 5 to 12, and teaches all basic maths skills through an international adventure as a James Bond-esque secret agent.

There are only 3 player profiles but thankfully the storyline is incredibly rich for an educational game – there are 105 different missions, three difficulty levels, a tonne of unlockable items that can be used in game and a map that tracks player progress over 15 locations around the world (so a geography lesson too!).

If that’s not enough, it even includes professional audio narration and a soundtrack – It really enhances the playing experience, and makes the game perfect to keep kids engaged in situations like a long car trip. Just remember your headphones!

Of all apps on our list, this one we find to be the most fun. Try it on hard and test your own knowledge. You might find it a bit of a challenge!

4. Oh No Fractions

Cost: Free

This is a simple app in terms of function and scope. There are no player profiles or storylines – but that’s what makes it great (that, and it’s free).

The aim of the game is to answer if the fraction on the left of the screen is greater or less than the one on the right. The program won’t take your word for it, though – it then asks you to prove it. There is also the option to check if the fractions can be reduced.

Fractions can take considerable time to get the hang of, which is why teachers enjoy the interactivity and visual nature of this application. The problems to solve are quite basic, but it’s a great one to whip out when your child wants to use your device to play a game.

The company that makes it, Curious Hat, also create some unique applications that explore creativity – check them out on their website.

5. Geoboard

Cost: Free

Alright, so this one doesn’t deal so much with numbers directly. But it’s still quite popular with digitally-minded teachers and based on a concept that many of us can remember using ourselves when we were young.

Geoboard is essentially an interactive peg-board used with colour rubber bands to create shapes and learn about geometry, distance, area, fractions and anything else you could think to use it for.

While the idea is simple, there’s obviously a lot you can do – the app allows different colour bands and fill areas with the colour of your choice when an area has been closed up.

It can even be used for the old two player game some of you may remember – where each person takes it in turns to add a new straight band between two adjacent posts, the goal being to be the one to close a box off with your turn first, allowing you to fill the box with your colour. The winner is the one who has the most boxes filled.

No longer will rubber bands be flying all over the room and speeches be needed about safety. When you want to start again, just reset the board!

If you would like more information about what teachers are using in the classroom, contact your child’s school. Many primary schools these days have digital specialists whose job it is to keep up with the latest technology and assist teachers to incorporate it into their lessons – they will usually have some great ideas on what you can download to improve your child’s familiarity with their digital experience in the classroom.

6. Maths with Springbird

Cost: Free

You didn’t think we would leave out our own app, did you? We’ve been getting some great feedback from teachers as well as parents so why not!

If you’ve subscribed to our mailing list and you’re reading this article, chances are you’ve already seen Maths with Springbird yourself. But in case you haven’t, or you want to email to a friend about it, here’s the lowdown.

All of Springbird’s friends have been locked up in cages, and it’s up to the player to help free them – but it’s not going to be easy! To get through the game, Players must answer math questions starting with addition and progressing to multiplication and beyond.

As questions are answered correctly, Springbird’s crazy looking bird friends are freed from their cages and a variety of fun items are unlocked which can be used in-game – so, there are plenty of reasons to answer questions and progress as far as possible. Springbird was made with kids aged 4-8 in mind – there are 4 player profiles available and an Expert difficulty to try once they’ve mastered the normal one.

We think it’s pretty cool – but don’t take our word for it. If you haven’t already, try it out and let us know what you think.

There’s so many fantastic apps in the market at the moment that are helping kids around the world improve their maths skills and have fun while doing it – tell us in the comments below what apps your kids can’t get enough of!

With the information age accelerating, it’s also becoming easier to decide what to do with them when the time comes – but this can often end up with their eyes (and yours!) glued to the family TV!

Planning in advance can take weight off your shoulders while ensuring you’re keeping your child active and learning. It’s also important to repeat the same activity at scheduled times or frequent intervals – this gives your child something to look forward to and the opportunity to help you plan – making your life even easier.

Children learn more during ages 3-5 than during any other 2 year period for the rest of their lives, and are highly sensitive to new information and experiences in the years directly after. It’s therefore crucial that you encourage learning where ever you can.

To give you a kick start, we’ve listed 4 activity types below that can give you some ideas – schedule 1 of each in every week or fortnight, and take a few minutes to decide what to do. You will appreciate it later!

1.   Read to them after they can read themselves

Most parents only read to their children until they can do it themselves – but it is highly beneficial that you continue long after they have mastered the art of reading.

Learning to read themselves improves skills like comprehension, reading, language and speech.  Reading to your child also allows them to:

• Associate relaxation with reading, temporarily taking away the added stress of learning as they go
• Experience books above their reading level, giving them something to aspire to
• Focus more deeply on their imagination
• Increase comprehension skills by contemplating storylines and personality traits of characters in stories

Finally, it helps your child understand or observe situations they may be facing in different ways – Reading stories that emphasise the importance of maths or science, going to school and dealing with bullies are some examples.

The digital age has brought with it a vibrant new platform for storytelling – break up the books by downloading some interactive stories and storytelling applications for your mobile device.

Search for some yourself, or try some of the suggestions from the AppAlp.com, who have a great list of iPad books for kids.

2.   Have scheduled family outings

We live in a busy time when regular family activities can be tough to fit in. However difficult, it’s always important to block off some space in your calendar to take your kids out of the house and do something new and exciting (even if it’s just for them!)

Stepping out of the house to explore new environments provides opportunities to amplify your child’s awareness of the present moment, encouraging them to stay alert and inquisitive, while taking responsibility for their own learning interests.

Check out your local council website and local online guides to keep track of what’s happening in your area.

If you’re stuck for ideas, go back to basics. Adventures to the local park, museum, art gallery or a drive to a nearby town can be cost-effective and educational.

If you’re feeling creative, Kelly over at Be a Fun Mum came up with 100 great activities for kids during the school holidays to cater for everyone’s interests – check it out here!

3.   Playing group games

One of the most enjoyable ways for children to have fun while they learn is by playing games – board games, puzzles, word games, card games, the lot! A simple way to extend their learning is to play regularly with groups, or even join a local community that organises fun and educational extra-curricular activities.

The valuable part that games play in the development of young children is widely known. Among others, it strongly improves their logic and prediction, reading, creativity and mathematics skills. Group work brings 4 more useful skills::

1. Communication – groups develop people skills, including writing, speaking and reading out loud. In cases where someone is new to the game, letting your child explain the rules and assisting them in helping the new person in their first game is great for their confidence.
2. Cooperation – Teamwork sometimes does not come naturally, and working in groups helps promote the right qualities in an effective team player.
3. Winning and losing – A talent I often hear early primary teachers recommend that parents cultivate is a gracious attitude when losing a game. Shaking hands and discussing how well each team played is a good way to do this. It’s also important to be a good winner – overall, respect for the other players is a good value to uphold.
4. Abstract thinking – This usually evolves during ages 4-7. In group games predicting other player’s moves are essential to success, as is how your team mates are thinking. Discussing games after they’ve been played greatly improve development in this area.

In addition to these, regular sessions (for example weekly) allow you to play with the same games or puzzles multiple times, reinforcing their new skills – which is why our first educational app, Springbird, has been so useful for children to develop their maths abilities effectively.

A great idea which you can use when facilitating a game with both just children and a mix with adults is to encourage everyone to use their logic out loud. You may have seen this used in popular shows like ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’. Using this technique slows the game down to encourage awareness while improving critical thinking.

Parents often have a good arsenal when it comes time to suggest group games, but if you need some fresh ideas, Activity Village have some great ideas (and they’re fun ones too!). Find them here.

4. Teaching Independence

It can take an incredible act of patience to teach your child how to tie their shoe from an early age, but the truth is, these are the one percenters that really boost their confidence and ability to make informed decisions on their own.

As well as the usual shoe laces, promoting independence with daily processes like choosing clothes and getting dressed, putting things back in a basket after use, packing their own school bags and even basic cooking (not the family roast just yet – work them up to that!) will be worth it in the long run.

Kids learn about ‘recipes’ and ‘methods’ in their early years at school, so this is a great way to show them how useful they are and they can use their creativity to come up with more efficient ways to do things (or another practical method that involves some fun).

For further reading parenting and teaching independence, check out HealthyChildren.Org’s resourceful guide, and tips and tricks from Parents Magazine’s Positive Parenting section.

Here are four simple strategies that busy parents can use to teach and increase empathy in the home.

1. Be an example. 
When we treat our child with empathy, we provide not only emotional 
nourishment but also a model of kindness that our child can imitate.
2. Point out real-life examples of empathy in the news, in history, in your neighborhood or community.
 Help them to understand how others must be feeling and how they would feel if it were them in a given situation.
3. Help your child understand and describe his or her own feelings. 
Kids need to be able to label their own feelings in order to understand how others feel.  When a child has a strong feeling, we can lay a foundation for empathy by helping our child put the feeling into words.
4. Watch for opportunities to practice empathy.  Notice if someone needs help, or is feeling sick and help children to notice and find ways to show empathy. Involve your child in acts of kindness. Cooking meals as a family to take to a homeless shelter or making get-well cards for sick friends can help make empathy a habit.

Courage is not only being able to face your fears and try new things, it is also being able to stand up for yourself and others.  Courage means doing what is right regardless of what others will think.  Here are a few thoughts I have on teaching our children to have courage.

Try new things together. As my children all flew past me on the ski hill this year and I snowplowed my way down the hill, I had to chuckle. I am definitely out of my comfort zone and feeling a lot of fear, but I want to show my kids that even though I am scared I can put myself out there and have courage to try.  Your kids will see you moving through your fears and will follow your example.

Allow them to work through difficult situations.  Our initial reaction when our children are struggling is often to rush in and help.  We do need to show love and encouragement but giving children the opportunity to work through things on their own is a great way to build courage and a confidence in their ability to overcome things independently.  When they can choose to do the right thing on their own, without the nagging of parents they will find the inner compass to guide them when we are not around.

Discuss and share.  Share examples of people showing courage in the midst of great struggle or hardship.  You can use YouTube or other media to show the stories of individuals in history.  Talk about your own experiences and share other family member’s courageous moments.   Role-play difficult situations they may come across at school and in their day-to-day life.  This will help them have some tools when the time comes for them to speak out or stand up.

Raising our children to be confident, caring and happy is a common goal among parents. Helping our children understand their strengths and develop a strong sense of worth while striving to do and be their best is very important. Here are five ways you can support and build confidence and self-worth in your children.

Focus on the positive. Look for opportunities and take time to comment on the things they are doing well.  When your children are struggling, focus on the BEHAVIOR not on the CHILD. You may not like their behavior, but you still love the child.

Help them learn from mistakes. Discuss what happened and have them make a plan of what they could say or do differently if the situation arises again. Show that you make mistakes too and role model how to deal with them.

Give opportunities to develop independence. Help them to develop their communication skills to show you their way will work.  Allow your child to discover consequences for themselves.  If they don’t practice their piano, the teacher will be sure to notice and they won’t be able to move onto another song. Give them choices and responsibilities.

Acknowledge effort. Each child has unique strengths and abilities; encourage them to do their best. When something doesn’t work, it’s not a failure. Some of the world’s greatest inventors failed many, many times.

Spend time with your child. Take an interest in what your child is doing. Take time to learn new things together. Time spent with a parent is what will be remembered far more than material things. Attend as many of your child’s activities as possible. Mom and Dad on the sidelines, or in the front row will be remembered for life.

• The bullying experience is made up of observable (behaviours) and hidden (meaning, beliefs and states) components.

• Most common definitions of bullying have four components; intention to cause harm; is repeated, involves an interaction between people and a perceived power imbalance.

• The behaviour of the bully and a power imbalance are the focus of most definitions of bullying, and how the target thinks is usually ignored.

• The two missing, yet crucial components of the bullying experience are how the target thinks about the bullying (the beliefs and meanings of the target), and the unresourceful state of the target.

• Your child’s beliefs, meanings and states play a major part in their shaping their bullying experience.

• The success or failure of the bullying attempt is ultimately determined by the meaning your child gives it.

• State plays a major role in how your child experiences bullying.

• While the behaviour and intention of the bully is out of the control of your child, they can control their responses, including what they think, feel, say and do.

• The effectiveness of the bullying behaviour is determined by the meaning your child gives the behaviour.

• Bullies are children making really bad decisions about how they treat others based on their understanding of the world.

• Parents who are of most help to their child are the ones who have taken the time to inform themselves about how bullying works, and have firstly explored their own thinking and feeling about bullying.

To make their bullying attempts successful; bullies select children who they judge are bullyable.  Bullies look for children who believe they can be bullied. Of course they don’t just come out and ask “How bullyable are you?”  While some bullies use a hit and miss approach to finding potential targets, others have a more sophisticated selection process.  They use information such as your child’s posture, body language, voice, eye cues and their social connectedness within the school to guess how bullyable your child is.  Then they test their selection out. Leigh, thirteen, explains how he selected his potential targets: 

“At the start of year seven I looked around for the scared, weird kids who were on their own.  The way they stood and spoke and looked told me straight away if I could bully them or not. Then I tested them out.  I would say something smart to them to see how they handled me.  The kids who backed down straight away were the ones I went after.  The ones who said stuff back to me were a maybe, depending on how they said it and if they had any mates or not.  I looked for the weird kids with no mates who just kind of shrivelled up when I tested them out”.

Unless your child or someone who knows the situation comes right out and tells you directly, you might not know not know that your child is being bullied. But don’t panic! Around thirty percent of bullied children tell no one, and many are really, really good at keeping it a secret. Children can be very creative in hiding the fact that they are being bullied from their parents, teachers, friends and siblings.  As much as you may like to think that you would know or suspect if your child is being bullied, you might not.  This is not a reflection upon you as a parent.

You know your child better than anyone. Follow your intuition if you are suspecting that something is not right.  Unfortunately for some children, bullying has such an impact on them, they are overwhelmed, and find it hard to think logically. While most children will eventually tell an adult, some children will wait until the bullying is almost unbearable before they tell someone.  Some children wait years.  Some never tell.  Every bullied child I have worked with who initially kept it a secret from their parents has told me “I wish I had told someone sooner”.

Consider the following symptoms and behaviours that are common to bullied children that may (but not definitely) indicate that your child is being bullied.  If you already know your child is being bullied, this information will help you understand your child’s past or current behaviour.

1. Not wanting to go to school.

For obvious reasons, this is a common symptom of bullying.  Most parents instinctively know if something is NQR (not quite right) with their child, especially if their child normally enjoys school.  Children will start making lots of excuses to miss school and avoid the bully.  Some older children will wag a particular class to avoid their bully.  While avoiding the bully may seem like a workable short term solution, eventually the situation becomes too difficult for the child.  Many children want to go to school; they just don’t want to come face to face with the bully.  It’s too hard.  Your child can learn how to think about bullying so that they can continue to go to school, and even feel comfortable being in the same class as the bully.

2. Withdrawing – not wanting to socialize.

Children who are being bullied will often spend lunch time and recess trying to hang around the school office, staff room, or teachers to avoid going into the school yard.  To be seen alone at recess or lunch time can be difficult for some children, as this makes them more of a target.  Having friends is extremely important, because bullies tend to pick on ‘loners’.  Your child can learn basic social skills like walking up and joining in with a group, which is vital to decreasing your child’s likelihood of being bullied.

3. Increased Sickness.

Many children who are bullied describe being on ‘Full Alert’ at school.  They are vigilant about where the bully is at all times, as well as super conscious of how they are seen by other children.  As you can imagine, this creates a lot of tension in the body, and the resulting stress can have a negative impact on the health of the child.  Some bullied children will complain of stomach aches on school mornings – but not on weekends.  Many children who are being bullied come home from school totally exhausted, even if they were not bullied on that particular day.  Your child can learn to use physical symptoms as useful information, rather than be concerned by them.

4. Increased emotional outbursts at home.

For some children, keeping it together emotionally at school is important.

As one child described:

“I don’t want my bully to see that he is getting to me”.

Some children don’t want to show any emotions at school, but will explode in the safety of their own home.  According to one teenage girl:

“I bottle it all up at school and come home and pick a fight with my Mum so I can get it all out”.

A ten year old girl explains:

“I hold the anger in at school because if I let it out at school I will get into trouble.  At home I get into less trouble, so I scream at my little brother and my Mum.  It’s better that way”.

I’ve been privileged enough to coach both the children being bullied, and the children doing the bullying.  My style of coaching is unique in that I come from a non-judgemental stance.  To be able to coach effectively, I consider every child I work with as precious, valuable and see them as more than their behaviours.  I see the possibilities within them.  I see the goodness and the potential.  Yes – even the children doing the bullying.  Even the boy I recently coached who bashed his classmate to the point of hospitalization.  His behaviour made sense to him at the time.  Don’t get me wrong, his choice to bash his classmate was disgraceful – yet I can see he is more than his behaviours.  My job is to coach him so he can see he is more than his behaviours.  My job is to help him see the potential within him so he can choose to not bully anymore.

Coaching bullies has given me an amazing insight into their thinking styles and beliefs.  It might be hard to accept when your child is the target of the bullying behaviour – but bullies are children making really bad decisions about how they treat others (and themselves) based on their understanding of the world.  That does not excuse their behaviour or make it any less painful for you and your child.  However I believe being a bully is painful.  I have found that the thinking that leads to bullying behaviour include a lack of personal power, a negative self image, poor communication skills and general unhappiness.  I’m yet to coach a happy, confident bully who actually likes him or herself.

I am reluctant to even label these children as ‘bullies’.  In an ideal world, I would refer to a bully as ‘a child who at times engages in bullying behaviour’.  It sounds over-the-top-politically-correct I know, and would be a bit awkward, so I have used the term ‘bully’ for short.  Most children I coach start off hating the child bullying them, however it is very common, even in young children, that by the end of the coaching program the child does not hate the bully anymore, instead they develop empathy for them as they compare their future to that of the bully.  They often develop an understanding and compassion that is beyond their years.