Some Great Social Studies Apps for Kids and Elementary Students

In today's post, I am sharing with you this collection of some of the best and most popular social studies apps for kids and elementary students. The apps offer a wide variety of social studies games, challenges, adevtjrues, quizzes, and several other materials designed specifically for young inquisitive minds.

 Using these apps, kids will get to develop an appreciation of world cultures, develop their cultural awareness, explore world geography, learn about the history of different countries and more.

1. Stack the States

Stack the States is a good social studies app for kids and elementary students. Stack the States is an engaging and dynamic game that helps kids learn about the 50 states. Kids get to learn everything related to the states including: flags, capitals, shapes, geographic locations, abbreviations, bordering states, and more more.

This social studies game consists of various levels and as kids move through the levels they earn more states and unlock more bonuses. To win at each level, kids are to construct a stack of states that reaches the checkered line.

Some of the interesting features provided by Stack the States include: hundreds of unique questions, high quality images of popular US landmarks, fun sound effects and music, interactive map and 50 state flash cards, the ability to create up to 6 player profiles, and many more.

Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: $2.99 / Age: 4+

2. BrainPOP Jr

BrainPOP Jr is another great social studies app for kids and elementary students. BrainPOP Jr offers a wide variety of educational resources covering topics in science, social studies, reading, writing, math, health, arts, technology, among others. These resources include educational activities, animated movies, quizzes, and more.

BrainPOP JR is especially ideal for kids 5-9. "he gentle, humorous, and relatable characters Annie and Moby serve as guides through each topic, empowering kids to form their own ideas. BrainPOP Jr. is designed to cultivate critical thinking skills and encourage children to ask questions and make connections." To learn more about this app, check out BrainPOP Jr full review.

Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+

3. Stack the Countries

As its sister app Stack the States, Stack the Countries is a geography-based social studies game that helps students learn about the countries of the world. Kids will learn things such as capitals, famous landmarks, languages, flags, country shapes, continents, major cities, and more. Some of the features provided by the app include: over 1000 unique questions, over 100 flash cards, interactive maps of the continents, track progress on personalized maps, and more.

Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: $3.99 / Age: 4+

4. News-O-Matic

News-O-Matic helps kids expand and enrich their social studies knowledge by providing them with reading materials that caters to their learning needs. The app embeds over 10.000 archived articles covering various high-interest topics in areas such as science, sports, world news, technology, arts, and entertainment.

News-O-Matic articles are ideal for learners 6 to 14. They come with numerous interactive features incuding games, calls to action, interactive maps, the ability to draw and ask questions, share comments and votes, and more. Other interesting features provided by News-O-Matic include Read to Me story recordings in different languages (e.g., English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Mandarin), audio definitions for challenging vocabulary, citations to improve media literacy skills, and many more.

Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+

5. History for Kids

History for Kids offers kids 7 years and up a series of games and adventures to help them explore world history. The app covers Ancient Egypt, Roman Empire, Greek Civilisation, Medieval ages, Vikings, First Nations and Indigenous of North America, the Inca Empire, the Aztec, Maya Civilization, History of China, History of Japan, History of India, and Prehistory.

Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android alternative / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+

6. Jazzy World Tour Mini

If your goal is to help your kids develop their cultural awareness, Jazzy World Tour Mini app is definitely a good to consider. It takes kids 5 to 10 on a journey around the world helping them explore different cultures and musical traditions. Kids have fun playing quizzes for each country and learn about its music, food, culture, animals, etc. played in different parts of the world. The app also enable them to create their own travel books and fill them with videos ad photos.

Compatibility: iPhone/iPad  / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+

7. TABI Learning

TABI Learning offers a wide variety of educational activities for kids 8-12 covering besides social studies topics in math ,science, reading, health, sport, and several other subjects. Kids earn rewards for their successful completion of the learning activities. For instance, they earn digital coins to use in the store to buy prizes and other items. The app also features a daily checklist with personalized challenges and adventures to differentiate learning and help kids perform better.

Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+

8. Newsela

Newsela is an educational platform that provides levelled cross-curricular reading materials for for k-12 students. Newsela provides tons of nonfiction texts (and some fiction) resourced from over 100 authority sources in the publishing realm namely:  History, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, PBS NewsHour, Scientific American, Smithsonian, World History Encyclopedia, among others.  To learn more about this app, check out Newsela full review.

Compatibility: iPhone/iPad and Android / Price: Free, offers in-app purchases / Age: 4+