Joy Sprouts - Kids Preschool Education (Play, Learn, Develop, Report, Analyse, Guide) App

There is no question that the popularity of smartphones and tablets has increased tremendously over the years and that kids younger and younger are becoming pros at tapping and swiping their way through apps, games, books and more.

However, simply because children have access to a screen doesn't mean that parents are going to put any sort of content or activities on it. Why have them spend time only being entertained when they could also be practicing important skills, challenging their minds, boosting their imagination, stimulating their creativity and more?

Instead, it makes sense that parents of preschoolers would give their children a head start on successful learning with Joy Sprouts — Kids Preschool Education (Play, Learn, Develop, Report, Analyse, Guide)!

Created by educational professionals, Joy Sprouts was designed for ages 2-6 to aid in developing a range of important skills in a child's total development. In fact, this free app was based on the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services' Head Start Framework, so there is no doubt that learning was an important factor in its creation.

Utilizing colorful, cheerful illustrations, a helpful, calming narrative, and an intuitive user interface, it only takes a few minutes to set up a small profile for each child using this app (I love that multiple children can have their own profiles!) and rest assured that they will be happily entertained while still learning important skills.

Once your child opens up Joy Sprouts, they are easily able to move through the award-winning games and activities. I appreciate that right off the bat the app is clearly divided into different modules — called Sprouts — made to help your child reach their full potential in five key areas:

• Cognition and General Knowledge (Math, Science, and Social studies)
• Language and Literacy
• Learning Approaches
• Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development and Health

From there, let the fun (and learning) begin!

As each of the Sprouts features friendly characters (my nostalgic side loves seeing Garfield and Odie in most of them!) and is narrated with simple to understand instructions, kids have no problem creating patterns, identifying colors or shapes, putting together puzzles, using logic and more.

Even though both Big Sister E and Little Sister B are a bit too old for Joy Sprouts, they have really enjoyed testing it out, pointing out all of the fun ways to play, and collecting awards for completing various games and activities!

All in all, I really like the way that instead of focusing on a specific subject such as numbers, letters, colors or shapes, Joy Sprouts uses a total development strategy that strives to help children grow in all areas of education.

Plus, this app provides personalized summary reports that allow parents to follow their child's progress across the key areas of development. And not only do these reports detail progress, but they focus on the child's strengths and weaknesses as well — and offer recommendations from experts on which areas need more work to help the child reach their full potential.

By combining expert educational content with entertaining, age-appropriate animations and characters, Joy Sprouts - Kids Preschool Education (Play, Learn, Develop, Report, Analyse, Guide) is an app that parents of preschoolers everywhere can appreciate. Why not encourage your child's total development while they simply think that they are playing and having fun?

Find out more and download this FREE app (compatible with iPads running iOS 7.0 or later) by visiting iTunes today.

I was compensated for my time in writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions shared are honest and my own.