Parents' Guide to

Khan Academy Kids

App iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android , Kindle Fire Free Education
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Common Sense Media Review

Mieke VanderBorght By Mieke VanderBorght , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 3+

Creative early-learning activities engage and inspire.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 3+?

Any Positive Content?

  • Khan Academy Kids App: Screenshot #1
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Parent and Kid Reviews

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age 4+

Based on 11 parent reviews

ccaudill0107
ccaudill0107 Adult
January 22, 2020
age 3+

Better than ABC mouse

We tried ABC mouse for a few months and it was laggy and hard to maneuver for my four year old. Khan is simple and easy to use and she loves it! Also there are no adds
drmax
drmax Adult
September 27, 2018
age 4+

A promising beginning

The kernel of a fantastic idea is present in this app: a better, deeper, more engaging version of ABC Mouse, but free. The reality is that the developers haven't quite realized that goal yet, but if they maintain their commitment to evolve the app, there is great promise here. As might be expected, the app is not as polished as, say, a Toca Boca product. You can expect to encounter glitches and bugs periodically, and the user experience of account creation and option selection contains some frustrating friction points. For example, after creating an account on the website, clicking through the confirmation email they sent me, setting up a child account, and downloading the app, I was unable to log into the app because the system said no account with my email address existed. We eventually created a new account on the app, but some parents may find the separation between the web and app versions confusing. We also saw periodic crashes, and the app was sometimes slow to respond to input. The art direction represented by the character designs and user interface is definitely an improvement over the paid services we've tried, which often seem drawn from the coloring books of the 1970s. The smooth, continuous flow of activities in the app is great for pre-K learners; parents can let their child play on her own for awhile without worrying she'll get stuck. But while the directed progression of activities on the home screen are helpful to new users, selecting individual activities or topics, as well as accessing the progress review interface, is less intuitive. Parents should look for the small "Library" icon in the top left corner of the screen -- this is where the real wealth of content in the app is actually found. The website activities, on the other hand, seem preliminary and sometimes amateurishly produced. A typical experience we had with the 2nd grade math module: After poking around a web UI that required us to identify and click an old clipart video icon to start the lesson, a YouTube video loaded of two adults demonstrating place values with an abacus. We paused the video for a moment midway through, and upon returning the page was frozen and soon crashed. We returned to it and finished the video, which was competently executed but not particularly engaging. No faces to capture the child's attention, just hands and an abacus on a black background. Next came an unillustrated plain text series of test questions, in which the button to submit answers was frequently covered by the virtual keyboard (on the mobile browser, at least). I have high hopes for the app as a great resource for parents and educators of pre-K-Kindergarten kids. As the rough spots get polished and the content library grows, this app will emerge as a superior (and free!) alternative to the leading subscription-based curriculum suites.
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What’s It About?

After providing and confirming an email address, parents create a user account for each kid using KHAN ACADEMY KIDS. When kids start, they meet and play with friendly animal guides. Then, activities are automatically presented according to age and past performance. There's content available for preschoolers all the way through first graders. Topics rotate among math, ELA, logic, and socio-emotional learning games, videos, and books, with opportunities for exploration and creative expression. After completing activities, kids choose a prize to add to their animal friends' collections. Kids and parents can also browse and choose activities by topic or type, and filter by age.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (11 ):
Kids say (8 ):

This collection of videos, songs, and activities covers a lot of ground in a creative, highly accessible format. Khan Academy Kids makes it easy and fun for young kids to jump in and immerse themselves in foundational, fundamental, and comprehensive early-learning content. Books, videos, songs, and games are high quality and make creative use of the touchscreen format. Mixed in among the more typical multiple-choice-type activities are plenty of opportunities for kids to experiment, explore, and express themselves. For instance, a logic game asks kids to follow directions for putting hats on some animal friends, but between trials, kids are encouraged to play by putting the hats on the animals in whatever way they like. Or, if kids get tired of responding to learning games, they can draw and then narrate a story as they move objects around the screen, read a book, or listen to a song. On the parent side, there's some limited feedback to track progress, but not so much as to feel overwhelming. Overall, Khan Academy Kids definitely goes beyond your typical ABC/123 early-learning app.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the many learning topics in Khan Academy Kids. Point out how numbers, math, letters, and reading are all around us. Count and sort socks as you're doing the laundry, emphasize the beginning sound of family members' names, or read the signs at the grocery store.

  • Look at the app together and help your kids read the leveled books. Encourage them to read out loud, and rejoice with them when they get through an entire sentence or page, or even the whole story!

  • Provide fun, stimulating learning opportunities off the screen as well. It doesn't have to cost anything to get kids learning. Fill your days with books (visit your local library), songs (it's free to sing), arts activities (all you need is scratch paper and crayon), language (talk about what you're doing together), and sensory experiences (take a walk in a local park).

App Details

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