Top 13 'Co-Pilot' Learning Apps to Explore Together with Your Preschooler on Weekends
The weekend. Those two precious days are a whirlwind of playground trips, family meals, and the constant, creative challenge of keeping a preschooler happily engaged. It’s that quiet moment on a Saturday morning, coffee in hand, when you see your little one’s eyes drift towards the tablet. The internal debate begins: Is this giving in? Is it lazy parenting?
Let’s reframe that thinking. What if screen time wasn’t a passive distraction but an active, shared adventure? What if, instead of handing over the device and walking away, you became your child’s trusted co-pilot, navigating the vibrant world of digital learning together? This isn’t about zoning out; it’s about zooming in on their world, sharing discoveries, and transforming a tablet into a launchpad for curiosity and connection.
This "co-pilot" approach turns screen time from a solitary activity into a bonding experience. It allows you to guide, question, and celebrate alongside your child, ensuring the content is not just educational but also a catalyst for real-world conversations and play. Ready to explore the best apps for this shared journey? Let's buckle up and check out 13 fantastic options that are perfect for weekend exploration with your little navigator.
1. Khan Academy Kids
The All-in-One Learning Universe
Think of Khan Academy Kids as a beautifully designed, all-inclusive preschool curriculum in your pocket. It's completely free (a huge plus!) and covers a vast range of subjects, including early literacy, reading, writing, language, and math, while also encouraging social-emotional development and creativity. The app features a delightful cast of animal characters who guide children through a personalized learning path.
What makes it perfect for a co-pilot is its structure and variety. You can follow the guided path together or jump into the library to pick a specific activity that interests your child. One moment you might be tracing letters, the next you're reading a story about empathy, and then you’re solving a simple puzzle. This variety keeps things fresh and provides endless opportunities for interaction.
- Co-Pilot Tip: When a storybook about emotions comes up, pause and ask questions like, "Kodi the bear looks sad. Why do you think he feels that way? Have you ever felt like that?" This connects the digital story to their real-life emotional landscape.
2. PBS Kids Games
Learning alongside Beloved Characters
If your child has a favorite PBS character, this app is a guaranteed win. It brings together games from hit shows like Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Wild Kratts, Rosie's Rules, and Alma's Way. Each game is thoughtfully designed to teach a specific skill, from social-emotional learning with Daniel Tiger to science and animal facts with the Kratt brothers.
The power of this app lies in its familiarity. Your child already has a relationship with these characters, which makes them more receptive to the lessons. As a co-pilot, you can leverage this connection to spark meaningful conversations. The games often center on themes of kindness, problem-solving, and curiosity, which are perfect springboards for talking about your child’s own experiences.
- Co-Pilot Tip: After playing a game where Daniel Tiger learns to share, bring it into the real world. Say, "That was great how Daniel shared his toy truck with Katerina. Remember yesterday when you shared your blocks with your cousin? That made him so happy!"
3. Endless Alphabet
The Phonics Comedy Club
Prepare to giggle. The entire "Endless" series (including Endless Reader and Endless Numbers) is a masterpiece of educational design. In Endless Alphabet, kids learn letters and build vocabulary by dragging letters into place. Each letter makes its phonetic sound as it’s touched, and once the word is complete, a hilarious animation plays out to define it.
This app is pure joy and a fantastic tool for co-piloting. The animations are so funny and memorable that they beg to be discussed. It takes abstract letters and turns them into lively characters, making the process of learning to read feel like a game. You can't help but get drawn into the silliness.
- Co-Pilot Tip: Get physical! When the app animates the word "gargantuan," stand up and make yourselves as big as possible. When it shows "cooperate," work together to build a small pillow fort. Mimicking the actions reinforces the vocabulary in a multi-sensory way.
4. Toca Kitchen 2
The Ultimate Creative Sandbox
Toca Boca is the master of open-ended digital play, and Toca Kitchen 2 is a crown jewel. There are no rules, no scores, and no time limits. Your child is the chef, and they have a fridge full of ingredients and a host of tools to cook for three hungry characters. They can blend a carrot, fry a watermelon, or serve a boiled lemon. The fun is in the experimentation.
This is a co-pilot’s dream because it’s all about imagination. Your role is to be the enthusiastic customer or the sous-chef. By participating in the pretend play, you elevate the experience from a simple game to a collaborative storytelling session.
- Co-Pilot Tip: Play the role of a restaurant customer. Place a silly order like, "I'd like a fried pear and broccoli smoothie, please!" Then, react with exaggerated delight or playful disgust at the concoction your little chef serves up.
5. Sago Mini World
Gentle and Whimsical Exploration
Perfect for the younger end of the preschool spectrum, Sago Mini World offers a universe of gentle, discovery-based games. Kids can explore an airport, build a robot, or visit friends in a magical forest. The design is intuitive and encourages curiosity, with hundreds of fun, interactive surprises hidden in each scene.
As a co-pilot, your job is to be the narrator and question-asker. Since the play is self-directed, you can help build a narrative around your child’s actions. This builds their storytelling skills and helps them make sense of the digital world they’re exploring. It’s a calm, sweet-natured app that’s perfect for a quiet weekend morning.
- Co-Pilot Tip: Create a story together based on what's happening. "Oh, look! Harvey the dog is packing his suitcase. Where do you think he's going on vacation? Should he visit Jinja the cat in her treehouse?"
6. Homer
The Personalized Reading Journey
Homer is a powerhouse learn-to-read app that creates a personalized pathway based on your child's interests and current reading level. It covers everything from phonics and sight words to fluency and comprehension. While it provides a structured lesson plan, it feels like play, with drawing activities, voice recording, and engaging stories.
While your child can follow their path independently, co-piloting here helps solidify the concepts. You can help them sound out tricky words, read stories aloud with them, and cheer them on as they master new skills. The app also suggests offline activities, which, as I've mentioned in talks like my recent one with Goh Ling Yong's parenting group, is a fantastic way to bridge the digital-to-physical gap.
- Co-Pilot Tip: When your child completes a lesson on the letter 'B', go on a "B hunt" around the house. Find a ball, a book, a banana, and a blue crayon. This makes the learning tangible.
7. Moose Math
A Mathematical Adventure
From the creators of Khan Kids, Moose Math focuses entirely on early math concepts through a series of fun mini-games set in a whimsical city. Kids can practice counting, addition, subtraction, geometry, and measurement by making smoothies, playing bingo, or finding hidden pets.
This app excels at making abstract math concepts concrete and relatable. As a co-pilot, you can help your child see the connections between the game and their own life. The "Moose Juice" game, where they follow recipes to make smoothies, is a perfect example of how numbers and counting are used in everyday tasks.
- Co-Pilot Tip: After playing Moose Juice, make real smoothies together! Let your child count the strawberries or measure the milk. This reinforces the in-app learning in a delicious and memorable way.
8. LEGO DUPLO WORLD
Building Beyond the Bricks
This app beautifully translates the hands-on, creative fun of LEGO DUPLO into a digital format. It’s packed with open-ended play experiences, puzzles, and building activities featuring familiar themes like trains, animals, and fire stations. It’s designed to spark imagination and develop fine motor skills and spatial reasoning.
Your role as co-pilot is to be the master builder's assistant. You can suggest ideas, help solve puzzles, and celebrate their creations. The app often features scenarios that require problem-solving, like building a bridge for a train, which is a perfect opportunity to talk through the challenge together.
- Co-Pilot Tip: Use the app as inspiration for real-world play. After building a digital DUPLO car, pull out your actual bricks and try to recreate it together. See if you can improve the design!
9. Epic!
A Digital Library at Your Fingertips
Epic! is essentially a massive digital library for kids 12 and under. It offers thousands of high-quality books, from picture books and early readers to chapter books and educational videos. Many books include a "Read-To-Me" feature, which is fantastic for emergent readers.
This is perhaps the ultimate co-pilot app because its core purpose is shared reading. You can snuggle up on the couch and explore the library together, letting your child pick a book that catches their eye. Reading together is one of the most powerful things you can do for their development, and Epic! makes it incredibly easy and accessible.
- Co-Pilot Tip: Use the "Read-To-Me" feature, but pause every few pages. Ask, "What do you think will happen next?" or "How do you think that character is feeling?" This builds comprehension skills and makes the story more interactive.
10. Starfall.com
The Phonics and Reading Classic
Starfall has been a trusted name in online learning for years, and for good reason. Its systematic approach to teaching letters, phonics, and early reading is incredibly effective. The app is simple, a bit old-school in its design, but its content is solid gold. It uses songs, games, and interactive stories to make learning feel joyful.
As a co-pilot, you can sing the alphabet and phonics songs together, practice the letter sounds, and help your child navigate the simple but effective reading games. It’s a great tool for building the foundational skills needed for a lifetime of reading.
- Co-Pilot Tip: After a session focusing on the letter 'S', make a silly snake sound together ("S-s-s-s-s-s!") every time you see something that starts with 'S' for the rest of the afternoon.
11. Lightbot Jr: Coding Puzzles
Our First Coding Adventure
Don't let the word "coding" intimidate you. Lightbot Jr is a brilliant puzzle game that teaches the fundamental logic of programming without any actual typing. Kids guide a robot to light up tiles by dragging and dropping commands like "walk forward," "turn right," and "jump."
This is an app that practically requires a co-pilot, especially at first. You can work together to solve the puzzles, talking through the steps. "Okay, the robot needs to go forward two steps, then turn left. Which icon should we use first?" It's a fantastic exercise in sequential thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork.
- Co-pilot Tip: Take the logic off-screen. Use masking tape to create a simple grid on your living room floor. Place a favorite toy at one end and have your child "program" you with verbal commands to walk the grid and retrieve it.
12. Prodigy Math
The Epic Math Quest
While Prodigy is often used in elementary schools, its early levels are perfectly suited for an advanced or curious preschooler. It wraps math problems into an engaging fantasy RPG (role-playing game) where kids create a wizard avatar and explore a magical world, casting spells by correctly answering math questions.
This game-based approach is highly motivating. Your role as co-pilot is to be their guide and cheerleader. You can help them read the questions, work through problems with them using your fingers or objects, and celebrate every time they win a "math battle." It’s a great way to build a positive association with math.
- Co-Pilot Tip: Keep a small whiteboard or piece of paper handy. When a tricky question comes up, work it out together visually before they answer in the game.
13. Doodle Buddy
The Collaborative Digital Canvas
Sometimes, the best app is the simplest one. A good drawing app like Doodle Buddy offers a blank canvas for pure, unadulterated creativity. It comes with stamps, stencils, and fun drawing tools that go beyond a simple box of crayons, allowing you and your child to create together.
This is a fantastic tool for collaborative art. You can take turns adding to a drawing, play a game of Pictionary, or give each other silly prompts. It's not about learning a specific academic skill but about fostering creativity, imagination, and the simple joy of making something together.
- Co-Pilot Tip: Play "Finish the Squiggle." One person draws a random line or shape. The other person has to turn that squiggle into a picture of something recognizable. It's always fun to see where your imaginations lead!
Your Flight Plan for a Connected Weekend
The goal isn't to fill every waking moment of the weekend with structured learning. It's about finding moments for connection. As I often share on the Goh Ling Yong blog, integrating technology mindfully is key. By choosing to be a co-pilot, you're transforming screen time from a passive pastime into an active, enriching, and collaborative experience.
You are your child's most important guide, both online and off. So next weekend, when the tablet comes out, don’t just hand it over. Pull up a seat, get curious, and ask, "What are we going to explore together today?"
What are your family's favorite co-pilot apps? Share your top picks and experiences in the comments below—I’d love to learn from you
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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