Top 17 'Co-Pilot-Mode' Child Development Apps to Teach Early-Learner Skills Together on Weekends - Goh Ling Yong
The weekend arrives, and with it, the familiar dance of managing screen time. We want to connect with our kids, build memories, and teach them valuable skills. Yet, the allure of a quiet 30 minutes while they tap away on a tablet is undeniable. What if we could merge the two? What if screen time wasn't a guilty pleasure but a bridge for connection and learning?
Welcome to the concept of "Co-Pilot Mode" parenting. Instead of handing over the device and walking away, you sit beside your child, becoming their co-pilot on a digital adventure. You’re not just monitoring; you’re participating, guiding, and sharing in their discoveries. This transforms passive screen time into active, collaborative play that strengthens your bond and supercharges their development.
Here at the Goh Ling Yong blog, we believe in finding practical, joyful solutions for modern parenting challenges. That’s why we’ve curated this list of 17 outstanding child development apps. These aren't just digital babysitters; they are powerful tools designed for shared experiences. Get ready to turn your weekend screen time into your new favorite family activity.
1. Khan Academy Kids
Best for: All-in-one, foundational learning (ages 2-8)
Khan Academy Kids is the gold standard for free, high-quality educational content. Developed by experts at Stanford, it offers a personalized learning path covering everything from reading and writing to math, logic, and social-emotional skills. The app is completely free, with no ads or subscriptions, making it incredibly accessible.
The magic for co-piloting lies in its structure. You can sit with your child as they follow the guided path, or you can explore the library together to pick a specific activity. The app features charming characters who guide the lessons, but your presence adds a crucial layer. You can help sound out words, count objects on the screen, and celebrate their "aha!" moments in real-time.
Co-Pilot Tip: After completing a story about friendship in the app, pause and ask your child, "Kodi the bear shared his toy. Who is a friend you like to share your toys with?" This connects the digital lesson to their real-world experiences.
2. Endless Alphabet
Best for: Vocabulary and letter recognition (ages 3-6)
This app from Originator is pure genius. Children learn letters and new words by dragging talking, wiggling letters into place. Once the word is complete, a short, hilarious animation plays to illustrate its definition. There are no high scores or time limits, just delightful, pressure-free exploration.
As a co-pilot, your role is to be the hype-person and sound coach. Mimic the funny sounds the letters make with your child. When a new word like "gargantuan" is introduced, act it out together. Make your body as "gargantuan" as possible! This kinesthetic link deepens their understanding far more than just watching the animation alone.
Co-Pilot Tip: Keep a running list on a piece of paper of the new words you learn together each weekend. Challenge yourselves to use one of the "Endless Alphabet" words in a sentence later that day.
3. Toca Kitchen 2
Best for: Creativity and open-ended play (ages 4+)
Toca Boca is the king of digital toys, and Toca Kitchen 2 is a crown jewel. There are no rules, just a fridge full of ingredients and a few hungry characters waiting to be fed. Kids can chop, blend, fry, and season food in any combination they can imagine, then watch the character's hilarious reactions.
This is a fantastic app for co-piloting because it invites storytelling. You can be the "customer" at their restaurant. Give them a silly order ("I'd like a fried pear with ketchup, please!") and then react with dramatic flair to whatever they serve you. This encourages imagination, sequencing (first we chop, then we cook), and understanding cause and effect.
Co-Pilot Tip: Use the app as a springboard for real-world cooking. If you "make" a salad in the game, ask your child, "What ingredients should we get at the store to make a real salad for dinner tonight?"
4. ScratchJr
Best for: Introduction to coding and logic (ages 5-7)
Based on the popular Scratch programming language from MIT, ScratchJr uses graphical blocks to teach young children the fundamentals of coding. They can snap blocks together to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. It’s a powerful tool for developing problem-solving skills and computational thinking.
Don't be intimidated if you're not a coder! This is the ultimate co-pilot app. You and your child can learn together. Your goal is to be the project manager and storyteller. Ask, "What story should we tell? Let's make the cat walk to the tree and then say hello." You can help them debug when the code doesn't work as expected, modeling resilience and critical thinking.
Co-Pilot Tip: Start with a simple, shared goal. Recreate the story of "The Three Little Pigs" or make a digital birthday card for a family member. Working on a project together makes the learning stick.
5. DragonBox Numbers
Best for: Building number sense (ages 4-8)
DragonBox Numbers brilliantly teaches the foundational concept of what numbers are and how they work without ever feeling like a math lesson. Kids play with cute, squishy creatures called "Nooms" that can be split apart, combined, and stacked to represent different numbers. It’s an intuitive, game-based way to understand quantity and basic arithmetic.
Your role as a co-pilot is to verbalize the mathematical concepts happening on screen. As your child combines a "2-Noom" and a "3-Noom," you can say, "Wow, you put the 2 and the 3 together to make 5! You just did addition!" This helps them build the vocabulary to match their newfound intuitive understanding.
Co-Pilot Tip: Use blocks or LEGOs alongside the app. When your child solves a puzzle in the game, recreate it with physical objects to solidify the connection between the digital and physical worlds.
6. Homer
Best for: Personalized reading instruction (ages 2-8)
Homer is a comprehensive learn-to-read program that creates a personalized pathway for your child based on their interests and current reading level. It covers everything from phonics and sight words to fluency and comprehension, all through engaging stories and games.
While the app is fantastic on its own, your co-pilot presence is a game-changer for literacy. When your child is working on letter sounds, you can make the sounds with them. When they read a story, you can ask questions about the plot and characters. You can take turns reading sentences aloud, modeling expressive reading for them.
Co-Pilot Tip: Use the app's recording feature to have your child record themselves reading a story. Listen back together and praise their progress. It's a huge confidence booster!
7. PBS Kids Games
Best for: Variety and character-driven learning (ages 2-8)
This app is a treasure trove of free educational games featuring beloved characters from shows like Daniel Tiger, Wild Kratts, and Alma's Way. With hundreds of games focusing on math, science, reading, and more, there’s always something new to explore.
Co-piloting this app is all about shared enthusiasm. If your child loves Daniel Tiger, play the feeling games with them and talk about the emotions. If they’re into Wild Kratts, explore the animal science games and look up fun facts about the creatures you encounter. You can turn a simple game into a mini-research project.
Co-Pilot Tip: Let your child be the teacher. After playing a game, ask them to explain to you how it works and what they learned. This reinforces their knowledge and builds their communication skills.
8. Sago Mini World
Best for: Whimsical exploration and social skills (ages 2-5)
Sago Mini World is a universe of digital playsets. Your child can visit a town, fly into space, or build a robot, all with a cast of adorable animal characters. The focus is on open-ended discovery and prompting imaginative play, making it perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.
As the co-pilot, you are the narrator and playmate. As your child moves a character through the scene, create a story around their actions. "Oh, Harvey the dog is going to the post office! I wonder if he's mailing a letter to his grandma?" This kind of "parallel talk" builds vocabulary and narrative skills.
Co-Pilot Tip: Extend the play offline. If you spent time in the Sago Mini "Big City" playset, build your own city out of cardboard boxes and drive toy cars through it.
9. Lightbot Jr
Best for: Coding fundamentals and sequencing (ages 4-8)
Lightbot Jr is a puzzle game that secretly teaches programming logic. Players guide a robot to light up blue tiles by issuing a series of commands like "move forward," "turn right," and "jump." It starts simple and gradually introduces more complex ideas like procedures and loops.
This is a great app to tackle together. When a level gets tricky, you can talk through the problem. "Okay, the robot needs to go forward twice, then turn. What command do we need for that?" You are modeling how to break a big problem down into smaller, manageable steps—a crucial life skill.
Co-Pilot Tip: For a fun challenge, one person can close their eyes and give the commands ("the programmer") while the other person inputs them into the app ("the computer"). It’s a great exercise in clear communication!
10. Epic!
Best for: Fostering a love of reading (ages 2-12)
Epic! is essentially a massive digital library for kids, offering thousands of high-quality books, read-to-me stories, and audiobooks. It's a fantastic resource for exposing children to a wide variety of genres and authors.
Co-piloting Epic! is as simple as cuddling up and reading together. You can take turns reading pages of a book. For "Read to Me" books, you can listen together and point at the words as they are highlighted. Discuss the illustrations, predict what will happen next, and talk about your favorite parts of the story.
Co-Pilot Tip: Use the "search" function to find books related to your child's current passions. If they are obsessed with dinosaurs, a quick search on Epic! can provide a weekend's worth of reading material you can explore together.
11. Moose Math
Best for: Core math skills in a fun setting (ages 3-7)
From the same team behind Khan Kids, Moose Math engages children in mathematical adventures. They can make smoothies (counting), play bingo (number recognition), and help lost animals (geometry) while earning rewards to build up their own virtual city. The activities are aligned with Common Core standards.
Sit with your child and be their city-planning partner. You can help them count the dots on the bingo card or measure ingredients for the smoothie recipe. The key is to use mathematical language casually. "You need three more points to build the pet shop! One... two... three!"
Co-Pilot Tip: Connect the "Moose Juice" store game to real life. When you're at the grocery store, have your child help you count out five apples or two cartons of milk, just like they do in the app.
12. Thinkrolls
Best for: Logic, physics puzzles, and problem-solving (ages 3-8)
Thinkrolls is a series of award-winning physics puzzle games. Kids have to roll their charming character through a maze by moving objects, using momentum, and navigating obstacles. It’s brilliant for teaching sequential thinking and scientific reasoning in a playful way.
This is a perfect "let's figure it out together" app. When your child gets stuck on a level, resist giving them the answer. Instead, ask guiding questions: "What do you think will happen if we move that gear?" or "How can we get the ball to the other side of that gap?" This empowers them to find the solution themselves.
Co-Pilot Tip: After playing, create a simple Thinkrolls-style obstacle course in your living room with pillows and toys. Have your child navigate it, applying the same problem-solving skills they used in the game.
13. Daniel Tiger's Grr-ific Feelings
Best for: Social-emotional learning (ages 2-5)
Based on the beloved PBS show, this app helps young children identify and express their emotions. They can explore a variety of activities, from taking pictures of Daniel making different faces to playing a song on the trolley that matches a specific feeling.
Using this app together provides a safe space to talk about big feelings. When Daniel is sad, you can pause and ask your child, "What makes you feel sad sometimes?" You can practice deep breaths together, just like Daniel does when he’s mad. It gives children a tangible strategy for managing their own emotions.
Co-Pilot Tip: Create your own "feelings" photo booth. Use your phone to take pictures of each other making happy, sad, angry, and silly faces. Talk about what each feeling looks and feels like.
14. Teach Your Monster to Read
Best for: Phonics and early reading (ages 3-6)
This BAFTA-nominated game takes children on a magical journey where they create a monster and teach it to read. It covers the first two years of learning to read, from matching letters and sounds to reading full sentences. It’s incredibly effective and fun.
Your co-pilot job is to be your child's (and their monster's) biggest cheerleader. Celebrate with them when they successfully sound out a word. Help them choose the right letter to fix the spaceship. The game is engaging on its own, but your praise and encouragement make the learning even more powerful.
Co-Pilot Tip: Write down some of the simple three-letter words they learn in the game (like 'cat', 'sun', 'tin') on flashcards. Hide them around the room for a fun scavenger hunt later in the day.
15. Toca Lab: Elements
Best for: Introduction to science and chemistry (ages 6+)
Ready to explore the periodic table? Toca Lab turns all 118 elements into cute, quirky characters. Kids can use lab equipment like a centrifuge, a Bunsen burner, and cooling agents to experiment and discover new elements. It’s a playful, hands-on introduction to scientific discovery.
This is another great app for you and your child to learn with side-by-side. You can be the "lead scientist" and your child the "lab assistant." Wonder aloud together: "What do you hypothesize will happen if we heat up Neon (Ne)?" As you discover elements, you can do a quick search online to learn one cool fact about the real-world version.
Co-Pilot Tip: After discovering Gold (Au) in the app, go on a "gold hunt" around your house to find anything that is gold-colored.
16. Avokiddo Emotions
Best for: Understanding emotions and cause-and-effect (ages 2-6)
This hilarious app lets kids play with three expressive animal characters (a giraffe, a zebra, and a sheep). There are no rules, just a screen full of props—hats, food, musical instruments, toys. Kids can dress up the animals and see how they react, learning to identify emotions and what might cause them.
As a co-pilot, you can narrate the action and prompt emotional exploration. "Oh, you gave the giraffe the party horn and now he looks so surprised! What do you think would make the zebra feel happy?" It's a fun, low-stakes way to build emotional intelligence and empathy.
Co-Pilot Tip: Play a game of charades based on the app. Take turns acting out an emotion and having the other person guess what it is.
17. Drawing Pad
Best for: Digital art and creativity (ages 3+)
Drawing Pad is a beautiful, intuitive digital art studio. It’s like having a fully stocked art drawer on your tablet, complete with crayons, markers, paint brushes, stickers, and textured paper. It’s perfect for free-form creative expression.
Co-piloting a drawing app is all about collaborative creation. You can take turns adding to a single drawing. You start with a squiggle, and your child turns it into a monster. Then they draw a shape, and you turn it into a house. You can also give each other drawing prompts, like "Let's draw our favorite food" or "Let's draw what we want to do tomorrow."
Co-Pilot Tip: Use the app to create a visual story together. Draw the first "panel" of a comic strip, then pass the tablet to your child to draw what happens next. It's a wonderful way to build a story together, one picture at a time.
From Screen Time to We-Time
The right app, used in the right way, can be more than just a distraction. It can be a launchpad for conversation, a catalyst for creativity, and a tool for connection. As I've seen in my own parenting journey and through the work we do here at Goh Ling Yong, the goal isn't to eliminate screens but to integrate them thoughtfully into our family lives.
By shifting your mindset from "supervisor" to "co-pilot," you transform weekend screen time from a source of guilt into a source of joy and shared learning. So grab your tablet, cuddle up on the couch, and get ready to explore, create, and learn together.
What are your favorite apps to use in "Co-Pilot Mode" with your children? Share your top picks in the comments below—I'd love to hear what's working for your family
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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