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By Stefan Dubowski
A beating heart, gurgling guts and breathing lungs are among the lifelike features of this biology-bolstering app, designed to help youngsters get to know the skeletal, muscular, digestive and other main systems of the human body. It offers detailed models of the heart, brain and other important parts, and everything is interactive so your young scientists get to see what happens to food as it goes in and down, how eyes see and how ears hear. Aligns nicely with the Grade 5 curriculum, which involves studying the body's organs.
DEVICE: Apple, Android
SOURCE: Apple App Store ($5.49), Google Play (free trial)
RATING: 4+, Everyone
With more than 500 songs and countless accompanying dance moves, Just Dance Now is an engaging way to get students up and moving. The app transforms a smartphone into a hand-held controller. Dancers hold the phone as they weave, bop and follow the footsteps of the characters onscreen. The download is free but it costs extra to access the songs for various periods of time from one hour ($1.49) to one year ($24.99). Perfect for the elementary physical fitness curriculum, which includes movement skills such as stability and spatial awareness.
DEVICE: Apple, Android
SOURCE: Apple App Store (free), Google Play (free)
RATING: 4+, Everyone
This may be the only instance in which students are encouraged to use a musical instrument to help out a mythical creature. Designed for budding musicians learning to play the recorder, the app presents Cornelius the dragon, sworn to protect his tower of strawberries from invading bats. Players help him out by tooting the correct notes on the recorder to shoot fire from the tower and scare off the bats. The more students play, the more they learn the notes. The app ties in with the elementary arts curriculum, which includes the recorder.
DEVICE: Apple, Android
SOURCE: Apple App Store (free), Google Play (free)
RATING: 4+, Everyone