1. Read it to me

Improve their reading skills with Bolo, a free app that works offline (no data or wifi needed once it’s downloaded). Targeted at primary grade children, Bolo is available in English and uses Google’s speech recognition and text-to-speech technology, to serve as a personalised reading tutor for kids. It encourages them to read out loud and then provides individual, customised feedback to help improve their reading capabilities.

2. Ask me anything

The Google Assistant is a very useful tool, and it likes to have fun as much as the next virtual assistant does. Just ask it to tell you a joke (it’s the uncontested champion of bad dad jokes) or play a game – even kids who can’t read can talk, and get hours of fun and giggles. You can see a list of ideas here.

3. Explore the world

YouTube Kids was created to help kids safely and simply explore the online video world through youtube. It includes curated selections of content, parental control features, filtering of videos deemed inappropriate and all of your kids’ favourites.

4. Play games

Google Play has a collection of games that are suited to the whole family – from colouring in to educational games, there’s something for everyone. It makes recommendations based on your recent activity, so as you use it more often it’ll give you more tailored suggestions for new games you might enjoy.

5. Translate me

Google Translate can help your kids improve their second language, or even learn a new one if they’re so inclined. It can translate from or to Afrikaans, English, Sesotho, Shona, isiXhosa, isiZulu and another 8 African languages as well as a host of languages from other parts of the world. To get something translated, you can speak, write, type a phrase, or aim your camera at any written text to get an instant translation.

Article supplied by Google