Grandpa's Workshop

Grab your tool belt and head to the workshop—Grandpa, his tools and little learners have some work to do! Grandpa’s Workshop is a great guide to basic counting, measuring and puzzle solving.

There are a lot of projects to tackle in the workshop, such as cutting boards into pieces, measuring parts for the clubhouse and painting shelves. Adorable animated tools and cutting-edge graphics really appeal to kids in today’s wired world—no tired 1990’s aesthetics here. Activities are occasionally punctuated by short videos that demonstrate workshop skills, providing much-needed breaks from math. Kids can earn playhouse materials by answering questions correctly, and hidden surprises—such as giving Gramps a high-five—take advantage of a smart tablet’s interactive capabilities.

This super-appealing app for young ones not only includes tons of positive reinforcement, but also presents a rare and refreshing message about intergenerational relations—elderly folks are presented as caring yet capable workers, full of wisdom. There are seven separate mini-games to choose from, decreasing the likelihood kids will get bored quickly. There's also a section just for grown-ups that doesn’t include much new information—it mostly has links to other apps to purchase.