Hi everyone, just wanted to share a few apps that have actually worked for my kid (and saved me from some grey hair). Being a typical SG parent, I’m always on the look out for resources that are actually useful and, of course, free or affordable.
Here’s my personal “Top 5” list:
- Libby (NLB) Honestly, don’t waste money buying every single storybook. Just link your NLB account to Libby. The best part is the Chinese audiobooks—I let my kid listen to them before bed. Good for building that “language feel” without me having to read till I lose my voice.
- PolyPad If your kid is struggling with Model Drawing (who isn’t?), check this out. It’s basically digital manipulatives. When they can’t visualize a word problem, we pull this up and move the blocks around. Much easier than drawing and erasing on paper ten times.
https://polypad.amplify.com/
- Mandora (The one for Chinese) I actually stumbled upon this one recently. It’s made by a local team, and you can really tell they “get it.”
www.mandora.sg
- It’s strictly following the MOE textbook (P1-P6). So if they are on Chapter 5 in school, the app is also on Chapter 5.
- The Ting Xie (spelling) feature is what sold me. You just take a photo of the spelling list, and the AI handles the dictation. No more me trying to pronounce words while multitasking in the kitchen.
- They also have an AI robot (Bobo) for Oral practice. It’s great because, unlike me, the robot has infinite patience and never gets angry when the kid forgets a word lol.
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Scratch Jr / Tinkercad Good for “fun” learning. Since coding is becoming a thing in school now, these are great for letting them play around with logic. It’s better than them just playing Roblox all day.
https://www.scratchjr.org/ -
sgtestpaper.com
Don’t waste money buying printed past-year papers from Popular or vendors. You can download the latest Top School papers (from schools like Nanyang, Rosyth, Tao Nan, etc.) for FREE. It comes with answer keys too!
