These days, I’m amazed at how kids are so efficient in playing video games or apps on their parents’ mobile phone or tablet, and some lucky rascals, as young as four years old, even have their own gadgets.  I remember when I was a kid, I enjoyed playing out in the sun, running around with my playmates until sundown and then getting scolded because I smell really bad and my clothes looked like I rolled around in a mud puddle.  I didn’t care much for televisions or video games.  The only thing I watched on TV when I was a kid was Sesame Street.

But in this day and age, if you have a four year old who doesn’t know how to operate an iPad or iPhone, their parents are a bit embarrassed, especially when they get disapproving looks from other parents.  And all I can think is, “What’s wrong with the world?”  But I realized, technology is here to stay, whether I like it or not.  And instead of fighting it, we should learn how to use it to educate our children since they spend most of their waking hours plastered to these devices.

LeVar Burton, executive producer of the kids’ TV show Reading Rainbow that ran from 1983 to 2006, introduced a new RRKidz reading app for iOS and Android devices. Burton hopes to bring back the joy of reading to millions of children as he did with the Reading Rainbow show.

“We are slipping on the world’s stage in education, very precipitously,” Burton said. “To remain a world leader, we have to do a better job educating our children. Our approach is a partnership of public and private efforts. I’ve never stopped thinking about how to prepare our children to occupy their place in the world. Reading Rainbow was a powerful reading experience for me.  What it takes to educate kids is to get them focused on having fun while learning. The next evolution focused my attention on new media. Just like 25 years ago, our TV show made it really clear, the digital devices we carry around in our hands have enormous power. They’re incredibly attractive to all of us, including kids.”

The project is a result of Burton’s collaboration with WNED-TV, who owns the rights to the Reading Rainbow, as well as topnotch team members such as co-founder and chief strategy officer Mark Wolfe, who produced films such as Terminator 3 and Kinsey.  Burton’s also working with the company’s chief executive is Asra Rasheed, an experienced digital media entrepreneur and previous co-founder of game rental service Gottaplay.  The chief technology officer is Duc Haba, who previously worked at mobile analytics firm Motally, and Sangita Patel is president of digital publishing, previously leading business development initiatives at the Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Ventures.

Burton already raised $3 million in seed funding, a round led by Raymonds Capital and the Kauffman Foundation, both of which are dedicated to education and entrepreneurship.

As apps in the Apple Aps Store and other app markets continue to grow, it’s getting quite difficult to find trusted apps that kids can enjoy.  But here are some apps that have been tested by parents and their kids.

Educational mobile apps

Hickory Dickory Dock is an app that teaches kids how to tell time.  Though it doesn’t teach how to read half hour or quarter hour but it helps your kid get started.

The Pirate’s Treasure is a fun memory game for kids (or parent and kid) to enjoy as the game requires two human players.  The objective of the game is to get the highest number of paired items.

Ultimate Dinopedia is an app containing all the information about dinosaurs presented in photos, text, videos and audio format.

World Wall HD is an app that teaches kids how to write letters and words and how to enunciate them, great for parents who are preparing their kids to enter school.

Nxtapp 4 Kids is a smart number-sequencing game that sharpens kids’ mental math skills in a fun-filled atmosphere and the farm theme of the app keeps your kids glued to the app.

I Can’t Fly is an e-book about how Vernon, a fledgling albatross, overcame his fear.  And it also features some awesome facts about the albatross bird.

There are literally tons of educational apps out there, you just have to be really thorough in searching for them and look for the ones with a high rating and if there’s a lite version of the app, download that first before downloading the paid version so you don’t waste money on stupid apps.