Evaluation of Google Play educational apps for early childhood education

In the global retail market, there is a plethora of educational software: smartphone applications, computer programs, and websites with engaging educational activities that can be used at all levels of education: preschool, primary, secondary, tertiary, and especially in educational robotics and STEM education. However, a teacher or a parent faces a dilemma today: Which is the most educational and appropriate app for children to choose and use? This article aims to help parents, teachers, and other stakeholders in the education community. It has a double purpose: on the one hand, to present an evaluation rubric for educational apps, and on the other hand, to make use of it by offering the vital characteristics and the evaluation of well-known educational apps (n = 50) which can be downloaded from Google Play Store (https://play.google.com). Αpp selection was based on the following criteria: a) to be suitable for early childhood education (kindergarten), b) to cover a wide range of learning objectives (e.g. maths, music, visual arts, language, science, programming, history, and environment) and, c) to be free to download. The educational rubric used was a modified version adopted by literature research.