"Alexa, play the Sing soundtrack," says my three-year-old who patiently (yet demandingly) makes a request from the device plugged into the wall. It’s as though life has always been accompanied by a talking speaker as our kids effortlessly and unsurprisingly make demands of Alexa. More often than not, its squelchy fart noises and riddles, but Alexa can do so much more than fast entertainment.
Alexa can bring the classroom to our kitchen table, well sort of. There are plenty of learning skills and educational opportunities built into your device that you might not even be aware of.
All you have to do is simply enable "Kids Skills" in the Alexa app. Once enabled, ask the device to open your favourite skill. From cooking with Alexa, trivia, maths, spelling, geography and languages, there are a host of great skills to accompany our kids learning. Alexa can even tell brilliant stories with the Amazon Storytime skill. Here are some of our favourites.
This Day in History
This Alexa skill brings facts and trivia about not only the current day but any day in history. For brief history lessons, This Day in History is a great accompaniment when teaching kids about world events.
Animal Workout
If you want to get your kids moving and laughing, the animal workout is great fun as this learning tool gets you to dance to music as an animal. Keep moving with this skill, which also gives facts on animals, before we swing our arms and legs like a giraffe, a lion, and so many more.
Kids Quiz!
This daily quiz game selects a new topic every day and asks three questions. For a quick game, it's engaging and fun with lots of trivia for everyone involved. Interesting enough to hold our attention and challenging enough to encourage kids to play again too.
The Magic Door
If you enjoyed text-based adventure games in the ’80s, you and your kids will love The Magic Door. With original stories, we tell Alexa where to go as we continue on the adventure. With various options, this skill aids decision making, listening skills, and creativity.
High Five Maths
This skill fosters the development of listening skills, understanding, comprehension, and of course math skills. A great challenge at any time of the day, Alexa asks math questions and gives us eight seconds to answer them. Questions vary from simple equations to more intricate and intriguing math stories keeping our little ones interested, learning, and entertained.
Kids Trivia
This skill is great to get your kids thinking and learning some new and interesting facts. A great challenge covering a broad range of topics, each round contains five questions. The number of times you can play is endless with this learning tool.
