6 Must-Have Apps for a Fun, Easy, and Organized Summer with Your Child
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PSN Team 
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Need help filling those long summer days? These expert-reviewed apps make it easier to create structure, support creativity, and entertain your child, wherever summer takes you.
Tech for Summer Fun & Games
Summer with school-age kids can be great since the schedule’s more relaxed with school out, but it can also get a little stressful trying to fill all that free time.
Whether your family travels during breaks, takes time to recharge with downtime at home, or likes to fit in all of those medical appointments that are difficult to schedule during school days, we have some fun apps to try this summer!
Let’s start with a creative way to organize all of that unstructured time! Lil Planner- Visual Schedule is a free app that allows users to quickly create a visual schedule of activities for the day using text and cute suggested emojis or pictures from your device’s camera roll.
This is an easy app for kids of all ages to use to keep summertime activity ideas close at hand. Let them help create the activities by either typing or using their voice to name them, and then pick out an emoji or photo.
The activities can easily be moved around by holding and dragging them, an excellent feature for when schedules change unexpectedly!
A Unique Way To Remember Vacations
To help your child save and share their vacation memories creatively, try Book Creator for iPad. It is free to download and create one book, and if you love it, then make a one-time purchase of $3.99* to create and share unlimited books and even comics with layouts; simply add pictures and text.
For those who prefer to use the pre-installed apps on their phone or tablet, note-keeping apps like Notes by Apple and Google Keep- Notes and lists can help your child create a journal of their adventures this summer.
These apps allow users to add photos and notes (either typing or using voice to dictate), which becomes an easy way for children to track their thoughts and feelings about activities throughout the summer.
Notes can be organized into folders, or you can create one long note that the child adds to each day, depending on their individual skill level and what you think works best for them.
This is a great way to prepare your child to answer the question, “What did you do this summer?” when they meet their new teachers or visiting relatives.
Fun Game Apps For Everyone To Enjoy
We haven’t forgotten that there are times when everyone in the family might need some downtime or an activity to fill time while waiting at a doctor’s or therapist’s office, restaurant, older sibling’s sports practice, or swim lesson, etc.
These game apps are great options for children of all ages and abilities. Toca Boca World is an app with various places that users can “visit” with characters and objects that can be moved around to set up different stories, allowing for unlimited possibilities for imaginative playtime.
For siblings or a parent and child to enjoy simple games together, 2 Player Games: the Challenge is a simple app with classic games like Rock-Paper-Scissors, Ping Pong, Happy Hippos, and more for 2 players to enjoy on the same device.
It also has a single-player mode and a mode to play against a bot. These apps also support offline playability, making them excellent options for long car trips or places where Wi-Fi might not be available.
We hope that whatever your summer brings, it is just what your family needs. Perhaps one or two of these apps might help make that happen? Happy Summer!
*All app prices are current at the time of this article’s publication.
Lil Planner- Visual Schedule
By Space Sweater, LLC
A vibrant, easy-to-use visual scheduler designed for kids—and anyone who benefits from visuals. Perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, neurodivergent users, or visual learners, Lil Planner helps build routines, reduce anxiety, improve focus, and smooth transitions. The app uses big, colorful icons and simple drag-and-drop scheduling; it’s collaborative and engaging enough that families often say, “Let’s check our Lil Planner!” every morning.
Price: FREE | Offers In-App Purchases
Book Creator for iPad
By Tools for Schools Limited
A app that allows a child to create his or her own original eBooks. The layout and design are very clean, organized and user friendly. We use the app primarily for creating social stories and retelling events with our students of all ages with a variety of special needs. Video, music, and speech can also be recorded within each book to make it a customized and multimedia experience. Students are able to practice skills related to literacy and add personal touches that reflect their creativity.
Price: $3.99
Notes
By Apple
A must-have app, the Notes app is included on all Apple devices. Jot down notes on the Notes app on a daily basis. The app allows typed notes as well as create hand-drawn notes. You can also attach web links and photos. The app has a list building feature that inserts checkboxes. You can share a note and the person you share with can make changes to the note. You can send your note via email, text message, Twitter, Facebook, Voxer, W hat’s App, LinkedIn, Trello and more. The notes in the Notes app are searchable. And, with Notes iOS 9 and later, you can create checklists, change formatting, add attachments, insert photos or videos, and sketch.
Price: FREE
Google Keep- Notes and lists
By Google LLC
Google Keep is a free note-taking app that is available on Android and iOS devices. It can be used on cell phones, tablets, PC’s, and Apple Watches. The notes show up all together in block style on your screen, similar to having Post-it notes all over a wall. Choose how you want to look at all your notes or lists, color code your notes, share your notes with contacts, set alarms to notify you or others, add pictures, simple drawings, videos, or audio to your notes.
Price: FREE
Toca Boca World
By Toca Boca AB
Toca Boca World encourages everyone to be whoever they want to be through tools that let them play, create & self-express in infinite ways like unlocking hundreds of secrets, staying in a 5 star hotel, spending a day at the beach with friends, directing a sitcom, designing a restaurant or running a dog daycare center! And more, so, so much more.
Price: FREE | Offers In-App Purchases
2 Player Games: the Challenge
By Moreno Maio
A lively collection of local multiplayer mini‑games—all playable on the same device. Jump into head-to-head action with friends or challenge an AI opponent across over 15 games including Ping Pong, Air Hockey, Spinner War, Tic-Tac-Toe, Snakes, Pool, Sumo, Penalty Kicks, mini‑golf, racing duels, sword fights, chess, and more. Features minimalist graphics, score tracking for tournament-style play, and adds new games regularly. A great option for social fun—just be warned, it might spark some friendly rivalries!
Price: FREE | Offers In-App Purchases
What Parents Are Saying
Real feedback. Real families.
🗓️ “My son loves planning his day using Lil Planner. It gives him structure and helps reduce meltdowns when routines change.”— Parent via Apple App Store
📖 “Book Creator made it fun for my daughter to write her own summer story. She even recorded her voice in it!” — Educator featured on ParentingSpecialNeeds.org
🌍 “Toca Boca World is my child’s go-to app for quiet time. It’s creative, calming, and works offline during road trips.” — Parent feedback shared on The Guardian
🎮 “We use 2 Player Games at the doctor’s office. It’s a simple way to connect and have fun while waiting.”— Family review via Pixalate
Paraphrased feedback in the “What Parents Are Saying” section reflects publicly available reviews and insights from caregivers, educators, and trusted publications. Sources include the Apple App Store, ParentingSpecialNeeds.org, The Guardian, and Pixalate.
About Author(s)
Check out the BridgingApps App Search Tool to search for apps, create lists, and even share them.
BridgingApps, a program of Easter Seals Greater Houston, is a community of parents, therapists, doctors, and teachers who share information about mobile device use with people with special needs.
Amy Fuchs is the Program Manager at BridgingApps and a former special education teacher. Amy Barry is the Digital Marketing Lead at BridgingApps and is the mother of five children.
Cristen Reat is a co-founder of BridgingApps and a mother who found success using a mobile device with her younger son, who has multiple disabilities. We share a passion for using mobile technology to enhance the lives of people of all ages with disabilities.
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This post originally appeared on our May/June 2025 Magazine
