Karaoke Kids

Browsing around, as you do, and found the cutest app that I only wish I had found last year when I was tutoring possibly the world's biggest 1D fan! (If you don't know what 1D stands for, then you obviously don't have tween-age daughters or have been living under a rock for the past 2 years).

It's a One Direction Karaoke App! It has all the lyrics written and you can sing along to the music. You can also download the lyrics, view You Tube clips of their songs, get the latest news about the band and see their website. AND it's FREE! Who doesn't love a FREE app?

 

So what on earth does this have to do with learning?

Well, aside from being fun to sing along, it's a great way to get kids reading, especially if they are struggling with their reading or spelling. Music is a great way to inspire kids to move around and sing along, and many kids learn much better when they are on the go, and getting physically and emotionally involved in what they are doing.

So with my 1D Fan Tutee last year we printed the lyrics and sang along to the songs and focused on the words that were most important to her needs at the time. It's great because you get to use the words in context, and when you're singing along you have to think ahead and stay in time, it's not just drone repetition reading. Turn those mumbles that you sing along in the car into actual words that mean something!

 

So if the kids aren't into 1D all you need to do on your smart phone or tablet is search the store for "karaoke" and there are literally thousands of free apps to sing along to.

If you don't have a smart phone, go for the trusty old karaoke DVD. You can get them everywhere for bargain basement prices, the quality of the music is sometimes a little lacking, but it never stopped anyone having a bit of fun, especially in the name of "education".

And remember the good old Singstar games on the Sony? They were pretty popular about 10 years ago, so if you've got an old PS2 console you can pick up the games and the microphones dirt cheap at garage sales.

Karaoke = Reading = Learning that's Fun!