AASL has tried out many available mental health apps and we have compiled a list of our twenty favorite low-cost (or free) apps that support positive mental health for children and teens.
Mental health goes beyond the absence of mental
illness. Positive mental health is essential to function and be successful in
everyday life. For children, teens, and young adults this means handling
emotions and adapting to everyday challenges to succeed in school and extra-curricular
activities, peer and adult interactions, and necessary activities of daily
living (self-care). The following apps help to promote positive mental health
and well being, and are broken down by cost, age range, and descriptions below,
with accompanying links to the Apple iTunes store. Discover an app or two that can
help your child, or yourself, take steps toward fostering positive mental
health today and moving forward!
1. App: Breathe, Think, Do with
Sesame
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/breathe-think-do-with-sesame/id721853597?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 2-5 years old
Description:
This is a great resource app to help teach your child self-regulation skills,
including breathing strategies, problem solving ideas, tools to gain self-control,
and develop task persistence by helping a “Sesame Street monster friend” stay calm
and work through everyday challenges.
2. App: Smiling Mind
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smiling-mind/id560442518?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 7-18 years old
Description:
This is a mindfulness and meditation app developed by educational
specialists and psychologists that has fantastic resources for a wide range of
age groups, including exercises, tools, and activities to address various daily
challenges and emotional obstacles. One particular star attribute of this app
is that there are no extra “in-app” purchases needed; all of the content is
available for free, including strategies to use in the classroom.
3. App: Breathing
Zone
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/breathing-zone/id369838631
Cost:
$3.99
Age
Range: 4+ years old
Description:
This guided breathing exercise app is
extremely easy to use; all you have to do is follow the guide. Fantastic tool
for therapeutic breathing to regulate emotions and arousal!
4. App:
Super
Stretch Yoga
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/super-stretch-yoga/id456113661?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age
Range: All ages, but mostly geared towards
younger children 4-9 year olds
Description:
This is an interactive yoga app with
12 different poses to help regulate your child through movement and breath
control. All of the poses are free and the graphics are very engaging and easy
to follow.
5.App: Cosmic
Kids Yoga
App: Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cosmic-kids/id1401503306?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 3-10 years old
Description: This fun
yoga and mindfulness app is packed with over 50 engaging video “adventures” and
ties in new and relevant themes that will speak to kids with all different
interests (including Frozen, Moana, Minecraft, Wizard of Oz, and so much more).
There are all types of exercises and activities to help assist in body
regulation, increasing or decreasing arousal, and building awareness of our
bodies, our mind-body connection, and the space around us.
6. App: Autism
Emotion
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/autism-emotion/id550027186?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 4+ years old
Description: This
app fosters emotional insight by providing music and photos to teach emotions
(happy, sad, proud, calm) to children struggling to identify their feelings,
specifically targeting the autism population. This app is very simple and easy
to use!
7. App: Model
Me Going Places 2
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/model-me-going-places-2/id375669988?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 4+ years old
Description: This app is great
social and emotional learning tool. The visual teaching tool is designed to help
children prepare in advance and learn to navigate potentially challenging community
settings by decreasing anxiety and modeling expected behaviors in each
environment. Each location contains a photo slideshow and there are six social
narratives included in the free version. This is a nice tool to use before
planning a visit to a new place, such as a doctor’s office!
8.
Ap: Calm
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/calm-meditation-to-relax-focus-sleep-better/id571800810?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 4+ years old
Description: This is an excellent
meditation app designed to help achieve better sleep, reduced anxiety and
stress, and overall relaxation. The app uses guided meditations, sleep stories,
breathing programs, stretching exercises, and relaxing music.
It is great for users
of all different experience levels with meditation, and the sessions are
available in varying lengths from 3-25 minutes so you can select an activity
that fits the needs of your schedule and routines.
9. App: Headspace
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/headspace-guided-meditation-and-mindfulness/id493145008?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 4+ years old
Description: This app provides guided
meditations and mindfulness techniques targeting stress management, better
sleep, and improved focus and attention. The free version is great, and there
are also options for expanded subscriptions.
10. App: Pacifica
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pacifica-for-stress-anxiety/id922968861?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 12+ years old
Description: This app provides cognitive
behavioral therapy inspired tools, psychologist approved, to assist in
management of stress, anxiety, and depression. There are great strategies for
promotion of future oriented thinking, goal setting, mood tracking, challenging
negative thoughts, and more. The free
trial gives you a taste of the app, but for more tailored tools a subscription
is needed.
11. App: Insight Timer
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/insight-timer-meditation-app/id337472899?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 4+ years or older, but more
geared for older children and adults
Description: This app has endless incredible guided meditations, talks,
and therapeutic music by top mindfulness experts, neuroscientists,
psychologists, teachers, and musicians. There are tons of tracks designed to
calm the mind, reduce anxiety, manage stress, improve sleep, enhance focus and
concentration, and promote self-love. Absolutely fabulous app for those just
beginning to explore their coping toolbox, and for experienced “meditators”
alike!
12. App: Stop, Breathe, and Think Kids
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stop-breathe-think-kids/id1215758068?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 5-10 years old
Description: This app is designed to help kids develop the
superpowers they need for healthy sleep, keeping calm, and learning to resolve
conflicts. Through mindful games and activities, children check in to how
they are feeling and then try out various tools, “missions,” and meditative
strategies to self adjust. “Stickers” are used to monitor progress and fun
emojis keep the children excited and engaged.
13. App: Middle School Confidential
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app-bundle/middle-school-confidential-series/id917713588?mt=8
Cost: $2.99 each
Age Range: 8-14 years old
Description: This is a series of apps in the
format of a graphic novel that teaches students how to overcome everyday
situations that present in mid-childhood, including struggling with self
confidence, coping with relationship issues among friends and family members,
dealing with bullies, and much more. Each book has quizzes, quotes and tips from real teens,
advice from parenting experts, and lots of online and real world resources. The
modern day, “Chicken Soup for the Pre-Teen Soul” according to Ms. Jen!
14. App: Emotionary
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/emotionary-by-funny-feelings/id515860459?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 5+ years old
Description: This app is essentially
a dictionary for emotional intelligence, guiding users through primary emotions
to easily find the right category of feeling to better understand, express, and
put specific names to experiential feelings. This app is great for those
searching for the language to better express themselves and have their
emotional needs met!
15. App: Daniel Tiger’s Grr-ific Feelings
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/daniel-tiger-for-parents/id1185651115?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 2-5 years old
Description: This app uses fun and engaging
songs and activities to help children identify and express feelings, self-calm,
and tackle daily living skills (for example: potty training) by hanging with
their friend and neighbor, “Daniel Tiger.”
16. App: For Me by Childline
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/for-me/id1094217440?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 12+ years old
Description: This fabulous app helps children
and young adults access support on a wide selection of mental health and
wellbeing topics including, but not limited to: body issues, academic
stressors, relationships, mood swings, self-harm, and bullying. This app provides self-help articles and
videos, message boards, and the ability to connect with a Childline counselor
if needed. What’s awesome about this app
is that they have a password-protected “Locker Room,” where users can bookmark articles, reflect and track their moods, keep
an online journal, and even store artwork and counselor conversations. Parents
and caregivers can access the “Locker Room” to oversee and monitor their
child’s activity.
17. App: Fabulous Self Care
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fabulous-self-care/id1203637303
Cost: Free
Age Range: Teens and up
Description: This app helps promote healthy
lifestyle by taking users through step-by-step to set out daily routines and beneficial
habits. The app also includes suggestions and activities to integrate exercise
and diet plans, coaching on goal-setting and making sustainable positive changes,
and tools to boost energy, motivation, and wellness. Users can access a free
trial version of this app, but for consistent use will need a monthly
subscription is needed.
18. App: Mindshift
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mindshift-cbt-anxiety-canada/id634684825?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 12+ years old
Description: This app serves as a simulated
coach to help teens and young adults cope with anxiety and overcome challenging
situations using principles of cognitive behavioral therapy. Specific tools,
such as “coping cards,” “facing fears,” and “thought journal”, help users
tackle issues such as dealing with panic attacks, improving sleep quality,
handling conflicts, and much more.
19. App: Moodpath
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moodpath-depression-anxiety/id1052216403?mt=8
Cost: Free
Age Range: 12+ years old
Description: This app is designed for individuals struggling with symptoms
of depression and anxiety by tracking psychological, emotional and physical
health, assessing symptoms, and providing tools for reflection. The app also
provides education on the psychology behind mood, signs of depression, and
effective tools to improve mental health, mood, sleep, and self-advocacy. After
a free trial, a monthly subscription purchase is required, however the free
trial provides a good starting point for conversations to have with physicians
regarding signs/symptoms as well as sample ideas for coping strategies.
*In accordance with the recommendations of
the Academy of Pediatrics (2018), we would like to remind you that children
under 5 should be exposed to no more than one
hour of screen time per day, and children over five should have no more
than two hours of screen time per
day.
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