I know we regularly take a look at great educational apps at Edgalaxy but the vast majority of those apps do come at some expense.  Se here is our list of the top 5 free educational apps.

1.   Google Earth:  Hold the world in the palm of your hand. With Google Earth for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. Explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world's population and a third of the world's land mass.

2.  iBooks:  iBooks is an amazing way to download and read books. iBooks includes the iBookstore, where you can download the latest bestselling books or your favorite classics – day or night. Browse your library on a beautiful bookshelf, tap a book to open it, flip through pages with a swipe or a tap, and bookmark or add notes to your favorite passages.

3.  Image Searcher: (Free)  Image Searcher is a Google/Bing Image searching tool for iPad. Simply type in any keywords and you will see the thumbnails of images. You can view the original images, save them to your Photo Albums, email them to your friends, or open the original web pages.

4.  National Film Board:  As featured in a nation-wide marketing campaign by Apple, the NFB Films app allows you to watch over 2000 movies - documentaries, animations and feature films - free on your iPad.

5:  ToonTastic: Toontastic teaches key storytelling principles that help to promote Creativity at a young age. Its drawing tools bring kids’ wildest ideas to life alongside virtual playsets chock full of pirates, princesses, far away galaxies, and many other characters and settings to spark the imagination. Cartoons can be shared online via ToonTube, Toontastic’s Global Storytelling Network, to help children connect to friends and family and learn about other cultures, customs, and lifestyles through stories created by their peers around the world.