1. Introduction
Agenda 2030, adopted by the United Nations (UN), articulates 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at addressing global challenges, including climate change, equality, and poverty [
1]. Embedding these principles early in life is critical for achieving long-term sustainability [
2,
3]. Early childhood education (ECE), defined by UNESCO as organised learning from birth to age eight [
4], plays a foundational role in shaping cognitive, social, and ethical dispositions. ECE not only supports holistic development but also cultivates sustainability awareness, positioning young children as active contributors to sustainable societies [
4,
5,
6].
Digital technologies, particularly mobile learning (M-learning) [
7], offer transformative potential for ECE by enabling interactive, flexible, and context-aware experiences [
8,
9]. Mobile apps can embed sustainability concepts into playful, inquiry-based tasks [
10], yet their integration into curricula remains uneven due to pedagogical resistance and limited teacher training [
7,
11,
12]. Despite increasing interest in sustainability education, few studies critically examine whether mobile applications for ECE address all three sustainability pillars—environmental, social, and economic—or align with transformative pedagogies [
13]. Current apps often prioritise environmental themes, neglecting cultural and economic dimensions, accessibility, and teacher-facing features. This review is situated within transformative sustainability education (TSE) [
14,
15] and informed by a posthumanist lens that values children’s relational engagement with non-human life [
16,
17].
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation [
18] asserts that children have a right to participate in sustainable practices, a principle echoed by historical educators such as Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner, who advocated for environments that promote social justice, peace, and equality [
19,
20]. Despite these recommendations, significant barriers persist in integrating education for sustainability (EfS) into early childhood curricula. Although teachers recognise the importance of EfS, the focus of curricula on literacy and numeracy limits the time available for sustainability education [
21]. These structural constraints, combined with the influence of teachers’ environmental attitudes [
22], shape both classroom practice and the design of digital learning tools.
Research highlights the importance of dialogic interaction and play-based pedagogies in empowering children’s active participation in sustainability discussions [
23]. However, many educators neglect the economic and cultural pillars of sustainability outlined in the Brundtland Report [
24], focusing instead on environmental aspects, a tendency that risks tokenistic implementation [
13,
25]. Comparable to resistance towards M-learning, educators often hesitate to adopt sustainability practices due to limited training and conceptual clarity [
12,
26]. Some early childhood practitioners assume that exposure to nature alone suffices for EfS, overlooking the need for structured strategies [
27].
Classroom-level barriers in ECE, including curricula overload, lack of institutional support, and underemphasis on social/economic SDGs, help explain why sustainability apps frequently prioritise environmental themes over a holistic approach [
21,
26]. The literature further stresses that effective EfS should progress beyond awareness to transformative action [
14,
15] and adopt relational approaches that value children’s engagement with non-human life [
16,
17]. These insights provide critical benchmarks for evaluating whether app features, such as prompts, reflection tools, and collaborative functions, enable child agency rather than passive consumption. This study provides actionable insights for developers, educators, and policymakers to enhance sustainability learning through mobile apps in early childhood contexts. To address these gaps, this study evaluates early childhood sustainability apps using a dual-framework rubric. It asks the following questions:
RQ1: to what extent do existing mobile applications for early childhood education address the full scope of the Sustainable Development Goals?
RQ2: how do these applications perform across key design and pedagogical criteria?
RQ3: what gaps exist in accessibility, interdisciplinary integration, and stakeholder support?
RQ4: what design recommendations can be made to enhance transformative sustainability learning through mobile apps?
2. Materials and Methods
This study employed an artefact-based evaluation of early childhood sustainability apps guided by an enriched theoretical framework combining mobile learning design and pedagogical principles. The evaluation rubric was initially based on [
28] the mobile learning design framework and [
29] the pedagogical model, which remain foundational for assessing usability, collaboration, and integration of tools. To ensure contemporary relevance, these were extended with recent scholarship on mobile learning adoption and effectiveness [
11,
12], inclusive design and accessibility standards [
30,
31], and sustainability pedagogy in early childhood [
32,
33,
34]. Additional insights from culturally responsive education [
35,
36] and interdisciplinary approaches [
10,
17] informed the rubric to reflect global trends in eEfS. This integration ensures that the evaluation criteria address inclusivity, multilingual scaffolds, ethical design, and transformative learning outcomes.
2.1. Procedures and Data Collection
The study adhered to international research ethics guidelines [
37]. User testing was excluded to comply with UNCRC Article 12 [
38] on safeguarding children’s participation rights, focusing instead on artefact-based analysis of app functionality rather than behavioural outcomes.
2.1.1. Selection of Apps
Apps were restricted to English-language and free or freemium models to promote equitable access for educators in resource-constrained contexts, consistent with UNESCO GEM principles on inclusive education [
36]. Paid apps were excluded to prevent socioeconomic bias that could undermine SDG 4.7 commitments to equity [
1]. English was chosen for feasibility and consistency in applying the evaluation rubric, though this introduces cultural and linguistic bias. App availability is further influenced by geographical and legal constraints, including data protection laws (e.g., GDPR) [
39], censorship, and territorial licensing, which segment access across regions [
40,
41,
42]. Consequently, the sample reflects apps accessible in unrestricted markets, limiting global representativeness.
To ensure consistency across platforms, identical keywords—“sustainability,” “environment,” and “early childhood”—were applied in searches on Google Play and the App Store. When discrepancies occurred due to platform-specific algorithms, minor adjustments were made while preserving inclusion criteria. This iterative tuning reduced algorithmic bias and ensured comparability in app retrieval. Inclusion criteria wer (1) relevance to sustainability and ECE, (2) English-language availability, and (3) free or freemium model. Eleven apps met these criteria (
Table 1 and
Table 2). Two researchers independently reviewed the apps, resolving discrepancies through discussion. The platforms on which the reviewed applications are available (App Store, Google Play, or both) are summarised in
Table 3.
2.1.2. Comparison of Existing Apps in the Market
The rubric integrates classic frameworks [
1,
2] with recent insights on mobile AR and inclusive design [
10,
30] (
Table 4). To review mobile learning tools systematically, the evaluation rubric was constructed by mapping criteria to two established frameworks. Parsons and Ryu [
28] emphasise five design-oriented factors: (1) user role and profile, (2) learn on the move, (3) interface design, (4) media types, and (5) collaboration support. From a pedagogical perspective, Ozdamli [
29] proposed four criteria for integrating mobile tools into teaching: (1) integration of tools, (2) pedagogical approaches, (3) assessment techniques, and (4) teacher training. These were included to reflect teacher needs as key stakeholders [
7]. Accessibility was added as a tenth criterion to address inclusive design and equity for learners with disabilities. Collectively, these ten criteria were selected for their relevance to mobile learning and early childhood pedagogy rather than alternative indicators that lacked direct applicability. Accessibility was assessed against inclusive design principles, and interdisciplinary integration was examined to determine whether apps link sustainability concepts with other domains such as literacy and numeracy [
33,
34,
43].
Incorporating recent research ensures alignment with current trends in mobile learning, accessibility standards, and culturally responsive sustainability education [
10,
35,
36].
4. Discussion
This review shows that the current ecosystem of ECE sustainability apps is underdeveloped in scope and depth. Learn on the move (3.1) and media/interface (≈3.3–3.5) are adequate, whereas collaboration (2.8), assessment (2.9), teacher-facing supports (2.4), and accessibility (1.7) are systemically weak—aligning with prior evidence that many learning apps favour information delivery and gamification over formative scaffolding and inclusion [
31,
39,
40].
4.1. Equity, Accessibility, and Cultural Responsiveness
The low accessibility mean (1.7/5) reflects systemic gaps in WCAG-aligned features such as text to speech, font scaling, contrast options, and captions, limiting participation for disabled learners and emergent bilinguals and conflicting with UNCRC Article 12 on children’s rights to be heard [
31,
38]. Accessibility should be treated as both a design criterion and an ethical threshold for equitable eEfS [
30,
31]. Normatively, ECE-facing apps should incorporate device-level text to speech, scalable typography, high-contrast themes, icon-plus-text labelling, multilingual scaffolds, and teacher-side controls.
Persistent gaps often stem from practical barriers. Technically, mobile contexts require complex adaptations for small screens, gesture-based navigation, and assistive technology interoperability; WCAG 2.2 addresses many of these issues, but consistent implementation across platforms demands specialised design and testing [
31]. Financially, compliance entails investment in inclusive design systems and accessibility QA, now mandated under the European Accessibility Act (EAA) from June 2025 [
58]. Linguistically, UNESCO reports that 40% of learners lack access to education in a familiar language, underscoring the need for home-language audio, dual-language prompts, and culturally localised examples [
36,
59].
Cultural responsiveness remains limited despite its importance for global citizenship. Beyond environmental themes, apps should embed social and economic dimensions through age-appropriate, culturally grounded tasks. Examples include interactive role-play about sharing resources (SDG 6, SDG 10) and gamified “pretend markets” teaching fair exchange and resource allocation (SDG 12, SDG 8). These approaches align with experiential learning principles [
45] and culturally responsive pedagogy [
35], enabling children to situate sustainability within their lived experiences rather than abstract concepts. Detailed examples of culturally grounded, app-based tasks are provided in
Section 4.5.
4.2. Teacher-Facing Design and Adoption
Consistent with prior studies on mobile learning adoption, most apps prioritise learners while neglecting teachers and administrators, offering few planning templates, formative dashboards, or multilingual guides [
7,
12]. This aligns with documented barriers, time pressure, confidence gaps, and lack of exemplars, which impedes embedding EfS across core subjects [
21,
26,
60]. The low rubric mean for teacher-facing support (2.4), a finding mirrored by the scarcity of planning templates and dashboards in the app-level summary, indicates a design gap that directly affects classroom uptake; embedding ready-to-use interdisciplinary sequences, formative assessment tools, and CPD micro-modules would address these constraints.
Teacher-facing features should be structured for usability and workload management. Teacher dashboards should prioritise simplicity and clarity to accommodate diverse levels of digital literacy. Recommended design principles include (i) progressive disclosure—start with essential functions (e.g., class overview, SDG-linked tasks) and allow optional advanced features; (ii) visual analytics using icons and colour coding rather than dense tables; and (iii) embedded exemplars (sample lesson flows, reflection prompts) aligned with local curricula to reduce planning time. Planning templates should integrate sustainability tasks into existing subjects (e.g., literacy, numeracy) to avoid curriculum overload, consistent with evidence that teachers face significant time constraints and confidence gaps in EfS integration [
21,
26,
60]. Research on mobile learning adoption highlights that perceived ease of use and workload reduction are critical for uptake [
11,
12]. Dashboards should therefore include one-click export for evidence portfolios, offline-first operation, and micro-CPD modules to support ongoing professional learning without adding extra sessions.
Collaboration features should be designed as closed, teacher-controlled spaces that support co-documentation (photo, voice, drawings), turn-taking prompts, and consent-aware sharing, in line with children’s data protection principles [
39,
48].
4.3. Assessment: From Scores to Formative Progression
Only ECE Academy—Sustainability provides a formative assessment constellation (feedback, journalling, teacher dashboard). In contrast, several titles rely on gamified scoring/leaderboards, which may drive participation but tend to produce surface-level outcomes without guidance on the next steps. Behaviour-change features (goal setting, carbon tracking) in Klima—Fight Climate Change and Earth Hero: Climate Change similarly lack educational scaffolding. To align with learning evidence, apps should provide success criteria, hints, exemplars, and reflective prompts, coupled with teacher mediation, to support progression (cf. the rubric results; see also [
29]).
4.4. Historical Evolution and Pedagogical Evidence
To contextualise the analysed applications, we compiled release dates, update histories, and major feature modifications (see
Table 14). Most apps were launched between 2015 and 2022, with update cycles ranging from frequent (e.g.,
Earth Hero: Climate Change, updated quarterly to include multilingual menus) to stagnant (e.g.,
Environmental Studies Notes, last updated in 2018). Feature evolution reveals incremental improvements in interface design and gamification but limited progress in accessibility and teacher-facing tools. Notably, none of the apps introduced comprehensive WCAG 2.1 compliance or culturally responsive scaffolds during their update histories, indicating a persistent gap in inclusive design despite regulatory and pedagogical imperatives [
31,
36]. Tracking these trajectories highlights a misalignment between app evolution and transformative sustainability education principles, which emphasise play-based inquiry, cultural relevance, and child agency [
13,
35].
Beyond design trends, empirical evidence underscores the pedagogical potential of mobile learning when developmentally appropriate. Systematic reviews report that mobile apps can enhance engagement and conceptual understanding in early childhood, particularly when multimodal scaffolds and inquiry-based tasks are embedded [
11]. Recent studies on augmented reality and sustainability education demonstrate gains in motivation and collaborative problem solving among preschool learners [
10]. Similarly, interventions integrating mobile tools into eco-literacy programs have shown positive effects on pro-environmental behaviours and dialogic learning [
27]. These findings reinforce the need for apps to progress beyond static content and gamified scoring toward formative, culturally grounded experiences that foster agency and interdisciplinary thinking.
Future research should examine whether update cycles correlate with improvements in accessibility, multilingual support, and teacher mediation and should link these design changes to measurable learning outcomes through classroom-based trials and longitudinal studies. Explainable AI mechanisms should be embedded to ensure transparency in adaptive recommendations, enabling teachers to interpret algorithmic logic. Bias risks must be mitigated through diverse training datasets and fairness audits. Compliance with GDPR and the ICO Children’s Code is essential, requiring privacy-preserving architectures and parental consent flows [
61].
4.5. AI-Enhanced Sustainability Learning: Opportunities and Safeguards
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers significant potential to enhance inclusion and personalisation in sustainability education. Key opportunities include multilingual scaffolding (such as voice-to-text journaling), adaptive challenges aligned with developmental stages, and teacher planning tools linked to curriculum objectives and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets [
62,
63]. These features can support diverse learners by tailoring content and providing accessible pathways to engagement. However, integration must remain developmentally appropriate and prioritise child safeguarding. To avoid cognitive overload, AI-driven tools should emphasise play-based inquiry and concrete representations rather than abstract metrics.
Recent advances in educational technology underscore the potential of AI-driven adaptivity to personalise sustainability learning pathways, offering dynamic task sequencing and formative feedback aligned with developmental stages. Adaptive algorithms can analyse learner interactions to adjust complexity, pacing, and modality, supporting differentiated instruction and reducing cognitive overload. Multilingual scaffolds now extend beyond translation to include culturally localised narratives and voice-based interaction, enhancing inclusivity for emergent bilinguals. Mobile learning innovations—such as augmented reality, gamified eco-challenges, and context-aware prompts—further enable experiential engagement with sustainability concepts. These developments align with global calls for equitable, personalised learning ecosystems and require robust privacy-by-design safeguards to protect children’s data.
Safeguarding children’s rights requires robust privacy-by-design protocols. Measures such as on-device processing, parental consent flows, and strict data minimisation are essential to comply with GDPR and the UK ICO Children’s Code [
64,
65]. Furthermore, AI should augment—not replace—teacher mediation. Embedding explainable AI mechanisms and teacher-facing dashboards can ensure transparency, enabling educators to interpret algorithmic decisions and mitigate risks of bias or opacity [
61,
62]. These safeguards promote ethical, culturally responsive, and pedagogically sound practices.
Despite these opportunities, practical challenges persist. First, transparency in automated decision-making is critical; opaque recommendations undermine teacher agency. Explainable AI and dashboards should therefore display the logic behind adaptive prompts [
62]. Second, there is a risk of over-interpreting child-generated data, such as inferring socio-emotional traits from brief interactions, which may lead to biased or inaccurate conclusions [
61]. Third, strict governance of sensitive data remains non-negotiable, requiring compliance with GDPR and ICO standards through privacy-preserving architectures [
39,
48]. Collectively, these considerations underscore that AI integration in early childhood education must operate within transparent, privacy-conscious, and developmentally appropriate frameworks.
4.6. Consolidated Design Implications
To address systemic gaps identified across app evaluations, the following consolidated design implications are proposed:
Broaden topic coverage beyond nature-centric content to include social/economic strands (e.g., fairness, sharing, community helpers, local markets) mapped to SDG 1, 2, 8, 10, 16, and 17 through play-based tasks and stories.
Accessibility and inclusion: implement WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, device-level text-to-speech, typographic scaling, high-contrast themes, and multilingual scaffolds (dual-language prompts, audio dubbing) to uphold equity.
Pedagogical alignment: replace text-heavy delivery with multimodal scaffolds (audio narration, icons, visuals with signalling/coherence principles), and embed child-facing SDG icons with plain-language descriptors.
Child agency and collaboration: provide documentation tools (journals, photo annotation, voice notes) and teacher-moderated dialogic prompts to foster inquiry, co-decision-making, and safe collaboration.
Mobile-first affordances: exploit mobility for context-aware eco-tasks (photo journaling, GPS-triggered challenges, accelerometer-mediated games) with privacy-by-design safeguards.
Assessment and teacher support: integrate formative assessment mechanisms (success criteria, hints, exemplars, reflective prompts) and teacher dashboards for planning, differentiation, and progress monitoring.
Ethical and privacy controls: enforce GDPR and ICO Children’s Code compliance through privacy by default, data minimisation, parental consent flows, and transparent retention policies [
39,
48].
Avoid dark patterns: audit freemium flows to eliminate manipulative design patterns (e.g., coercive upselling, reward gating) and ensure equitable classroom use.
Collectively, these measures align learn-on-the-move design with TSE by enabling progression from awareness to integration, and ultimately, to action, while safeguarding child agency and digital rights [
14,
15].
4.7. Implications and Recommendations
The implications and recommendations for developers are as follows:
Broaden SDG coverage beyond nature-only themes to include social and economic strands (SDGs 1, 10, 16, and 17).
Ensure WCAG 2.1 AA compliance and multilingual scaffolds to equity [
31,
36].
Integrate formative assessment (e.g., feedback, reflection prompts, success criteria) and teacher dashboards to support differentiated instruction [
40].
Add community-linked challenges and co-creation features to foster action [
14].
Apply privacy by design and comply with GDPR and the ICO Children’s Code for safeguarding [
39,
48].
Avoid manipulative design patterns (e.g., obfuscated subscription flows, coercive upselling, reward gating), maintain transparency in registration and data collection, and ensure platform parity to prevent OS-based exclusion in mixed-device ECE settings.
The implications and recommendations for educators are as follows:
The implications and recommendations for policymakers are as follows:
Mandate accessibility, teacher-facing supports, and interoperability in quality assurance frameworks.
Incentivise co-design with educators and families for cultural responsiveness.
Provide professional development for teachers on integrating digital sustainability tools.
The implications and recommendations for operationalising cultural responsiveness are as follows:
Include multilingual scaffolds (dual-language prompts, home-language audio).
Localise examples (community practices, cultural events) and provide teacher-side editing tools.
Represent diversity through avatars and narratives.
Offer offline-first audio and icon packs for low-bandwidth contexts.
Align with experiential learning and SDG 4.7 to ensure relevance and engagement.
Illustrative examples for cultural responsiveness are as follows:
Social sustainability:
Interactive story modules simulating resource-sharing during a drought (SDG 6, SDG 10).
Digital eco-journals for recording acts of kindness (SDG 16).
Avatar-based community clean-up challenges featuring diverse families (SDG 4.7, SDG 10).
- 2.
Economic sustainability:
Gamified “pretend shop” for trading recycled items (SDG 12, SDG 8).
Drag-and-drop budgeting games for classroom resources (SDG 1, SDG 8).
Categorisation mini-games distinguishing “needs” vs “wants” (SDG 12).
4.8. Limitations and Future Research
This study presents several limitations that shape the interpretation and generalisability of its findings. First, the sample was restricted to English-language and free or freemium applications. While this criterion aligns with equity principles for resource-constrained contexts [
36], it excludes paid and non-English apps that often incorporate advanced features such as multilingual scaffolds, culturally localised content, and teacher dashboards. These omissions may under-represent design innovations prevalent in international markets and limit insights into culturally responsive sustainability learning [
32,
35].
Second, the artefact-based approach adopted here ensured compliance with UNCRC Article 12 by avoiding direct child participation and safeguarding children’s rights [
37,
38]. However, this design limits ecological validity because app use was not observed in authentic classroom settings. Without classroom trials, it remains unclear whether identified design gaps, such as accessibility and agency affordances, translate into practical barriers or adoption challenges. Future research should incorporate classroom-based trials and participatory design-based research to capture teacher mediation, peer collaboration, and child agency, which are central to transformative sustainability education [
13,
60]. Longitudinal studies could further assess whether app features support sustained engagement and experiential learning outcomes [
26,
45].
Third, the historical evolution of apps was not examined in depth. Tracking release dates, update cycles, and feature modifications could reveal whether apps are adapting to accessibility standards and pedagogical expectations over time. Future work should integrate this historical lens and link design changes to measurable learning outcomes through empirical studies on mobile learning effectiveness [
10,
11].
Collectively, these directions will strengthen methodological rigour, cultural responsiveness, and practical impact, advancing the field of early childhood sustainability education.
5. Conclusions
This review highlights a critical gap in early childhood sustainability apps: most remain environmentally narrow, lack inclusive design, and provide minimal teacher support. Moving forward, development should prioritise balanced SDG coverage, accessibility compliance, and teacher-facing tools to ensure equity and adoption. Emerging technologies such as AI-driven adaptivity, multilingual scaffolds with culturally localised narratives, and augmented reality affordances offer pathways to personalised, situated sustainability learning. These innovations must be implemented within privacy-by-design and teacher-mediated frameworks to ensure developmental appropriateness. Future research should shift from artefact analysis to classroom trials, co-design with educators, and longitudinal studies to evaluate transformative learning outcomes. In addition, it should examine how AI-driven adaptivity, multilingual scaffolds, and emerging mobile learning affordances, such as AR and gamification, can be integrated into early childhood sustainability education to enhance engagement and equity. This study extends prior mobile learning evaluations by embedding accessibility, cultural responsiveness, and interdisciplinary integration into a dual-framework rubric, addressing gaps in existing models that focus narrowly on usability or pedagogy. These contributions advance transformative sustainability education by operationalising SDG 4.7 principles in early childhood contexts.
This study contributes theoretically, empirically, and practically to early childhood sustainability education. Theoretically, it advances mobile learning evaluation by integrating pedagogical, accessibility, and cultural responsiveness dimensions into a dual-framework rubric. Empirically, it provides a systematic artefact-based review of 11 apps, supported by high inter-rater reliability, revealing systemic gaps that limit transformative learning. Practically, it offers actionable design implications, such as WCAG compliance, multilingual scaffolds, and teacher dashboards, that align with global equity and child rights principles, informing developers, educators, and policymakers. Despite iterative updates, most apps show limited progress toward WCAG compliance and culturally grounded design, underscoring the need for regulatory and pedagogical alignment in future development. Implementing these design principles can inform global quality assurance standards, guide developers toward inclusive practices, and support policymakers in embedding sustainability learning within early childhood curricula.