I have three kids. My wife, mother and I all have iPhones. This is not a coincidence. It didn’t take long after the introduction of the iPhone to realize that the iPhone was a great tool for entertaining youngsters and buying parents some peace… provided said youngsters are not fighting over the device itself. If you’ve got children and an iPhone in the same house, kid-friendly applications are a must-have. Here are my favorites — all links are iTunes links.
For younger kids, Bubbles and BubbleWrap are both free and wonderfully simple. Bubbles lets you conjure bubbles with a sweep of your finger, which you can then pop with a tap or just watch drift away. BubbleWrap lets you pop virtual bubble wrap, racing to see how many bubbles you can pop in 45 seconds. Unlike the real thing, this bubble wrap never runs out of bubbles.
Even simpler is Moo. It moos. Free, and good for a few giggles, so definitely worth the price.
If your kids like to ham it up, they’d probably love CrazyMouth (Lite), which basically puts a big cartoon mouth on the screen that your kids can then hold up to their faces, letting them express the toon within. There’s also a paid version with more animated mouths, and another variation called CrazyEye. Personally, the free version was more than enough.
For young kids with an artistic streak, there’s Scribble, a simple painting app. A palette of colors and pen sizes lets you draw shapes (on a blank canvas or on a photo) or practice writing. You can save the artwork to your photo album (where you can e-mail it to appreciative grandparents), or erase it with a quick shake. There are lots of other drawing apps, but I keep coming back to Scribble for its simplicity and price: free.
If your kids are older — say, four to six years old — they might want more of a challenge. There’s Match by Jirbo Kids, a basic memory game that the company says is “free for just a few more days.” Not complex enough? Ease them into arcade games with Chimps Ahoy! Lite, a fun game sampler that’s worth the download merely for its “Breakout”-like experience. It’s free, but if you fall in love with the chimps, the full version offers 100 levels for just $2.99.
Finally there’s Tap Tap Revenge, the free, finger-sized version of “Dance Dance Revolution.” Grown ups like this one as much as the kids. A warning, though: the songs get stuck in your head. Especially if your kids, like most kids, play everything over and over and over and over again.
Like many of the best iPhone applications out there, it bears repeating that all of the apps I’ve mentioned are free. If you’re willing to spend a little money, though, a few honorable mentions: Preschool Adventure costs a buck, but could easily replace a backpack full of activities for little ones. I could see paying much more for this colorful, elegant application. And for older kids, there’s Cro Mag Rally, a fun racing game that used to cost $10 but is temporarily discounted to $2, and top seller Super Monkey Ball, which is a top seller for a reason. When it comes to making use of the iPhone’s accelerometer (and involving a whole different dimension hand-eye coordination), it’s fun to play… even if your monkey plummets off the edge every single time.
So go ahead and take the time to set up a kids-only page of apps on your iPhone. You may have second thoughts about letting kids play with an expensive gadget. I say they’re going to get their little paws on it sooner or later. You might as well have something waiting for them… lest they decide to start deleting contacts instead!
Note: These applications also work on the iPod Touch, and hopefully any future Apple hardware designed to work with Apple’s App Store!
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Thanks for giving me yet another reason to break my Sprint account and buy an iPhone. Brick breaker on my antique Blackberry just doesn’t cut it for my kids.
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Thanks for giving me yet another reason to break my Sprint account and buy an iPhone. Brick breaker on my antique Blackberry just doesn’t cut it for my kids.
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This is exactly the sort of advice I’ve been seeking. I always have my iPhone with me, now I can let the kids play when they are in need of diversions. Thanks!
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This is exactly the sort of advice I’ve been seeking. I always have my iPhone with me, now I can let the kids play when they are in need of diversions. Thanks!
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yes my daughter is an addict on the iphone.. she uses it more than me when im at home.. i have a hard time getting time with it.. im actually thinking about buying her an itouch for herself =/
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yes my daughter is an addict on the iphone.. she uses it more than me when im at home.. i have a hard time getting time with it.. im actually thinking about buying her an itouch for herself =/
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i draw the line at apps that require them to move the iPhone around too much. sometimes even a case protector isn’t going to help, especially when they’re playing with light saber!
you might want to try waki snap…it’s a 2 player game (and not many of those around) so it keeps both of my kids out of mischief at the same time! amazing how they can keep playing it for ages without getting bored…it’s a great little babysitter:)
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i draw the line at apps that require them to move the iPhone around too much. sometimes even a case protector isn’t going to help, especially when they’re playing with light saber!
you might want to try waki snap…it’s a 2 player game (and not many of those around) so it keeps both of my kids out of mischief at the same time! amazing how they can keep playing it for ages without getting bored…it’s a great little babysitter:)
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I also get nervous when my son starts to shake the iphone around. I try to make sure he is sitting down when he plays. Henry and Hailey’s preschool pals, 99 cents, is a game that does not require the iphone to be moved around. My son really likes the characters and sounds.
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I also get nervous when my son starts to shake the iphone around. I try to make sure he is sitting down when he plays. Henry and Hailey’s preschool pals, 99 cents, is a game that does not require the iphone to be moved around. My son really likes the characters and sounds.
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I got an upgrade to a 3G and we decided to hand off the old one (phone disabled) to my son. He plays monkey ball like a pro and now he can play on his own phone. He says he like it better than nintendo and we can load it up with music and videos we want him to watch. Finally relief from listening to the same movie over and over and over and over…..
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I got an upgrade to a 3G and we decided to hand off the old one (phone disabled) to my son. He plays monkey ball like a pro and now he can play on his own phone. He says he like it better than nintendo and we can load it up with music and videos we want him to watch. Finally relief from listening to the same movie over and over and over and over…..
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If you have a preschooler who you want to start introducing words to, the iPhone game I See Ewe is a great way to do it. It is actually 2 games in 1. The first game challenges your preschooler to correctly identify a specific shape from a set of shapes based on both verbal and written prompts. You can turn off the verbal prompts if you think your kid is ready to start learning their sight words. The second game is the classic “memory match” game, but it’s designed with a preschooler in mind. My 2 year daughter loves it!
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If you have a preschooler who you want to start introducing words to, the iPhone game I See Ewe is a great way to do it. It is actually 2 games in 1. The first game challenges your preschooler to correctly identify a specific shape from a set of shapes based on both verbal and written prompts. You can turn off the verbal prompts if you think your kid is ready to start learning their sight words. The second game is the classic “memory match” game, but it’s designed with a preschooler in mind. My 2 year daughter loves it!
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men, i’ve got two kids and my wife is pressing me to get them itouch. are these things gonna get cheaper?!!
did you check out http://www.iphoneandkids.com some lady reviews kids apps and some iphone tips
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men, i’ve got two kids and my wife is pressing me to get them itouch. are these things gonna get cheaper?!!
did you check out http://www.iphoneandkids.com some lady reviews kids apps and some iphone tips
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This is a useful list and review, thanks! I’ve been working on a handful of iPhone apps for kids, the first has been released. It’s called Create-A-Cartoon Face, you can see it at http://www.rcloudsoftware.com/iphone/cartoonface
I hope that people continue to create more iPhone apps for kids, I think it’s a great platform for entertaining little ones when out and about.
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This is a useful list and review, thanks! I’ve been working on a handful of iPhone apps for kids, the first has been released. It’s called Create-A-Cartoon Face, you can see it at http://www.rcloudsoftware.com/iphone/cartoonface
I hope that people continue to create more iPhone apps for kids, I think it’s a great platform for entertaining little ones when out and about.
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After watching our 4 year old daughter playing with iPhone games, we wanted to divert her with fun and cute learning applications. Here are the apps that we had released.
Math Magic – a simple game to learn math. Simple addition/subtraction with rewards system to encourage them with vibrant colors and real voice . http://mathmagic.anusen.com
Word Magic – A cute picture will be shown to the kid and kids need to fill in the missing letter. (options to choose 1 or 2 missing letters). http://wordmagic.anusen.com
Match Magic – a very simple application where kids need to match the shapes/counts/colors/pictures. They can draw lines or just simple pick/select them. http://matchmagic.anusen.com
Math Series – kids need to identify a missing number in a number series. The series can be customized from sequential to random numbers. (ascending/descending orders). http://mathseries.anusen.com
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After watching our 4 year old daughter playing with iPhone games, we wanted to divert her with fun and cute learning applications. Here are the apps that we had released.
Math Magic – a simple game to learn math. Simple addition/subtraction with rewards system to encourage them with vibrant colors and real voice . http://mathmagic.anusen.com
Word Magic – A cute picture will be shown to the kid and kids need to fill in the missing letter. (options to choose 1 or 2 missing letters). http://wordmagic.anusen.com
Match Magic – a very simple application where kids need to match the shapes/counts/colors/pictures. They can draw lines or just simple pick/select them. http://matchmagic.anusen.com
Math Series – kids need to identify a missing number in a number series. The series can be customized from sequential to random numbers. (ascending/descending orders). http://mathseries.anusen.com
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There is a safe internet browser designed for kids as well. This company offers it for free – http://www.mobicip.com. Don’t know how long it will continue to be free, so get it while you can.
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There is a safe internet browser designed for kids as well. This company offers it for free – http://www.mobicip.com. Don’t know how long it will continue to be free, so get it while you can.
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My wife was looking for a good matching game for my daughter so I we wrote FlipFrog http://tropicalpixels.com/flipfrog-appstore matching colors, sounds and frogs. Now my 2 year old won’t give me back my phone!
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My wife was looking for a good matching game for my daughter so I we wrote FlipFrog http://tropicalpixels.com/flipfrog-appstore matching colors, sounds and frogs. Now my 2 year old won’t give me back my phone!
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My own App just launched last week as well – called “Bumpercarsâ€. It’s especially great for kids – non-violent, has great music and is a simple and easy to use time waster. And it’s the ONLY BumperCars App in the App store!
The link is below!
Direct App Store Link:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=313260518&mt=8
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My own App just launched last week as well – called “Bumpercarsâ€Â. It’s especially great for kids – non-violent, has great music and is a simple and easy to use time waster. And it’s the ONLY BumperCars App in the App store!
The link is below!
Direct App Store Link:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/…
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My own App just launched last week as well – called “Bumpercarsâ€Â. It’s especially great for kids – non-violent, has great music and is a simple and easy to use time waster. And it’s the ONLY BumperCars App in the App store!
The link is below!
Direct App Store Link:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/…
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Not sure if it is considered a kids game, however, my kids ranging 3 to 7 are especially fond of “Bounce On”. We find it can keep them entertained from anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes at a time. They have been able to clear all the levels of the Lite version which has prompted us to consider buying the full version.
My own company produces a grade specific series of educational games called Meghan’s Memory Game which can hold their attention for less time overall but does have the added benefit of helping to teach them how to read while developing memory and attention skills.
You can learn more about Meghan’s Memory Game at our product page located at http://www.ratcatsoftware.com/mmg
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Not sure if it is considered a kids game, however, my kids ranging 3 to 7 are especially fond of “Bounce On”. We find it can keep them entertained from anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes at a time. They have been able to clear all the levels of the Lite version which has prompted us to consider buying the full version.
My own company produces a grade specific series of educational games called Meghan’s Memory Game which can hold their attention for less time overall but does have the added benefit of helping to teach them how to read while developing memory and attention skills.
You can learn more about Meghan’s Memory Game at our product page located at http://www.ratcatsoftware.com/mmg
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You should check out the Baby Translator for iphone/ipod touch for those Dad’s that are a bit baby challenged. It helps converts baby talk to English, well it’s good for a laugh anyway, and dads love that!
http://babytranslator.maluspumila.net
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You should check out the Baby Translator for iphone/ipod touch for those Dad’s that are a bit baby challenged. It helps converts baby talk to English, well it’s good for a laugh anyway, and dads love that!
http://babytranslator.maluspumila.net
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I launched “Animal Fun Time” to help dads everywhere. It works well and is in the top 50 for education now. Hope this is useful.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=321592228&mt=8
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I launched “Animal Fun Time” to help dads everywhere. It works well and is in the top 50 for education now. Hope this is useful.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=321592228&mt=8
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For a great fun little app for kids’, check out Farm Idol.
It’s a musical farm animal app… (yes, there are others like that!) but what makes this one special is that it looks absolutely beautiful and you can play songs by pressing an animal and tilting the iPhone at the same time. Try a bit of Beethoven using a cow; great fun!
http://www.pawpawapps.com/farmidol.php
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For a great fun little app for kids', check out Farm Idol.
It's a musical farm animal app… (yes, there are others like that!) but what makes this one special is that it looks absolutely beautiful and you can play songs by pressing an animal and tilting the iPhone at the same time. Try a bit of Beethoven using a cow; great fun!
http://www.pawpawapps.com/farmidol.php
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For a great fun little app for kids', check out Farm Idol.
It's a musical farm animal app… (yes, there are others like that!) but what makes this one special is that it looks absolutely beautiful and you can play songs by pressing an animal and tilting the iPhone at the same time. Try a bit of Beethoven using a cow; great fun!
http://www.pawpawapps.com/farmidol.php
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Also, check out Happy Baby – Alphabet learning tool
– English alphabets are displayed sequentially (like flash cards).
– Alphabets are pronounced (Optional switch).
– Pause button to stop at an alphabet
– Reset button to start over
– Timer can be adjusted to delay display of alphabets
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=324385183&mt=8
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Also, check out Happy Baby – Alphabet learning tool
– English alphabets are displayed sequentially (like flash cards).
– Alphabets are pronounced (Optional switch).
– Pause button to stop at an alphabet
– Reset button to start over
– Timer can be adjusted to delay display of alphabets
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/…
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Also, check out Happy Baby – Alphabet learning tool
– English alphabets are displayed sequentially (like flash cards).
– Alphabets are pronounced (Optional switch).
– Pause button to stop at an alphabet
– Reset button to start over
– Timer can be adjusted to delay display of alphabets
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/…
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Try this one out:
MonsterABC $.99
http://www.monsterabc.com
MonsterABC is the latest in early childhood development tools – built specifically for the iPhone.
Join the Monster as he explores the alphabet, sounding out letters and words.
Letters – Explore the alphabet by clicking letters. Tap the monsters at the top of the screen to move through the alphabet. Don’t forget to tap the picture at the bottom to hear the word sounded out.
Words- The word at the bottom of the screen is missing a letter. Tap the missing letter at the top of the screen to fill it in.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=326101934&mt=8
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Try this one out:
MonsterABC $.99
http://www.monsterabc.com
MonsterABC is the latest in early childhood development tools – built specifically for the iPhone.
Join the Monster as he explores the alphabet, sounding out letters and words.
Letters – Explore the alphabet by clicking letters. Tap the monsters at the top of the screen to move through the alphabet. Don’t forget to tap the picture at the bottom to hear the word sounded out.
Words- The word at the bottom of the screen is missing a letter. Tap the missing letter at the top of the screen to fill it in.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/…
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Try this one out:
MonsterABC $.99
http://www.monsterabc.com
MonsterABC is the latest in early childhood development tools – built specifically for the iPhone.
Join the Monster as he explores the alphabet, sounding out letters and words.
Letters – Explore the alphabet by clicking letters. Tap the monsters at the top of the screen to move through the alphabet. Don’t forget to tap the picture at the bottom to hear the word sounded out.
Words- The word at the bottom of the screen is missing a letter. Tap the missing letter at the top of the screen to fill it in.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/…
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Take a look at Morgan Moody’s Math Adventure.
-Helps children practice their counting, adding, subtracting, multipling, and dividing.
-Also allows you to change the difficulty of the problems.
http://bit.ly/s4GIH
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Take a look at Morgan Moody's Math Adventure.
-Helps children practice their counting, adding, subtracting, multipling, and dividing.
-Also allows you to change the difficulty of the problems.
http://bit.ly/s4GIH
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Take a look at Morgan Moody's Math Adventure.
-Helps children practice their counting, adding, subtracting, multipling, and dividing.
-Also allows you to change the difficulty of the problems.
http://bit.ly/s4GIH
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We have developed a handful of applications for kids and mainly focusing on education category.
Math Magic: Kids can learn as well as have fun with math. They can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions. Random problems will be shown to the kids and they need to choose the correct answer
Word Magic: Kids need to choose the missing letters for the picture shown. Best suited for kids from UKG till 2nd standard.
Math Series: Kids need to identify the missing numbers. The numbers could either be in descending or in ascending orders
Match Magic: This application is best suited for younger kids < 6 years. They need to match the pictures/colors/count the numbers by identifying and matching them
Count Magic: This application is also suited for kids < 6 years. This app helps to kids to learn counting. They need to catch the number shown. As they keep counting, audio voice will help the kids in counting.
Think BIG: This app is kids in 5 to 10 age group. A group of numbers are shown. They need to pick up the largest or smallest number.
All of our games have rewards and stickers and scores built to motivate and encourage the kids.
Please check them out at http://www.anusen.com and videos @ http://www.youtube.com/kidsiphoneapps
Here are couple of blogs on our apps
http://tinyurl.com/c5kbmx
http://tinyurl.com/dmzyqq
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We have developed a handful of applications for kids and mainly focusing on education category.
Math Magic: Kids can learn as well as have fun with math. They can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions. Random problems will be shown to the kids and they need to choose the correct answer
Word Magic: Kids need to choose the missing letters for the picture shown. Best suited for kids from UKG till 2nd standard.
Math Series: Kids need to identify the missing numbers. The numbers could either be in descending or in ascending orders
Match Magic: This application is best suited for younger kids < 6 years. They need to match the pictures/colors/count the numbers by identifying and matching them
Count Magic: This application is also suited for kids < 6 years. This app helps to kids to learn counting. They need to catch the number shown. As they keep counting, audio voice will help the kids in counting.
Think BIG: This app is kids in 5 to 10 age group. A group of numbers are shown. They need to pick up the largest or smallest number.
All of our games have rewards and stickers and scores built to motivate and encourage the kids.
Please check them out at http://www.anusen.com and videos @ http://www.youtube.com/kidsiphoneapps
Here are couple of blogs on our apps
http://tinyurl.com/c5kbmx
http://tinyurl.com/dmzyqq
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We have developed a handful of applications for kids and mainly focusing on education category.
Math Magic: Kids can learn as well as have fun with math. They can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions. Random problems will be shown to the kids and they need to choose the correct answer
Word Magic: Kids need to choose the missing letters for the picture shown. Best suited for kids from UKG till 2nd standard.
Math Series: Kids need to identify the missing numbers. The numbers could either be in descending or in ascending orders
Match Magic: This application is best suited for younger kids < 6 years. They need to match the pictures/colors/count the numbers by identifying and matching them
Count Magic: This application is also suited for kids < 6 years. This app helps to kids to learn counting. They need to catch the number shown. As they keep counting, audio voice will help the kids in counting.
Think BIG: This app is kids in 5 to 10 age group. A group of numbers are shown. They need to pick up the largest or smallest number.
All of our games have rewards and stickers and scores built to motivate and encourage the kids.
Please check them out at http://www.anusen.com and videos @ http://www.youtube.com/kidsiphoneapps
Here are couple of blogs on our apps
http://tinyurl.com/c5kbmx
http://tinyurl.com/dmzyqq