Kids are very tech savvy these days and they usually develop impressive tech skills by age two! So while we’re struggling to text on a touch screen their already watching videos, taking snaps and playing games. This means using apps will be second nature for our kids and there is a lot out there to develop their skills. Here are some examples of the best children’s apps out there.
Contents
Creative
My Cake Shop HD, Cake maker game: Great for kids who love to design and create. With this app they can make cakes from scratch and bake them into delicious and yummy looking cakes! You can also get right into the finer details and choose your cake shape and decoration. YUM!
Price: Free
Easy Studio, Animate with shapes: Select shapes and colours to create pictures and images that come to life and become animations! Simple to use and good for those with a creative flair but are new to technology, this app can be used by the whole family.
Price: £2.49
Learning difficulties:
If your child is interested in technology then there will be an app that could really support their learning away from the stresses of school and pier groups. There’s a lot out there that can help your child and also many that are designed with specific learning difficulties in mind. All of our kids have different needs, so not every app will appeal, but a lot will be free so if one doesn’t work then just try another.
Move Mover Lite: Select an animated mouth, hold it to your face then start talking – the mouth moves as you talk! It’s good fun that’s weirdly addictive. Your child will have fun experimenting with voices, sounds and expressing their feelings – great for children who struggle with speech/communication as it encourages them to develop their language and gain confidence with their speech.
Price: Free
Emotions: Touch and learn. Our emotions and what we are feeling can be difficult to express for many children. This app is a great way for them to gain an understanding of their feelings. It uses real images of children expressing real emotions, making it a great tool for your child to not only learn facial expressions (and what they mean) and body language but to also begin to learn what others may be feeling too.
Price: Free
Find Me (autism): Socialising and forming friendships can be challenging for children with autism and can cause anxiety and stress. This app helps your child practice simple social skills that they may need to use regularly. The main core of the game focuses on maintaining attention trying to find objects on the screen as distractions appear (as the levels progress).
Price: Free
Forming letters and reading: Children who struggle with reading and writing, and those with dyslexia can come to loathe activities that require these skills, which is a shame because they just need to find a technique that suits the way they recognise words and letters. Animal word learning puzzle for kids and toddlers is a great place to start if you feel your child is having a bit of trouble learning new words or recognising letters. This is a vibrant, colourful app that encourages children to arrange letters in accordance to what they see in the picture and solve the puzzle which not only develops their cognitive skills but also their fine motor skills too!
Price: Free
Pets
My Virtual Pet Dog App: and other pet apps are a great way for your children to learn and practice care and providing for an animal. They can have lots of fun petting their pup, feeding, playing, washing and cleaning and watching him/her grow into a dog!
Price: Free
Under £1
Fruit Ninja: Halfbrick’s fun and kooky app has been one of the most successful apps of all time. Basically, does what it says on the tin; slice and dice different fruit with different blades and swords. The further you go the faster and more dab-handed you will have to be! There is a free version which includes ads, so 69p for the entire game and no ads popping up is a bit of a bargain.
Free
Talking Tom: This friendly furry feline has become a huge success with kids all over – Talking Tom Cat has over 190 million downloads under his collar! Like most successful apps, the idea is simple: Tom is the perfect pet; he is well known for repeating whatever you say in a sped up squeaky voice but on top of this your kids can pet him, feed him and video him and share these videos with all their friends. Once they have gotten all they can from Talking Tom there is Talking Tom 2 which has 340 million downloads so far! All the best bits remain but there is more!
Price: Free
Music
Music4Babies: This musical app uses familiar and popular animals to compose original tunes! This is perfect for children who love music and sound, and also a perfect way to enhance their computer skills with the mix of creativity. The animals are cute too, each animal makes a different sound depending on where it is placed on the score sheet and will instantly play back your tune once you have completed it.
Price: £1.99
Top sellers – all time
Angry birds: Angry Birds came, soared (lol) and conquered to be the #1 app of all time! Rovio Maker and their Angry Birds have been the ruler of the app world since its birth in 2009 and is still going strong. You may be familiar with the original but are you aware of all the add ons? Probably, but in case you aren’t, there is also Angry Birds Star Wars, RIO, HD, Seasons, Friends and more, most of which are free too – so get poppin’ those piggies and try and break your new high score!
Price: Free
Under 5s
Peppa Pig: Peppa is very popular with under 5s and she has many apps to offer young techys. Free apps include Peppa Pig’s activity maker, Paintbox and Magic Camera. If you are willing to play a little bit extra there are some sweet and fun apps such as theme park (£3.99), polly Parrot (£1.99) and Daddy Pig’s Puddle Jump. Familiar characters can provide lots of entertainment for little ones and also teach them essential skills including colour and number recognitions as well as hand – eye co-ordination.
5-10 Year Olds
Sponge bob tickler: Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?? SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS! And now, your kids are invited to join him in bikini bottom. This app lets your kids visit Sponge bob’s pineapple home, the Krusty Krab and so much more, as well as playing mini games with Patrick and Mr Krabs, and taking pictures of Sponge Bob after dressing him up.
Price: 0.69
10-12 Year Olds
Youtube: Where would the internet be without You Tube? Well, we would be lacking double rainbows, cats playing the keyboard, Justin Bieber, ladder goats, Rebecca Black, dancing dogs, wedding entrances, fails, amazing stunts and so much more! We have a lot to thank You Tube for (and it also has a lot to answer for!) but it is jam packed of entertaining and interesting videos for your kids!
Price: Free
Teens
Draw something: OMGPOP,inc have created the only drawing app where the worse you are at drawing, the more fun it is! Simply draw the word on screen and your opponent has to guess what it is. There is a free version but if ads drive you crazy then there is a £1.99 ad-free version so you can crack on with sketching.
Price: Free
Stumble Upon: Fantastic for kids and teens that get bored easily on the web, Stumble Upon can lead them to the weird, wonderful and educational. Select your preferences then Stumble Upon will bring up articles, videos, websites, images, games, music and much more at random. Lets face it, when it come to the web we all tend to stick to the same sites and it is unbelievable how much we are missing out on. One warning this app is highly addictive but perfect for rainy days and long journeys.
Price: Free
Homework
My incredible body: Fab for kids who have a lot of science experiments on or for those who are interested with the human body. A factual app that is incredibly interactive and informative, your child can learn about organs, muscles, bones, vessels, nerves and the skeleton all from the comfort of one app.
Price £4.99
So as you can see there is a lot out there for all sorts of children’s needs whether they need to practice some skills or are looking for some fun entertainment on a rainy Sunday – and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
One important tip when downloading and using apps is please be aware of In-App Purchases. These are usually pop ups that ask your child to purchase something in order to progress in the game. Not all apps have them so it is worth reading each product description to ensure you know what you are getting and also make sure your main settings are right for what you want (you can turn off in app purchasing or apply a password to avoid any surprises!). Supervision is always recommended when it comes to children using internet/apps/computers for their safety.
Most of all children’s apps (both free and paid) are designed to be enjoyed by everyone in the family so start downloading and get ‘appy!
What’re your kids favourite apps? Let us know by commenting below, on our Facebook page or tweeting us @SensibleReview.
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