Keeping Kids Appy

I am slightly ashamed to admit this, but I am a confessed latecomer to all things iPhone and iPod Touch. I had heard of the App Store and all its treasures, but it had never sparked my interest because of my continued love affair with the “Click Wheel” and the iPod Classic.  Making the move up to the iPod Touch would be like “cheating” on your best girl... and I was no cheater.

Soon, a day came when I maxed the capacity on my 80 gig iPod, and I was faced with a dilemma. Should I stay true and stick with an iPod Classic, albeit with larger capacity?  Or could I add an iPod Touch to this once monogamous relationship?  I chose the latter option and went with the Touch solely on the basis of the App Store. Now that I have given in, I finally realize what Charlie Sheen and Tiger have been trying to tell me.  Sometimes, "cheating" is good...  really good.  It took me all about 5 minutes to realize how eye openingly and jaw droppingly fantastic these new iPhones/iPod Touches were.  I have been missing out.  I have been missing out big time...  These days, my best girl and I still have a healthy relationship cuz she still holds all my music and treats me to my favorite tunes everyday in the car, but now I get a little on the side with my new flame, the iPod Touch.

While originally intended for me and my own uses, my Touch is now almost exclusively for the kids.  On it, you will find kids videos, kids games, learning apps, and McKenna's favorite Miley Cyrus songs.   My children are now 4 and 6, soon to be 5 and 7.  Trying to find apps for them has been fun, yet arduous at the same time. There is a mountain of kids apps out there and very few of these are worth the time to download.  In my quest to find for age appropriate, non-violent apps that have some learning components added in, I have found a select few to be worthy or at least enjoyable.  Check them out and then just maybe, your iPhone or iPod Touch will become your friend too… with benefits.

Among the available kids apps, the "Baby and Toddler" category is by far the largest. Most of these apps are simply to keep the little one occupied while Mom catches her breath, but some of them do have merit.  Here are some of our favorites for this age bracket.

Monkey Preschool Lunchbox – I love this app, and to top it off, my kids do too. It is the perfect mix of fun and learning and it is incredibly age appropriate. My kids love the reward system of earning stickers and of course, they love that monkey. It might be for more for early preschool, but my kids at 4 still enjoy it.  Since it is relatively easy, you would think that they would get bored easily, but I haven't found that to be the case.  It is easy, but it is also a great confidence builder.

First Words - You might want to start with First Words Sampler and if you like it, you can purchase their full version apps like First Words Animals and First Words Deluxe.  This is an early childhood app that is great for letter recognition and it introduces kids to spelling. 

Dr. Seuss ABC - If you or your kids like Dr. Seuss and who doesn't, this interactive book is a great place to start.  It looks fantastic and the narrator's voice is clear and concise. (important when you are learning your letters and letter sounds)  You can interact with the book, by touching the pictures on screen and the narrator will tell you the name of the object as well as the word will pop up.   Cat in the Hat, Grinch, and the Lorax are also currently available.

Super Why! - For fans of Super Why! on PBS, this app is a nice extension of that show.  The app is excellent on many levels, it contains 4 different games, it has characters your kids are familiar with and the game is easy to navigate.  The games are letter recognition, word choice, letter tracing, and a rhyming game. 

Little Bella "I Close My Eyes" - I absolutely adore Little Bella...  She is enchanting and completely endearing in this little animated storybook.  The animations are top notch and look like they got pulled straight from "Ponyo"  Two thumbs way up for Little Bella.  Can't wait for the next one...

Kero - If you look in the dictionary under “Cute little kids game” This would be it. It’s perfect for really young kids and at least funny for the older ones. In this game, you are Kero the frog, and you must help Kero eat as many flies as he can. It doesn’t get much simpler than this and it doesn’t even keep score, but the kids all love the ending of this game so I won’t spoil it.

Treat Street – This is a Trick or Treating game that my Evan really loves. It’s great for Halloween time, but my kids want to trick or treat all year round with this little app. This app is super simple, yet still fun. It begins with dressing your character up for Halloween then going out and knocking on doors for tricks or treats... Sometimes you get a trick, sometimes you get a treat. There’s not much to it, but it’s definitely worth 99 cents.

Make Me a Princess – I don’t see how you can NOT have this on your Touch or iPhone if your daughter like princesses and dress up. My daughter McKenna adores this app and this is clearly her favorite. There are other dress up apps, but we think this is the best.
 

Cookie Doodle - This is the latest game all my kids love.  I like it because it involves decorating virtual cookies and not shooting virtual aliens with virtual guns.  Start by choosing a cookie dough, bake, then make a dizzying number of choices to decorate your cookie.  When you're done, you can eat it or save it in the cookie jar.  Excellent, just excellent.

Other recommendations - Animal Hide and Seek, Preschool Connect the Dots, The Rescue of Ginger, Pickin' Time.

Moving on to apps for the Kindergarten set, I found this category to be surprisingly small. There are tons of apps for the toddler in your life, but not much for kids who are at the next level.  I’m sure the market is dictating what kind of games get developed, but the dearth of options here is certainly disheartening.

Teach Me Kindergarten - Really like this app, but it starts off way too easy. The questions get continually harder, but it seems like it takes too long. I wish you could adjust the level manually.  That being said, Nash and I really do like this app. Hopefully an update comes...  KidCalc is another choice here for more math options.

I Spy Spooky Mansion - Nash loves I Spy and also all things spooky, so this is a match made in heaven. We'll sometimes turn down the lights and play this in his room and get creeped out together.  This app is beautifully rendered and makes good use of the pinch and zoom feature.  Highly recommend.

Where's Waldo - This is another seek and find app that's a lot of fun and quite different from the I Spy apps.  There is a storyline, different destinations, a world map and best of all, it has a kid level and a normal level for Dads who want to play too.

Word Girl - I like this app, but I wish I could love it.  It is very short and I wish it would teach more words.

Math Bumpies - This app is a nice mix of learning and gameplay.  It is really simple using the accelerometer to move your character and jumping to the correct multiple choice answer.  It has 3 difficulty levels and while the gameplay is a little too simple, the magic here is that they are learning while playing a "game"

WeeMee Avatar Creator - This one is fun for all ages.  I admit to using this app for over an hour creating an avatar for each of my kids and for myself of course...  The kids have a good time creating avatars for themselves, their parents or friends.  Again, good fun without the blasting of robots or aliens.

Other Kid Games

Rat on a Scooter

Doodle Jump

Crazy Penguin Catapult (Nash loves this one and Crazy Penguin 2)

Toy Story Mania (just like the ride)

Disney Fireworks (a little bit hard even on easy level, but pretty good)

Fish Frenzy lite
Nut Chuckin lite
Sneezies lite (pop the bubbles)
Phineas and Ferb (My kids love Phineas and Ferb, but I haven't got this cuz they would go straight for this and ignore everything else. I'll get it eventually)

Chop Chop Ninja  - There's some violence in this one, but it's pretty tame compared to what kids see these days. You are a Ninja and you do fight Bad Guys so I'll let you use your discretion, but it is fun, beautifully done in cartoon style and the controls are very easy for the kids.

Well, that's about all he wrote... There are a few other apps worth mentioning, but this is a good list to get started.  Beware, there are a lot of horrible apps out there so it's always best to try to find a "Lite" or "Free" version before buying.  I have bought several apps that have made its way immediately into the recycle bin after only a few minutes of play.  The only other advice I can give you is to treat each app like a "present".  Give them out one by one.  Just like at Christmas, when you give a kid six "presents" he will pick one favorite and the rest will be ignored.  Let him open one, play it, exhaust it, then move on to the next.  That way, you will get the most mileage, and your kid will too.

Have fun and let me know if you have any apps to recommend as well.  Maybe now, you can eat your Beef Noodle Soup in peace.