I’m still that podcast listening, photo geeking, Android obsessed chick. {iPhone peeps, don’t walk away just yet. I have some love for you today too, just sit tight}. I also seem to always be making confessions here…. oh well, here goes another one: I let me kid play with my phone. Yeah, yeah, kids get too much screen time, I know it. But. There is a time and a place for these things. In our family those times and places are: waiting rooms, and early mornings in bed. We’ll often start the day with Pebble padding into our room, climbing into our bed and asking “Pay a game, pees?”, with that high pitched, overly sweet emphasis on the “pees” that she knows gives her maximum chance of success.
Here’s what we like to play with.
HeyTell [Android] [iPad & iPhone]
This is an awesome communication app for adults and kids, but we love it for a quick ‘hello’ or ‘I love you’ to and from family and friends. You simply press and hold the name of the person you want to talk to and it records and sends your message to their phone (they must also have HeyTell installed). Grandad has been a big fan of sending ‘Goodnight Pebble, I love you” messages at bedtime. Naw.
Price: Free
StoryChimes [Android] [iPad & iPhone]
These are cute little classic story books that you can have read aloud or record yourself reading the story. You can set the page flip to manual or automatic and it even has a ‘bedtime’ setting that allows you to adjust the brightness of the screen within the app. The only negative that I have found is that the text is very small (on my phone) so it’s difficult to actually read. This doesn’t effect Pebble’s experience at the moment, but it might as she gets older and is interested in reading words. Tablet users may find that it’s not a problem.
Price: Free for Android. $0.99 each from iTunes.
Kids Doodle [Android] [iPad & iPhone]
This is a kids drawing app that allows you to draw using a bunch of different tools like neon, emboss, crayon, and rainbow. You can also save your work to your SD card and share it with friends. It has a cute “shake” to clear the screen function and you can choose the background colour of each pic.
This app is free, however I paid $1.49AUS to upgrade to Kids Doodle Pro and remove ads. You also get an added feature of being able to doodle over your own photos. Drawing on Mummy’s face is fun! [upgrade for Android] [upgrade N/A for iPad & iPhone]
Price: Free
Honourable mentions: Android only (sorry!)
Kids Piano Lite – Free (contains ads at menu but not in play. Upgrade to remove)
Toddler Cars – Free (contains ads)
Toddlers Trifling – Free (contains ads at menu, but not in play. Upgrade to remove)
Do you let your kids use your phone? What’s you favourite app for kids?
April 25, 2012 at 12:27 pm
I don’t have an Iphone but the kids are all mad for the Ipad. The latest hit is a new playschool ap – it lets you add characters to a scene and record a story while moving them around. Animalia is really cool too.
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April 25, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Hi this is s_gale visiting from instagram. I’m always letting my daughter play on my phone and iPad. So many timed when it stops her from getting bored (and annoying) there is an iPad and iPhone piano app (finger piano) that she loves. She is older though so loves lots of games like angry birds etc
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April 26, 2012 at 10:16 am
Hi! Sounds like lots of fun. Charlotte has had a go at Angry Birds, she thinks the birds falling off the sling shot are hilarious (hasn’t quite worked out how to make them fly with repeated success!). Thanks for visiting :)
April 26, 2012 at 2:33 pm
That Hey Tell app sounds awesome! Def gonna be getting that in future. While Mia isn’t old enough to use apps yet she does love to be distracted by Dave playing the piano app on his android. If she’s getting a bit sooky just before feed time and I’m in the middle of doing something he’ll whip it out and start playing and she’s mesmerised by it.
April 27, 2012 at 12:14 pm
This is such a timely post for me. I’ve just (in the last week) upraded my phone from an archaic one to an android smart phone. This is just what I was after – for those moments when I’m out and need them occupied in a hurry!
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April 29, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Oh, there goes your weekend, spending time playing with your new phone! I’m addicted to mine.
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