I shared this video clip on Twitter a little while ago, and realized that my kids are growing up with small little machines that can do more than my dad’s tethered car phone that was the size of a football and my pink cassette player I had as a kid, combined. Needless to say, that now when my daughter picks up a phone that’s NOT a touchscreen, and tries to operate it by vigorously touching the screen and nothing happens? She hands it back, declaring, “This one’s broken.”
Because I love it when others share with me what works for them, and by that I mean, what will keep your kid occupied for at least five minutes while you’re checking out at the grocery store, because every mom knows that checkout time at the grocery store with kids is asking for it, like standing 0.5 inches from your brother’s face and telling him he CAN’T touch it. Try it sometime… I DARE you.
So, anyway, because I love it when others share… I’m sharing something back with you. Here’s a list of our top ten FREE iPad (and iPhone) apps for young kids:
Disney’s Toy Story Read Along App: It’s super adorable and fully interactive, we’ve even recorded our own voices for many of the pages! You can read along, watch clips of the movie, color pages, listen to the songs and play games. (for iPad)
Talking Tom: This one keeps us rolling in laughter, and it keeps ALL of our attention for a long time. Talk and your pet cat, Tom, repeats everything you say in a hilarious voice, pet him and he purrs, poke him or grab his tail. You can even record it and share with friends. (for iPad)
Virtuoso Piano Free: The kids both love to play on this one, it can be set up for an individual or setup up for dueling pianos… too fun! Just know, you might get tired of hearing all the noise created by little hands. (for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)
Doodle Buddy: This one is just like it sounds, a doodler with tons of adorable backgrounds your kids (or you!) can choose from, stamps to use or choose to paint, write in chalk or use a glitter pen! (for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)
Glow Stick: My daughter loves all the different colors and patterns available, and says “Wow” continually, even though she’s seen them all many times over. Just slide your finger over the glow stick to “break” it and shake the device to watch it literally glow. (for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)
Make Me a Princess (Lite): For the girly-girl, which my girl totally is… usually. Dress a princess from top to bottom, choose the hair, accessories, the dress and background. She can play with this one for hours, creating different dress up combinations. (for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)
Toddler Teaser Shapes: Kids learn shapes and then earn “stickers” as rewards, which of course is their favorite part. They can add stickers to their reward page and then you can even save that image into your photo library. (for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)
Timmy’s Preschool Adventure (Lite): Your child can help Timmy get to school as they work through problem solving activities, learning numbers, shapes and patterns in the process. They collect “stickers” along the way as they complete each activity, which always makes every task more fun. (for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)
And look who’s REALLY walking and LOVING it!
Happy weekending!
Tracy says
Peek-a-boo barn and Peek-a-boo Safari are not free apps but they are well worth the $3 (i think) they cost! My son has learned his animals this way! He’ll point to my ipad and ask to “play my game mommy”. He will say the animal before the voice (of a child) says it, then he claps when the voice validates it. I ask him what does the animal say and he’ll make whatever noise goes with the animal.
Nicole says
I love those last two shots! Walking! Yay!
Ashlee says
I have some of those Apps, and some I will have to try 🙂
Thanks for Sharing!
Bray walking! Oh my goodness. He’s getting so big so fast.
Gerri says
Cool post Tab…and look at Bray-Man. He’s looks like he is SO proud of himself. 🙂
Wendy says
These aren’t all free, but are all fun! Jelly Car, The Monster Inside of this Book, Jack and the Beanstalk, Drums, and the kids channels on Pandora are great! We carry the iPad around with us and put it on the KidzBop station and jam all day!
antoinette marie says
isn’t it amazing! i didn’t even have a computer til i was in my thirties and couldn’t imagine operating one and asher was on mine by eighteen months…now here’s bray rocking an ipad! wonder what their kids will be doing at that age?
Andrey says
I also have a suggestion for parents, who have kids of 5-10 years old. It is an educational iPhone app – Kinder Hangman that is an interesting iPhone game and very useful for development of kids. It allows children to learn new words easily, effectively and quickly. Learning process is organized as an interesting game with graphical themes and animations. It is a good game that kids usually like very much. So, parents can use it to keep kids busy.
Laura Kay says
I have a few different iPhone naughty/nice scanners to help my kids behave before Christmas…
The best one I’ve seen so far is the “Santa Scan-O-Meter” app. I can secretly control the result each time I scan them and my kids haven’t figured it out yet! There’s also a Christmas countdown and a “Santa Watching” light which they believe. Here’s a link to the free version of this Naughty or Nice Scanner… I think there’s also a “pro” version.