Just curious how many folks on this board are buying games for kids? Do you do research on these, or do you impulse buy? I know my daughter easily owns half the real estate on my phone and iPad. What about the rest of you?
I'll be of no help. I don't buy apps for my daughter as she's only a toddler at the moment. She knows that I have an iPod and is aware of some of things I use it for, but that's about it. I don't let her play with it and I pretty much only use it in front of her to show her pictures and control the stereo.
My son and I like tower defense games. I usually just go by reviews and screen shots in the app store. And if there's a lite version I get that first unless I know the game is good.
My buddies 9 year old daughter likes to play some of the easier games I have installed. So I try to keep a couple newer kid games for her to try each time she plays. A few had been educational and still looked pretty fun.
My daughter loves the Tickle Tap Apps series, as well as Tappy Tunes and Bobble Zoo. I've also purchased most of the Dr Seuss books from Lighthouse Media. That gives her two folders on my iPhone. Recently she's been watching me play Monster Pinball, but I bought that for me so it doesn't count.
Here are the ones I have that make learning fun: 1. Intro to Letters, by Montessorium 2. Intro to Math, by Montessorium 3. Alphabetic (even fun for adults) 4. ABC Wildlife! (I secretly like this too, it's like PBS in your pocket)
Well I'm just a big kid myself but my buddies 4 year old cousin likes playing Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, and Fruit Ninja on my iPhone. My other friends 2 year old son also likes Fruit Ninja.
I buy apps for my kids. They're 4 and 2. Comments, in order of usage: Cookie Doodle: Both like. Played every day. Monkey Preschool: LunchBox: Both like. Played every day. Monkey Preschool: When I Grow Up: Both like. Played every day. iTot Cards: Both like. Played every-so-often. FirstWords: Animals: Both like. Played every-so-often. Angelina Ballerina: 4 year old likes. Played every-so-often. Kiwitiki: 4 year old likes. Played less than every-so-often. Quizzing: (argh, what's the full app name?) Played every-so-often. Spazzle!: Both loved for a week or so. Now mostly unplayed. Shape Builder: 2 year old loved for a week or so. Now unplayed. Super Football 3D: 4 year old liked it. Lasted a few days. Unplayed. Diego Music: 2 year old likes Diego. Lasted a day. Unplayed. Dora Rainbow Ride: 2 year old likes Dora. Lasted a day. Unplayed. Fairies Lite: 4 year old likes Tinkerball. Lasted a day. Unplayed. Fluttr: Too much like Fairies Lite. Lasted a day. Unplayed.
Now, for the "non-kid" apps. These are ones my 4 year old plays and screws up my own saved games Super Search 60: With me reading what to find, she plays. Saving Private Sheep: Loves completing levels. Shows me. "Yay!" Angry Birds: Loves completing levels. Shows me. "Yay!" TikiTotems: Loves completing levels. Shows me. "Yay!" Pocket God: Loves torturing the little things. Finds more than me. Creatures: Made her own thing. Did better than me. Lasted a week or so. Bridge Odyssey: Plays the first few levels every so often. "Yay!" Fruit Ninja: Lasted a week or so. Toy Monkey: Lasted a day HappyFunBall: Lasted a day Catapult Madness: Lasted a day
I'm curious, where do you just randomly choose apps based on reviews, or is there a place you go to learn about them? Many thanks.
I almost never read reviews. People are idiots. Nor is there a place I go to learn about them. I read app description, then screenshots, then price. Screenshots are the biggest influence for me.
Great discussion. Two places you can find good reviews of apps for kids: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/mobile-app-reviews/genre/educational-games http://www.parents-choice.org/award.cfm?thePage=mobile&p_code=p_sof If anyone here wants to try out one of our Tickle Tap Apps send me a PM and I'll be happy to send along a code for one of our apps.
Our kids love our iPhones/iPads My kids are 4 and 2, and they regularly use our iPhones and iPads to play videos, games, and learning apps. When we traveled to Australia in the summer, our iPads were very valuable on the 15-hour flight! We're indie game devs, and our company focuses on family-friendly games. So, our kids help us devise and test games for their age group. Here are the games we developed for our kids: Whizzit 123 (counting game for kids 1-5) Whizzit Words (word-building for kids 3-6) Whizzit Candy Blast (shoot candies in the sky... ages 2-6) Whizzit Number Doors for iPad (learn numbers... ages 6m-3y) As a previous person in this thread pointed out, our game Spazzle is really popular with kids (especially ages 7+) even though it's designed for all ages. There are a couple of websites that focus on games/apps for kids: http://www.bestkidsapps.com/ http://www.iphone4kids.net/ Are there others?
i myself njoy lots of games..and regarding kids they njoy a lot of games like Bug Squash Lite. Sunday Lawn. FirstWords Sampler, Cocoto Kart Free, SpongeBob Dinner Dash (Lite).
This is an excellent discussion. We build games for kids, so your responses have been invaluable. Check out: Mathstronaut (iPod - maths game aimed at 6 - 14 year olds) 1 2 3 Sheep (iPod - counting games aimed at 5 - 10 year olds) an Plinkerton (iPad - Cybersafety awareness, mystery adventure, aimed at 10 - 16 year olds) These devices are fantastic for kids to learn on. They immediately engage with the device and touch interaction, so retaining their attention is already halfway done for you. Keeping them amused with quality content is the next goal.
