#childrens apps

Mobile devices do an excellent job of providing entertainment and education for kids. Whether they’re free, paid, contain in app purchases or require a paid monthly subscription, apps provide learning, creativity and fun.

We’ve compiled a collection of the best apps for children. As safety is paramount for parents, these apps are all safe and appropriate for kids of different ages.

FIFA 16 Ultimate Team

The world’s most popular football simulator has gone mobile, and with it arrives a brand new engine and control scheme. However, the mobile game, unlike the games console version, comes with a few tweaks. There’s no career mode, no quick match, and no tournaments.

But, it’s still a virtual football game and this is why so many thousands of children and adults alike find this game absolutely enthralling. The player models couldn’t be more accurate, the physics have improved and the controls are brilliant. The app is safe to use, and the in app purchases can be turned off. A great option for the older children.

Price: Free

Toca Boca

Toca Boca are top digital game developers, producing and engineering award winning games for kids from toddler age to primary school. They have over 36 different games, with some free and some paid for.. Their apps have been downloaded over 50 million times in over 200 countries. Toca Boca apps are world building games and work as playsets – digitised versions of fisher price toys that we were exposed to as children. The colourful apps with psychedelic graphics encourage creativity and imagination with every swipe and tap, and don’t let children get lost in scores or winning – there are no scores and no timers.

Toca Boca have offerings from hair salons to doctors offices to holiday destinations. The apps are incredibly simple to use – two or three swipes and the child will have the controls mastered. Toca Boca provides a framework for children and the wide variety of options available as well as the fact the games are free of ads and in app purchases makes it a firm favourite.

Price: varies per app - some are free, some are paid in the region of £1.49 to £3.99

Plants VS Zombies

Game developer PopCap have brought out a game that’s less about imagination and more about strategy. Based on the pricier PC game, you’re pitted against the undead with nothing but your plants to fight them off. As gory as it sounds, there’s no blood and the horror-esque atmosphere the game aims to inject works more as a comedy factor than anything else making it child friendly. The gameplay is simple, the interface is clean (no ads) and the cues are appropriately timed; all you have to do is beat as many zombies as possible and win more plant-weapons.

The entire strategy around the game revolves on how beautifully you plant your garden and how well you take care of it, making it more suited to older children, and adults of course!

Price: 79p.

Pokémon Go

Based on the multimillion-selling video game franchise, which has been satisfying the appetites of Pokemon fans since 1998, Pokemon Go gets it’s players up and outside, to catch their favourite characters.

The game uses your GPS signal to locate Pokemon you might cross paths with in the real world - letting users see them using augmented reality through their phone camera. The app encourages users to move from their sofas and hunt for the little creatures... and you never know, you could have a Bulbasaur hidden behind your front door.

Kids (and adults) have been going crazy for the app since its release in September and the augmented reality aspect of the Pokemon gaming experiment has proved a success. The game has reached $600 million in under 3 months, making it the most successful mobile game in history. Warning: this app will drain your battery and data like there’s no tomorrow.

Price: free

Poptropica

Another virtual world app, Poptropica allows kids to explore in complete safety. The premise of the app is island hopping, with tasks on each island. Quests, mischief, stories and games, mean kids are free to explore and travel from world to world. It’s suitable for children of all ages (and adults). The app is entirely safe – personally identifiable information is never collected from children. Communication between players does occur, but it is through entirely scripted chat so no personal information can ever be shared.

Characters never get hurt or die meaning the game remains upbeat even if levels are lost. Mild mayhem and silly situations such as prison breaks and bank robberies are about the most danger the user will face, making it safe for kids of all ages. There’s no element of violence here. Playing along or with friends is plenty of fun and this adventure game is guaranteed to keep children entertained for a long time – not to mention the educational value. Historical facts are present throughout the game and ensure that the game isn’t just fun and games.

Price: free

Hopster

Hopster was released in 2014 as a competitor to the endless options of television streaming services available to smartphone and tablet users. The app is designed for pre-school children, aged 2-6. Billed as ‘Netflix for children’, the British startup has bagged a deal to stream some of the biggest children’s shows in Europe.

For £3.99 a month, the app will enable children to access thousands of TV shows, iOS games and educational content. There are no ads, and no in app purchases provides parents and children alike with entertainment, safety and peace of mind. The app is entirely funded by its monthly subscriptions.

Hopster has programmes such as: Arthur, In The Night Garden, Learn to draw, Paddington Bear, Pingu, Thomas and Friends and The Gruffalo.

Hopster’s website states: ‘All shows have been carefully selected and provide educational value. We look for programming that’s both fun and wholesome, weeding out anything that’s the TV equivalent of junk food.’

What makes Hopster different from Netflix or BBC iPlayer for children, is the access to games and extra content, with the idea being that children watch a show, then play a game geared towards early reading and writing, featuring that show’s characters and themes.

Review: Kids Academy Learning Apps #MomBuzz #FREEKidsApp

This post was created in partnership with Mom Buzz Media Blogger Network. All views & opinions expressed below are my own and are not influenced in anyway.

Kids Academy | Educational Apps for Children

Kids Academy offers some great apps for children to kick start their learning. My nephews have actually learned all of their colors shapes and some numbers from sitting with me and playing games on…

It’s the Puppies and Kittens app!

Shoo Fly has finally finished and released a brand new children’s app for the Stripes Publishers. It’s called Holly Webb: Puppies and Kittens.

Holly Webb is a wonderful childrens writer, her books about kittens and puppies are loved by children from all over the world. To celebrate her books we’ve loaded the app with plenty of exciting kitten and puppy based activities and games. It also has a brand new short story called ‘The Curious Kitten’!   

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself designing layouts, styling menus and making some of the artwork too. I also had a chance to work with a great bunch of people from the Stripes. 

Playtipus offers apps, software and games for children, and offers a unique buying experience for parents and children. All products feature independent reviews.