From MomShack.com
Five Best iPhone Apps for Kids - One Mom's Opinion
By
Apr 28, 2010, 22:04
This past fall, my seven year-old son won an iTouch by kicking it into
high gear for his elementary school fundraiser. And while I have always
been a staunch believer in strong boundaries when it comes to
television (we don't have one), online diversions (ad free only) and
gaming in general, I have come to love that slim, shiny friend of his
... especially while waiting in doctor's offices, driving long distances
in the car and trying to keep myself sane in the grocery store. Truth
be told, I don't think I ever, EVER, would have bought him an iTouch (or
DS or any other handheld gaming thing) but since he won it fair and
square and now it is a part of our lives, I have become something of a
connoisseur of safe, fun, non-corrupting games for the "5 and up" set. A
brief list follows. If you are intrigued by any of them, just search
for them in the App Store by name (no axe to grind here!):
1. Labyrinth Lite. Just like you remember as a kid, only the
whatchamacallit inside the iPhone makes the phone into the board. Just
tilt your phone to move the balls through the maze. Amazingly addictive
with many levels … lots of fun!
2. SpinArt. Just like you remember as a kid (are you sensing a theme
here?) only far less messy. You can even save finished "art" to your
phone and download it to your computer when you sync. We used one of my
son's designs for our Christmas card last year!
3. Wacky Chatter. Works like a slot machine but instead of gambling,
it's (don't tell the kids) learning! Shake the phone and the top
spinners will select three words (pronoun, verb, noun), then the bottom
spinners will select three different "characters" to say those words in
their crazy, funny, unique voices. Great graphics, somewhat
educational, loads of laughter from the backseat with this one. Kids
can even email mp3s of their favorite sentences right from the app.
4. Talking Carl. So simple it's ridiculous but here it is: speak
into the microphone and the cute, square red guy repeats what you've
just said in a very funny voice (think PeeWee Herman). You can also
tickle him and make him laugh. You need headphones for this because of
the microphone situation but unless your kid has lost his (which mine
did for a bit) that shouldn't be a problem.
5. Must Eat Birds. Fair warning: you'll get sick of the song that
goes along with this so preset the volume controls! Fun game where you
use your finger to activate a slingshot that sends a little orange round
guy up to "eat" various things that fall out of the sky. I can admit
to playing this one for a loonnnggg time one day while waiting for my
son to get his teeth cleaned.
Some of these apps are free and none are over 99 cents which, in my
opinion, is a steal when you need a little backup amusement for
emergencies. Remember when we had to pack little games and crayons and
pads of paper in our bag just in case? Now you can pack it all into
your iPhone!
A note: there are so many games that are inappropriate for kids in
the iTunes App Store, even when you sort by category or age … so please
search the store with your child! And don't buy anything that you
haven't seen in action, either via a website or via videos posted on
YouTube (don't let your kid on there by themselves, either, but I'm sure
that goes without saying!) so you don't get stuck with a one-trick
pony. We've downloaded a couple of games that didn't engage my son for
more than five minutes.
Happy (peaceful, stress-free) shopping!
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