High-quality apps you can feel good about using with your child.
Librarians have been giving advice about how to make choices in media forever! Books, music, movies... Apps are simply another form of media to hit the market and for families that are choosing to use apps with their kids, it can feel overwhelming deciding which apps to choose.
There are a number of great resources about using apps with kids. Here are a few favorites:
- Family Time with Apps
- Apps en Familia
- iPad apps and your Pre-Reader
- Tips for using screen media with young children from Zero to Three
Read to start browsing apps? Check out our most recent app reviews below:
A unique puzzler game for older kids through adults. Enter the world of Gorogoa and explore. You’ll find lots of recurring images, a slowly unfolding story full of mystery and intrigue, challenging puzzles that are just right for older kids or for doing together as a family. There will be moments when you…
A treasure hunt using color clues that gets your family up and moving! In this free app, users can use pre-designed hunts like “a hunt towards bedtime” or they can create their own hunts. To design your own hunt, simply record your voice giving as many clues as you want to give. Then, once the clues are recorded…
Canadian developer, Sago Mini, really knows how to have fun in the snow! This app, similar to their previous apps, Road Trip, Planes and Boats, begins by users choosing a vehicle -- in this case a sled, but of course there are lots of silly options in addition to the usual sled designs. Perhaps you’d like to…
The Toca Life series tackles the sometimes difficult topic of hospitals in this very well-made app. As in all Toca Life apps, it’s all about open-ended play.
A very simple, but extremely charming app for younger players. This app follows young Hupsi (a young woodland creature -- not sure exactly what kind of animal he is) as he takes a little jog through the woods around his home. The music (featuring singing in a made-up language) is excellent and will likely not annoy parents or get stuck in their heads, but is calming and pleasant to listen to…
Build a park, big or small, then play in it with the animal friends from the Pango world! Users first choose either a blank canvas or a pre-built park. There are simple parks…
Go on a treasure hunt for shadows! This app is part…
Beautifully bizarre, surrealist puzzles that are great for adults and children to work on together. With no time limits, very little sound and a quiet atmosphere, this app is perfect for quiet afternoons or evenings at home, snuggled together on the couch. Explore this app together and my guess is that you’ll find that your child can solve the puzzles at least as often as you yourself can. If…
Spend a day at the farm with your favorite Sago Mini characters. In addition to the things you might expect to find on a farm (horses, cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, a garden, tractors, a barn, etc.) there are a few other additions that add to the fun -- a giant mud puddle, fruit trees, a llama, a unicorn, a seesaw, a…
Add a movie-like soundtrack to your favorite bedtime stories! This unique app includes a library of over 70 titles (and they’re adding more all the time!) from classic picture books to new favorites. Simply find a printed copy of one of the books on your home bookshelf or local library, open the app and choose…
Telling time on analog clocks was a skill that was difficult for me to learn as a child, so I am always on the lookout for new great ways to teach it to my own kids. This app does a nice job of first explaining the concept of measuring time, then building a clock face (numbers and hands), then explaining how to read…