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Pad apps for kids. Toddler and pre- schoolers take to the i.
Pad and i. Phone like the proverbial duck to water. There's something so intuitive and simple about touching things on the screen that they just dive in without needing to be shown how it all works.
The problem is that the App Store can be a confusing place if you're looking for the best i. Pad apps for kids. For example, the lowest age rating that Apple uses for apps is 4+, but there are many apps that can be used by, and are clearly aimed at much younger children. Even children as young as one can use an i. Pad to some degree, so long as you're careful about them not damaging it, and have a case that's tough enough to protect it from the inevitable bumps and scrapes it's going to have to endure. When you're choosing apps for toddlers or preschoolers you need to be sure that what they are getting is age appropriate, educational and something they will actually enjoy playing. Also, you don't want any nasty surprises when you discover that your little darling has been playing fast and loose with your credit card and making accidental in- app purchases.
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You also want to make sure they don't see anything inappropriate on your i. Pad or i. Phone. We're sure you'd agree that as brilliant as Rage HD (a first person perspective zombie shooter) is, it's too gory and frightening for young children to see, let alone play. And while i. OS has some parental controls restrictions built- in, it's not very clear how to activate them. So, without any further ado, here are our ten best i. Pad apps for children. Toy Story 3 Read- Along - £5. Pad There is no shortage of interactive story books on the App Store, with good reason; the i.
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Pad is the perfect size to make a great bedtime story book for kids. In most cases there are two modes of use: you can read along with your children, or they can navigate through the story using simple back and forward arrows and have it read to them. You'll find old classics like Cat in the Hat and Jack and the Beanstalk on the App Store, but Disney has brought things right up to date with the Toy Story 3 Read- Along. Toy Story 3 is the latest in the successful series of animated films from Pixar and, like the previous films, it's pitched perfectly at young children, with enough genuinely funny jokes in there to keep the adults amused, too. Following the traditional story- book format, the app can read the story to you. But Anglophiles beware; the narrator has an American accent which could jar, although since key phrases spoken by the characters (such as Buzz's "To infinity and beyond!") are all done in the actual film actor's voice, having an American accent reading the book doesn't seem too out of place. There's also an option to record your own voice reading the book, if you'd like your child to hear that instead.
The story book follows the plot of the film very closely, with beautiful pictures illustrating each page and bringing all your child's favourite characters to life. This time, the toys have to survive the perils of the Sunnyside Daycare Centre after being accidentally shipped there as their owner Andy packs up his things for college. Among the pages, you'll find the occasional special feature. These mini- adventures are colourful and simple enough for your children to enjoy.
For example, when Woody paraglides off the roof of the daycare centre you can enter into a little 3. D game where you have to tilt the i. Pad to help Woody avoid obstacles.
There are also jigsaw puzzles and maze games to play. Another interesting addition are 3.
D stills. If your child has some 3. D glasses then these can be quite fun to explore, and your child can tap into different areas of the picture to zoom in even further. Compared with a 5. Toy Story 3 Read- Along book appears quite expensive at £5.
Jacob, a huge Toy Story 3 fan, returns to this app again and again. He loves listening to the story over and over, and he can actually play the games unassisted, which is a surprisingly rare thing for App Store games. Your child is obviously going to want the latest version of Toy Story, but money- concious parents take note: the Toy Story and Toy Story 2 story books are of exactly the same high quality and are available on the App Store for much less. The original Toy Story story book is free, and Toy Story 2 costs just £2. But even at £5. 4. Toy Story 3 Read- Along app is a bargain, and Jacob agrees.
Kid Art For i. Pad - 5. Pad There are plenty of free drawing apps for kids on the App Store, but if you want the job done properly then you're better off with a paid- for app, even if, in the case of Kid Art, it's only for the tiny sum of 5. As with most drawing apps you can simply choose a type of crayon, colour and off you go, but Kid Art has over 2.
You get a choice of theme too, which alters the types of stamps and backgrounds available: Original, Under the Sea or At School. We're reviewing the i. Pad version here, but there's also an i. Phone version. We can't say the i. Phone is the best medium for drawing apps, though - they really benefit from the i. Pad's larger canvas.
Ultimately, Kid Art is the brightest, most engaging and fun drawing app we've found for the i. Pad. It lacks any really 'advanced' features, but for young kids that's a strength rather than a weakness. They're simply free to let their imaginations run riot without getting put off or confused by complicated options.
Oh, and they'll probably want to fill every screen up with pictures of an orange octopus, but we're sure it's helping their creativity evolve. At least, that's what we're telling ourselves. Ace Writer - Alphabet Series - £1. Pad For children that are just learning to write letters, the i. Pad presents a great opportunity.
Obviously, tracing a letter with your finger isn't the same experience as drawing it with a pen or pencil, but it can be an important first step to helping your children on the way to becoming great writers. There are loads of lovely spelling apps for kids on the App Store, mainly involving choosing letters to make up simple words - Alphabet Car is one of our favourites for its novel control system, in which you tilt your i. Pad to drive your bus into the letters on a road to pick them. While they are a lot of fun, these sorts of apps still feel more like recreational games than genuine educational experiences. It's apps such as Ace Writer that give your child a chance to learn. It demonstrates how they can draw letters with their finger by tracing the lines for them in the correct order, then encourages them to give it a go. Upper and lower case are supported by the program, your child also gets to hear the sound of each letter, and it shows a word that starts with the letter in question, such as 'dog' with its associated animal sound.
As a parent, you really feel your child is learning something by using this app, and it's bright and engaging enough to keep them interested. It's also simple enough to use that they're soon choosing which letter they want to trace themselves. Quite often the best apps are the ones that do one thing, and do it well, and Ace Writer Alphabet is a perfect example of this. In fact, we found that Jacob, who is only now being introduced to letters at pre- school, was quite happy to use this app on his own, following along the letter without any prompting. Sophie, who has aleady started school, was more of a seasoned pro, so she jumped straight in with this app, and really enjoyed tracing the letters.
Smurfs' Village - free - i. Phone, i. Pod touch, i. Pad Since farming games don't rely on quick reactions, shooting people or violent themes, it's no surprise that many of them are aimed at children. There's one important caveat to be aware of in the form of in- App purchases, but on the whole, these sorts of games are ideal for young children. They basically revolve around growing crops, earning money and buying new things to upgrade your burgeoning farm or village. Smurfs' Village is a perfect example of the genre on the i.
Pad. Your Smurfs potter about planting crops and waiting for them to grow. Once your crops are ripe you need to harvest them in timely order to earn gold, if you wait too long they'll wither. When you consider that some crops can take 2. The sheer joy kids get at a freshly- ripened pumpkin patch cannot be denied. You need to play the game with the children and direct their efforts, rather than let them loose on it on their own, or your village will go nowhere fast. You'll be amazed at how quickly you start to care about the little blue fellows. Kids Song Machine HD - £1.
Pad. If your child has ever been to a play group then they'll know all the words to various classic nursery rhymes off by heart already. The sing- along app Kids Song Machine has all the classics, like Old Mc. Donald, Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Itsy Bitsy Spider, presented with some gorgeous graphics with which your child can interact.
It's the attention to detail here that really sets this app apart from the rest - graphics all have a distinctive feel and the songs are well produced. The interactivity is fun, too. Touch a fish and it will swim away, and trains will go on a little journey when prodded. Buy your little ones the Kids Song Machine HD app and they'll be dancing around the front room in no time.
Best i. Phone and i. Pad apps of 2. 01. WIREDSubscribe to WIREDADVERTISEMENTDon't settle for second- best. Here's our pick of the best free and paid- for i.
Phone and i. Pad apps. Creativity and photography. Snow. This South Korean Snapchat clone is finding fans among western teens, who use its huge array of animated filters to augment photos. The results self- destruct like its rival's - albeit after 2. OS and Android, free] Brickshots. Ever wondered what your favourite portraits would look like as Warhol- esque works of LEGO art?
Brickshots imports your pics and a brick- by- brick instructions. You'll have to provide your own LEGO, but you can tweak the colour scheme and number of pieces. OS and Android, free] ADVERTISEMENTAuxy.
This pocket mixing- studio makes it easier than ever for wannabe producers to create their own beats. Its clever interface breaks tracks into small chunks which can be layered up and have effects applied. Auxy's simple, visual way to make music also won it the Apple Design Award at WWDC 2. OS, free] Prisma.
ADVERTISEMENTPrisma harnesses deep neural networks to reinterpret your smartphone photos as works of art. Current graphical starting points include Roy Lichtenstein, Edvard Munch and Katsushika Hokusai, with new artists added regularly. Results can be hit- and- miss, but are always surprising. OS and Android, free ]Kindeo. The photo album gets rebooted with Kindeo, which lets families pass down memories from generation to generation. Record video through the app and store it so that future relatives will never be able to escape those embarrassing baby photos. [i. OS, free.]Hyperspektiv.
Hyperspektiv is a video- and photo- editing app for those who need something more extreme than Ludwig or Clarendon. The app lets you change images and video beyond recognition. Swipe your fingers across the screen to create glitches and kaleidoscopes and distort colour to extreme levels. Perfect for DIY artists. OS, £1. 4. 9]Le Déserteur. This i. Pad- only art installation consists of two "rooms", each containing 1.
It bears repeated viewing, with exclusive artwork regularly updated for each user. OS, $9. 9. 9]Cardboard Camera.
Cardboard Camera converts panoramic photos into a format which can be viewed through Google Cardboard VR viewers. Send photos and audio to family and friends or keep an album to relive awe- inspiring moments. Android, free]Paper for i. Phone. The popular i. Pad drawing app comes to the small(er) screen, with a range of new features including text, photos and to- do lists to extend its appeal beyond artists and designers.
OS, free]Enlight. Enlight is one of the smartest photo- editing tools around. As well as a raft of regular features, you can add text in multiple fonts and turn photos into graphics or LOLtastic memes. OS, £2. 9. 9]Handpick. Handpick harvests recipes from food blogs and Instagram and allows the user to browse based on ingredients. It's packed with beautiful photography and inspiring ideas. OS, Android, free]Mapillary.
If you have a passion for citizen science or cartography, Mapillary - a crowdsourced version of Google Street View – might appeal. Supply photos through your smartphone as you go about your business. OS, Android and Windows Phone, free]Nutshell. Effectively capturing a moment in a single frame is a serious photographic challenge. But why use one frame to tell a story when you can use three? Nutshell animates a moment by combining three shots into a short, shareable video. OS, free]Simmer. Are you Jamie Oliver?
Or Mary Berry? We thought not. But you can pretend to be with Simmer, which lets you create and share recipes and short how- to cooking videos from the comfort of your own kitchen. The Great WIRED Bake- Off, anyone? OS, free]Facetune. We're slightly annoyed that we like this app – yes, we at WIRED can be just as vain as everyone else. With Facetune, the airbrushing, teeth- whitening and skin- smoothing of our pasty faces is just a swipe away. Android, i. OS, £2.
Productivity and tools. Space. Hub. Space.
Hub uses real- time video feeds and GPS to keep amateur space- watchers up- to- date with astronauts and asteroids. It also aggregates tweets from industry insiders into a single feed.
Android, free]Scrivener. The beloved writing software, which splits manuscripts into multiple blocks, is finally available for i. Phone and i. Pad.
All the desktop features cherished by writers - scriptwriting, different trash cans for different documents, etc - are there. It's not cheap, but serious wordsmiths will love it. OS, £1. 4. 9. 9] ZCast. Amateur podcasters rejoice: ZCast makes it possible to broadcast straight from your smartphone.
The app harnesses existing messaging software at parent company Zula and links to Twitter to help would- be Sarah Koenigs reach new audiences. Handily, co- hosts can join the show live while on location. OS, free. Rolo. This calendar app uses animations and a circular design to let you see your day, week and year in a single swipe.
It's probably easier to set a date using your normal calendar, but Rolo is still a worthwhile accessory, especially if you're interested in seeing how life divides into work and play. OS, free]Flowstate. This note- taking tool ensures total concentration from writers by deleting every word they've written if their fingers leave the keyboard for more than seven seconds. With this looming threat, Flowstate helps people get in the "flow", and resist the distractions popping up elsewhere. OS, £7. 9. 9]Mimicker Alarm.
Snoozing is impossible with this sadistic alarm clock, which makes you play games to prove you are awake. The default puzzle is to take a selfie while pulling a face.
Built by Microsoft's Garage Team - using APIs from UK- based Project Oxford - the app's facial recognition software detects your expression. Android, free]Slash. Slash replaces the QWERTY keyboard on your smartphone and turns it into a search engine, removing the need to jump between apps when searching for videos, maps, photos and music- streaming services. It works with apps such as. Twitter, Messenger, Whats.
App and Instagram. OS, free]u. Make. Design your next 3. D- printed car using this sketching app. Draft an outline on u. Make, then manipulate the design to create a 3. D model. Ideal for designers who want to prototype and amateurs who want to play around.
OS, free]Addapt. This smart contacts manager keeps itself up to date by tracking changes to your friends, family and co- workers' contact details - as long as they're addappt users.[i. OS, Android, free]Meistertask. Collaborate Kanban- style with this task app from the creators of Mindmeister. Share checklists, attachments and progress updates across unlimited projects. OS, free]Nine. This is a visual to- do list for people who want to use their cameras to create reminders. Attached to each snap is a tag such as "Buy", "Watch" and "Go", giving you a distinct list of actions to take.
The app also geotags the pictures, allowing you to remember where you were when you captured the photo. OS, free]We. Transfer. If you're already familiar with We. Transfer, then you'll know how useful this file- sending service is.
This smartphone version is perfect for those who operate across multiple devices. OS, Android, free]Khan Academy. Online education organisation Khan Academy already had an app, but this i. Pad version bundles all of its 1. The series is just as accessible in interactive app form as it is on the web. OS, free]Social and messaging. Mood. Cast Diary.
Mood. Cast Diary is an app that tracks your mood by allowing you to input diary entries throughout the day. Once it collects enough data on your day- to- day emotions, it can offer advice as to trends in your happiness or unhappiness. The ‘intelligent mood prediction’ might make it a bit easier to combat the bad- weather blues. Android, Free with in- app purchases. Bumble. Bumble has been lauded as the female- friendly version of Tinder, mainly due to the reason that once two people swipe right on the app, a conversation can’t begin unless the woman says something first.
It’s been out on i. Phone for a while but has recently been released on Android. If you’re looking for love in the run up to Valentines Day, this might be the app for you. OS, Android, Free with in- app purchases. Spoonr. In an age where we like to show affection through emoji and likes, sometimes a little contact is needed. Spoonr helps its network find nearby strangers to cuddle, no strings attached.
OS, Android, free]Whim. This app removes the legwork from dating. Swipe to find potential partners, then Whim will pick a night and suggest locations based on both daters' calendars and preferences. OS, free] Lime. Tired of Tinder? Lime matches your stored health data and suggests similarly sedentary or active people for you to date.
OS and Android, free]Mood Chat. For when emojis just don't cut it, artist Tom Galle has created an app to help you express yourself through cheesy background music. His audio keyboard lets you select from dozens of ditties to add emphasis to your chats. [i. OS, free.]Follower. Followers are the currency of social networks - but what if a stranger actually followed you around? This app grants you a real- life follower for the day, who watches you from afar.
Successful applicants will be notified the morning they're about to be stalked. OS, free]Hey! VINA"The Tinder of…" has become a well- worn phrase in tech circles, but Hey! VINA can lay claim to being the Tinder of female friendship.
Peripatetic women swipe through potential friends' profiles to find their perfect companion from people matched on similar personalities and hobbies. OS, free]Peach. It's hard to keep track of every new social- media app out there, but Peach is worth watching. The app, from Vine co- founder Dom Hofmann, features "magic words" that help you GIFs and images and share the music you're listening to. Its news feed reads like a stream of teen consciousness.