Children’s apps developer Toca Boca has been on a real tear recently, with Toca Cars, Toca Mini, and Toca Hair Salon Me all being released since September. Is there time for one more new Toca Boca app before Christmas? Yes, there is. It’s called Toca Lab, and it’ll be available this Thursday (12 December) for…
There’s a growing number of apps that teach children how to program, with Light-bot the latest hoping to get kids interested in coding. Available for iOS and Android, it describes itself as a “programming puzzle game”, aiming to make learning the basics of coding fun rather than a dry experience. “Light-bot lets players gain a…
There’s definitely a lure of the sea for our two children, who love finding out more about strange sea creatures, whether through TV shows, books or apps. We think they’ll love A to Sea, an app by developer The Happy Dandelion – a couple called Josh and Donna Wilson – which grabbed our attention on…
Big news for parents and children’s app developers alike: Apple has launched its catch-all Kids category on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Well, it has in the US: we’re guessing it’ll be rolling out around the world over the coming hours. If you’re using Apple’s iTunes software on your computer, it’s not super-obvious…
We love Sesame Street, but we think we may be about to love it, even more, thanks to the release of Sesame Street Family Play. Released for iPhone and iPad, it’s not just one game: it’s more than 150, all designed to play in the real world, rather than purely on a touchscreen. How? The…
iPad has a growing number of letter-tracing apps to help kids practise their alphabet-writing skills, and while many of them are average, a few stand out from the herd with their character and quality. Writing Wizard is one of them. It’s the work of French developer Pierre Abel, who makes children’s apps under the name…
LeapFrog is a well-known brand for parents thanks to its various electronic learning toys. It’s doing more in the apps world too, with Learn to Write with Mr. Pencil its latest release. Available in separate versions for iPhone and iPad, it’s designed to work with the Learn to Write with Mr. Pencil stylus accessory. The…
When I was young, I had a Commodore 64 computer. Some friends did too, while others had ZX Spectrums or Amstrad CPCs. Arguments over which was best could be heated, but what all these home computers shared was the fact that you could write your own programs for them, not just run those of commercial…
If you buy one iPad app for your kids today, make it SquiggleFish. It’s a brilliant, creative idea that its developer Stripey Design should be thoroughly proud of. It’s the latest example of an app that tries to get kids to create in the real world, not just on-screen. The idea: they draw a fish…
Monsters? Good. Teaching your children the alphabet? Equally good. Both together? Marvelous. And that’s the idea behind Endless Alphabet. It’s the work of publisher Callaway Digital Arts, which previously made the Monster at the End of This Book and Another Monster at the End of This Book apps for Sesame Street. They clearly have a…