Many parents feel that their children spend too much time on their devices and in front of screens. But the reality is that technology is ingrained into every aspect of our lives. Instead of lamenting kids’ natural love of playing on their phones and tablets, we can put their screen time to good use by finding apps that help them develop their creativity and have fun at the same time.
Here are some favorites.
- Toca Hair Salon 3. $2.99, ages 4-11. Your child chooses from among four different characters and then gets right to work using an array of fun and quirky tools to style the character’s hair. He can play with his customer’s look using a variety of kinky hairstyles and colors, and can even add a beard to characters of either gender.
- Toontastic 3D. Free, ages 6-8. What’s better than storytelling? Creating a story with 3D animations and your own voice as audio, of course! When finished, your child can save her story as a video. You can even incorporate family photos into the story.
- Telestory. Free, ages 6-12. If your child yearns to create YouTube-style videos starring himself as the main character, then he will love this app. It allows your child to become a character in his own story, complete with animations and background music. He will even learn the process of making a movie, from writing to directing, to rehearsing, to recording.
- Draw and Tell by Duck Duck Mouse. Free, ages 4 and above. This digital art studio makes artistic creation easy and fun for even the youngest of artists. Kids create drawings using a variety of fun tools. They can also add animation and voice recording to their artwork and save it as a video.
- Faces iMake. $2.99-$3.99, ages 4 and above. This clever app allows kids to create funny faces out of a variety of materials like toys, candy, and musical instruments. They can share their unique faces via email or through a gallery called FaceWorld, and can even add to faces created and shared by others.
- Loopimal by Yatatoy. $3.99, ages 3 and above. This app brilliantly combines musical composition with fun digital animation. Children compose melodies by dragging and dropping characters into a sequence. They can then view animal characters dancing to the music that they created.
- Book Creator. $2.49-$4.99, ages 7 and above. Kids can create their own books which include video, photos, drawings, and sound. Background, text, and images can be easily customized. Their ebooks can then be shared in digital format as a PDF, ePub, or video.
With any of these apps, your kids can have fun with technology and develop their creativity at the same time. This way, everyone wins.
