Category
Creativity
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06.14.13Free apps for kids #001: Toca Hair Salon 2First in our new series spotlighting the best free children's apps for iPhone, iPad and Android We loved Toca Boca's Toca Hair Salon 2 when it came out in December 2012: a colourful virtual hair salon for kids to cut, dye and blow-dry its customers into whatever unique styles they wanted. This week, the app is being offered for free on iPhone and iPad, as part of Apple's Free App of the Week promotion. There are six characters, lots of styling tools, and the quirky, characterful graphics we've come to expect from Toca Boca. It'll revert to a paid app in a few ...
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06.13.13Eye Paint Alphabet gets kids painting letters with photosThe idea of apps that encourage children to get out looking at the real world definitely appeals. Here's the latest example: Eye Paint Alphabet. It's the work of children's apps developer Curious Hat, and aims to get kids painting letters of the alphabet by pointing their iPhone or iPad's camera at the world around them. "EyePaint offers the opportunity to create amazing images taking pictures using the camera to complete the drawings," explains its App Store listing. "Tapping on any area in the drawing will reveal the live camera image. The Camera Shutter button then appears enabling users to capture their chosen ...
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06.12.13Toca Builders app looks like Minecraft for kids… with robots!Earlier this week, we caught wind of a teaser video for Toca Boca's next children's app. Now an official trailer has been released for Toca Builders. Have you ever seen or played with Minecraft, the blocky building app that's taken the gaming world by storm? Well, Toca Builders looks influenced by that, except aimed at kids. "Join your new builder friends on an island far away and create a whole new world with blocks. Jump, walk, roll and rotate the builders to use their unique crafting skills, and they will help to build whatever you can imagine," explains the trailer's text. Continue ...
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06.10.13Zoinks! Scooby-Doo gets a Stickers with Sounds iPad appThere are a growing number of digital-stickering apps on iPad, which try to capture the fun of sticker-scene books in the real world, with none of the mess (or tears over stickers that have lost their stick). Here's one based on a cartoon you should know: Scooby-Doo. The app is part of developer Night & Day Studios' series of Stickers with Sounds apps, joining previous releases based on Superman, Batman and DC Super Friends. Here, it's Scooby, Shaggy and their friends who are the sticky stars of the show, with a series of scenes and poses for kids to get creative with. ...
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06.10.13Kids get singing with Caspar Babypants Music Time appHave you heard of the Caspar Babypants children's albums? You've probably heard the previous work of their creator Chris Ballew. He was in a band called Presidents of the United States of America, whose hits included 'Peaches' and 'Lump'. Nowadays, he makes music for children under the Caspar Babypants name. And now there's an app for them. Caspar Babypants Music Time comes with two tracks from each of the six albums, letting kids play along with them and sing/read the lyrics as they go. Continue Reading...
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06.07.13Your kids may be stuck to Lazoo’s Magic Stickers! app"Is it a piece of broccoli… or a tree? A bread roll… or a bus? Snow cones…or ice bergs?" asks the App Store listing for the Magic Stickers! app. Which makes us wonder what dinnertime is like round developer Lazoo's house... The app looks very nice though: a collection of scenes and animated stickers for children to arrange how they like on an iPhone or iPad. There are eight scenes and more than 50 stickers, but the twist is a tool for kids to make their own stickers, drawing them with their fingers and then importing them into the scenes. Continue Reading...
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06.03.13ZoLO playsculpture game gets a brand new iPad appZoLO isn't new: it was actually invented in 1986 as a wooden, painted playsculpture set by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Now, in 2013, there's an iPad app for that, which aims to be just as open-ended and creative a plaything as the physical toy it's based on. "Enter the realm of improbable possibility. Illogical inventiveness. Deliberate spontaneity," suggests its App Store listing. Continue Reading...
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06.03.13Night Zookeeper Teleporting Torch shines on iPadLast November, we loved Night Zookeeper Drawing Torch, an iPad drawing app for kids that got them to complete missions, all themed around a zoo of magical animals. Now it's got a follow-up, again for iPad, called Night Zookeeper Teleporting Torch. And it looks even more fun. The basic idea remains the same: "Draw pictures and write stories about magical animals... Enter a world of Spying Giraffes, Time Travelling Elephants and scary Fear Monsters," explains its App Store listing. Continue Reading...
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05.30.13Disney Channel Photo Finish app will add stickers to snapsAt the time of writing, this looks like another children's app that's only available in the US, which is a shame for Disney fans here in the UK. Still, Disney Channel Photo Finish looks fun: a photography app for kids featuring virtual stickers to customise their snaps. The stickers are stars of various Disney Channel shows: Phineas & Ferb, Gravity Falls, Shake It Up and the new film Teen Beach Movie. Continue Reading...
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05.30.13Out now: Toca Boca’s Toca Hair Salon 2 for AndroidEarlier this week, we reported that Toca Boca Android apps were on the way. We didn't know quite how close they were. Toca Hair Salon 2 has been released on the Google Play store today. The app costs 64p in a 66%-off launch promotion, and will run on Android smartphones and tablets alike. As on iOS, the app lets your children play hairdressers with six colourful characters, cutting, styling and colouring their hair before taking snapshots to preserve their creativity. Continue Reading...
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