Merry christmas to everyone fond of iPhone apps for kids!

On a such day it is only possible to wish everyone happiness, joy and fulfillment of all the dreams.

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It is also time for presents. We will give away 3 apps for 3 random commenters on Moo for Kids page on the appsandkids.com website which also belongs to us.

To get it, just go ahead and tell why do you like it on the game’s page – in the comments section. We run this contest over the weekend and give out 3 apps on Monday.

You can find more info about Moo for Kids on its page.

Merry Christmas!

I have written a happy post introducing our iPhone version of Moo for Kids yesterday. Therefore today I will just add a video showing what the game is all about. Hope you enjoy it!

Let us know what do you think either by commenting below or by downloading and rating the app!

Imagine this: Saturday evening, you do not have to hurry anywhere, you can relax and spend time with your family. Perhaps you had a nice dinner – one of those good ones – with tasty food, enjoyable atmosphere, some music and candles.

And suddenly your kid becomes uneasy – starts to look around, checks out some drawers and the table in the kitchen – the places where you usually keep your iPhone. He finds one. Starts it up and wants to play. But you only have these old boring games he played for months now. Such a perfect evening can’t be spoiled… Your child needs something new!

If this Saturday is tomorrow – you are saved. Because there is something new. There is something that can surprise and entertain him. There is something that can even teach him a bit. It is called Moo for Kids. Finally released for the iPhone and coming up this Saturday – 17 December. Right before the Christmas. Right before the New Year. Relax and enjoy!

What is Moo for Kids all about?

How often you point your child an animal in the book and mimic a sound that animal makes? It can be “moo” for the cow, “woof” for the dog, “meow” for the cat. You name it. With “Moo for Kids” you do not need a book for this. Everything is right in your poket.

There are two parts in the game. The first one, the “learning” part, allows kids to scroll through the animals, touch them and listen to the sounds they make. It is fun, it helps to develop the eye-hand coordination and teaches the child what different animals “say”.

In the second part 3 animals are shown and a sound is made. If the child guesses correctly which animal made the sound it will dance for him! Another round of laughing and giggling guaranteed! We are not even talking about how well the associative thinking works in this case. Children not only learn something – they apply it in the game right away.

Ok, how can I get it?

As said, Moo for Kids appears at the AppStore tomorrow, 17 December. I will post a link here as soon as it happens. So stay tuned! Update: our first iPhone app Moo for Kids is finally on the Apple AppStore! Please check it out and share your thoughts with us!

Any questions or comments? Leave a line below!

What is the very first reason we use the mobile apps? Probably the most general one is that we want give our children something good. Perhaps they will learn something, perhaps it will distract them for a moment, or maybe they will just have fun.

But why not to have fun together? Today iPhones provide us with a wonderful possibilities and experiences. Even the simplest game for kids can entertain and engage the adult as well!

Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Have fun together

As any other activity you do together, it enriches your relationship with kids. Try drawing, guessing and learning with your child. You can do it with or without the iPhone. But mobile phones give it a new touch, brings new emotions. We shouldn’t over-use it, but we can try it once and again.

There are lots of games for different ages. Some we have already written about, some we develop ourselves, and about many we will write in the future. It is not easy to choose, but when you do, it is rewarding. And it is fun!

Should I play with my kid all the time?

Not at all. I think kids can easily enjoy playing mobile games themselves (it depends on the age and on child’s behavior with a mobile phone of course). However they will greatly appreciate your involvement and the time spent together. And I hope you will like it too!

It is more than just playing

As it is always is with kids, everything they do is more than just playing. They constantly learn. And it is fascinating that mobile phones provide them a completely different way to learn. Something that we did not have in our childhood. That’s why I believe that it should be not only kids playing with the mobile games, but the parents as well.

What do you think? Comments are warmly welcome!

I am glad and excited to tell you, that we have started to develop our first iPhone app. It will be a funny educational game for kids of age 2 to 5.

How often you read a book for your children, show them pictures of animals and try making the voice or sound the animal makes? Usually it is lots of fun and kids are willing to sit and play with you this way.

But what if you are busy? For example driving? Or perhaps you just don’t have a book with you – waiting at the airport or in the long queue? This is when a little game on your mobile comes in handy.

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Please note, that some links in this article are affiliate links and I may earn a little commission if you buy the app. Thank you if you do!

Scribble is an application which allows you to draw on the screen. It is indispensable if you do not have pencil and paper, but your kids want to draw something. You can scribble whatever you want!

Fun and easy

A funny part about the app is that you can select a picture from your album and draw over it. And save the results of course. This makes it much more fun for the kid to play and draw. This is a picture that my little one made:

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Please note, that some links in this article are affiliate links and I may earn a little commission if you buy the app. Thank you if you do!

Peekaboo barn is a nice cute game. It is turning itself to the kids of age from 2 to 5 and allows to learn different sounds that animals make.

How to play

So how does it work? The animal is hiding in the barn first. Like this:

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It is an important consideration – when to let your little ones to play the iPhone apps. They want to play as often as they can of course, and we, parents, have to decide on the occasions and duration.

Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Extreme cases and balance

There are two extremes in this decision.

One is not to let to play at all. Surprisingly, there are many parents who hold this opinion. And the reasons are different. Someone is afraid that a child can break the phone. Others are worried because of the psychological and educational implications.

Another extreme is to let it go and allow playing whenever the kid wants. Some even get their own iPhone or another device.

As with everything, I suggest that it is best to keep the balance. We live in the age of technology, and we need to let our children embrace it. On the other hand iPhone apps actually have strong psychological and emotional effects on children. Therefore time spent with these apps should be limited – the same as with TV, computer games or eating candies.

Letting to play

Most of the parents use the iPhone to entertain the child in cases when they don’t have time or there is no possibility to do anything else.

For example, in the morning hurry it can be justified to let the kid play while you are cooking the breakfast and prepare him or her to the kindergarten or school.

Another example is allowing to play in the car or waiting in the long line. It will also entertain the child and hopefully will teach him or her something.

We suggest alternating these activity with something else – reading, listening to music, just talking or singing with you! This way the child will get everything he or she needs from the app, but will also learn to entertain him with something else. And that is actually another great learning experience we don’t think about sometimes.

Have rules

The last but not least – should one allow the child to play in other circumstances than that. For example, playing instead of going outside?.

My opinion in this case is to encourage different activities for the kid, but to be flexible enough and give him freedom to choose. It is advisable to have the rules for playing with iPhone apps. If he really wants to play with the app – OK, play for 20 minutes and then let’s read the book or go outside. It is the balance which is important.

Enjoy together!

Today in the morning I had a similar dilemma. My little one wanted to play with the iPhone. However I managed to distract her with a book, and we ended up having a nice time together and enjoying the book. The other day we spent quite some time playing with the iPhone. In both cases it was good to be together!

I hope you find this information helpful and like the article. It is reasonable however that your opinion or experience might be different. What is it? I would be happy to hear it in comments!

Appsforchildren.net is born. I am so excited to finally launch our new website. I hope you will like it!

Convenience and simplicity

For the last several weeks we have been working and trying to arrange everything here for your convenience. It has been hard to decide on what should be here and what should go away.

You can see it and judge yourself – we did not overcrowd the site, nor are there lots of annoying ads flying around. Just the main area for the info, a menu and a couple of things on the sidebar.

We want to keep it simple so that everyone finds his/her way without being stressed or annoyed.

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Today we will discuss different psychological effects that iPhone apps may have on children. We will see how these effects can be caused and how to avoid unwanted consequences.

Preparing this article I was using different sources discussing the effects of the computer and mobile games on children (e.g. – Effects of video games, effects of violent media). The sources are very diverse, and it is sometimes fun to see sooo mixed results in different studies. Here I present a summary of my findings on the subject and apply it to the topic of iPhone apps.

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