Favorite baby/toddler apps?

[chel]

I have a long road trip coming up. Anyone have some apps for the itouch they like for babies/toddler?

[P.J.]

I hope you get some responses. I'll be flying 2x 11 hours flights alone with an 18 month old in December and I will need to pull out all the stops to keep us all happy. Normally we're a no tv household and while we might let DS mess around with our phones sometimes he's mostly screen-free. But for a long trip like that using videos or apps to keep us all happy ~you bet!

Besides apps, I plan on downloading some videos from YouTube and DVDs. Not sure which ones yet, I'll probably be starting a thread asking about that closer to the time, lol!

Oh, and DH has a few apps that DS has played with and enjoyed. I could describe them but rather I'll ask him what they're called and get back to you here soon.....

[chel]

PJ
So far my dd has enjoyed some iPod type books (the going to bed book, and there is a monster at the end of this book). I'm thinking she could be able to do more.
Her favorite thing for screen time so far is watching spongebob with big sister. So while we don't do a lot, none of it is aimed at her level, just stuff the older people like and she just goes along.

[MadiMamacita]

Originally Posted by P.J. 

Besides apps, I plan on downloading some videos from YouTube and DVDs.

how do you download videos from you tube?? I want to do that!

I saw a 2ish year old on a plane playing some kind of game on an iPad.. I think it was some sort of matching game.. maybe involving sea animals?? There must be a way to search for apps by age group..
I will be watching this thread for ideas for my DS!

[Kedrosami]

Here are the best things we've discovered for my DS to play with on our iPhones:

"Alphabet Blocks." It's a simple game where you touch the screen and blocks pop up with different numbers and letters and move across the screen.

"Talking Tom Cat." It's a cat that repeats everything you say back to you and also does funny things when you touch different parts of the screen. There are also a talking dog app, a talking giraffe, and other things and they're all free.

There is "Coin Flip" which just flips a coin when you touch it. That one's great for younger babies.

And "Baby Piano" which simulates a piano that plays different notes when you touch the keys, and also has an animal above each key that makes a "meow" or "ribbit" or whatever sound if you have the animal sounds turned on.

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by radicaleel 


"Talking Tom Cat." It's a cat that repeats everything you say back to you and also does funny things when you touch different parts of the screen. There are also a talking dog app, a talking giraffe, and other things and they're all free.

 

That's one of the ones DH has on the iPad that is so much fun (not just for DS!!). We've gotten some really good laughs out of that one!

..and the piano one, we don't have the baby version w/animals, but just a regular piano app and DS also likes playing with that.
 

Originally Posted by MadiMamacita 



how do you download videos from you tube?? I want to do that!

 

Another thing I need to ask DH and report back here. I think it's some software you can get.

[Peony]

There are multiple different apps just like the talking tomcat one, there is a dino, hippo, dog, and more. All are hits with my toddler. Starfall.com has an app as well that he really enjoys, he is 2, he has no idea about his ABCs but he loves going through the letters. There is a Thomas app, Misty Island that is good for train fans. We have a farm one where you touch the animals and it makes the noise, Farm HD maybe. We have numerous others but those are his favs. Yeah, we spend a lot of time in the car!

[BellyBean]

Our DD loves Monkey Preschool lunchbox...she started playing during a long trip of ours in June and we only let her play during these "exception" type times and she is REALLY good.  They have matching, counting, shapes, letters, and more.  I am even impressed at how quickly she picked it up.  We also have several of the Duck Duck Moose songs/games (itsy bitsy spider, wheels on the bus, and old macdonald, fish school), which she enjoys too! 

Those our our top picks!  But I am going to check out the repeating thing too :) 

[violet_]

I love Toddler Lock on my Android phone -- not sure if there is an iPhone/iPod equivalent. It basically locks down all phone functions but then has a lovely interface where she can draw pictures and play with shapes and hear tones when she touches the screen.

[devasma]

My 20 month old loves Toddler Teasers Shapes.  Pretty basic - shapes come up and you have to pick the right one.  After a few rounds, you get to pick a 'sticker'.  And it's free!  I'm too cheap to spend any money on apps, lol.

[Katc8910]

I second all the Duck Duck Moose apps.

[dancingflower]

Peekaboo Farm. Its very simple but engaging. It's very friendly for the youngest toddler too. There are only two commands. First you tap to open the barn door, a farm animal will be inside and make its sound and a voice says its name (you can choose Spanish or English and child's voice or adults) then you tap to close the door and start over. One thing that I love is that the game has an end, once all 10 animal have made their appearance, when you open the barn door again they are all together sleeping. Oh you can tell I love the app, right? It's very simple and pretty.

Then there is peekaboo wild and ocean...

Peekaboo Barm and Wild were the only apps I ventured in buying so far because I saw in another mom's phone before. I'd hate to waste money. I'll try some of the ideas here. There will be a 9 hrs flight to Brazil in December and a 22 months inside that plane.

[Momof2greatboys]

You should try Spinlight apps: AlphaTots, TallyTots, & Swapsies! They are great for little ones!

[Schoobla]

I like a couple of apps from an Australian group called 'CanApps', ILearn2Count and ILearnColours. Cute and engaging graphics, not overally complicated or flashy. They remind me of the old fashion flash cards I had as a kid.

http://www.canapps.com.au/education.html

[Schoobla]

I'm not sure if this is the game you saw, but the one we have used that is a matching type game is

'Pic Out of Place'. where the idea is for the child to click on the image that doesn't fit in, and Pic Out of Place (Shapes)

which is similar concept but rather than animals/creatures it is different sorts of shapes.

[MadiMamacita]

just found this site:
http://bestappsforkids.com/category/uncategorized/
you can search by age, by theme, by price, by device, etc

[MsDolphin]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Anyone have new ones?

[cloudbutterfly]

Another vote for the Starfall app!  We ended up subscribing to the extra content on the site because he was ready to learn to use my trackpad, but he still loves the ABC app.

For Thomas lovers, we like the Thomas Game Pack and Thomas & Friends Engine Activities.  There's also a non-Thomas one called Build a Train that DS enjoys.

We have Manhole which I remember fondly from my own childhood, playing on our Mac Plus, but it's still a little beyond my DS (27 months old).  I expect it won't be for too much longer.

We have a drawing one called Scribble that's pretty basic but does the job.

[sammiegurl33]

Originally Posted by MadiMamacita 

how do you download videos from you tube?? I want to do that!
I saw a 2ish year old on a plane playing some kind of game on an iPad.. I think it was some sort of matching game.. maybe involving sea animals?? There must be a way to search for apps by age group..
I will be watching this thread for ideas for my DS!

Try RealPlayer. it's a simple downloader that allows you to take almost any clip (there are a few that are locked) from the internet. It has always worked on any youtube video because the content on there has either no copyright or permission to use copyright so it works great for music videos, wiggles clips, or any other youtube video you desire. When you have RealPlayer you can also convert any video with the video converter (downloaded when you download the player). This will convert to any video type and MP3 format. be aware that to put on most devices you have to convert for it to work but it's really easy. Also to save space make sure you clean out your library regularly and always clear from hard drive when it asks you.

[P.J.]

I never came back with the name of the one I was describing: it's called Fluid Toy 2 and it's like a moving drawing, if that makes sense. You can set it for different themes and colors, etc.

He also likes Misty Baby, where there are pics of babies covered in fog and you just swipe over it to reveal the picture. What we love is you can add your own photos and record voices to go with them. So we have some pics of DS and his Papa, and record Papa, or DS saying "Papa" and that plays as the picture gets uncovered. It's fun!