You might say, we’re a bit of a gaming crew.
We don’t do it all the time, but some of us would if some of us could. And we limit our under-10 set to when we are desperate for some p and q the occasional evening and weekends.
Today my friend TM was sharing her Squirt’s most favorite apps and it got me to thinking. I really love reading what other’s most favorites are, because heck, who has enough time to go searching through 500,000 apps for the reaaaaaally good ones?
So I thought I’d share ours.
I mean, theirs.
Seriously, beyond the good old Angry Birds, I’m not much of a gamer. Which is probably a really good thing.
So, here we go…
P.S. At the bottom I’ve listed some great educational apps as well as our family’s overall top 5 apps.
Tallula (2 years):
Toca Hair Salon
Blosics
Shape Builder
Poppy (2 years):
Little Uzu
Pizza Hero – iPad only
Bob Books
Vivienne (4 years):
Angry Birds Space
Jenga
Pac Man
Shepherd (5 years):
Checkers
Cross Fingers
Spy Mouse
Jude (6 years):
Angry Birds Space
Blosics
Eggy 100 – iPad only
Isabelle (7 years):
Potty Racers 2
Angry Birds Space
The Sheeps
Sophie (8 years):
Tiny Wings
Spy Mouse
Toca Hair Salon
Dalton (10 years):
Bat Man Arkham City Lockdown
NBA Jam
Infinity Blade
Asher (13 years):
Aralon – Sword and Shadow
Pocket God
Flick Home Run
Educational:
Eggy 100 – iPad only
Paper Bridge
Rocket Math
Mind Snacks** – great homeschooling app
Wordsmine
Bob Books
Overall Favorites:
1. Toca Hair Salon
2. Blosics
3. Spy Mouse
4. Tiny Wings
5. Angry Birds Space
Okay, so there are our favorites.
What are your favorites?
joymweaver says
We love Operation Math, Stack the States, Stack the Countries, Tallytots, Alphatots, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally, Pirate School, Letter School, Phineas and Ferb, and Rocket Math.
M3 says
Fun! Thanks for the recommendations. I got as far as downloading Toca Hair Salon for the girls, then they ripped the iPads out of my hands and are giggling and playing with it. Both really like it.
Karen says
Gotta gather up our favorites, but I wanted to do a little PSA about the apps. Just because you turn off Safari does not mean that the apps will not allow your child access to the internet. An example is Sound Hound (to find out the name of the song on the radio). If you look up the lyrics and they don’t have them on the app, it will put you on the internet to search for them (full internet access). Just wanted to share for those with kiddos that might be playing with less supervision. There are many, many other ones that will get you on the internet too (even some preschool ones)..
Cathleen says
Thanks for sharing!! I’m going to let the kids try some of these this weekend. We have some time on our hands (for once) and they’ll love it!!
Amy says
Milo’s fav’s (2 years)
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox, Tozzle, & Itsy Bitsy Spider (anything by Duck Duck Moose is AWESOME!)
Xandra’s fav’s (6 years)
Where’s My Water?, any/all Angry Birds
Jan says
Great post! My kids love all of the Toca Toca games. There is a train one that they’re currently obsessed with. Both kids, age 2 & 8. There is a puzzle-ish game called Candy Train that my son likes.
As a mom, I love Splash Math. It wasn’t free, but I think it’s a really great math app. I make my son (he’s 8) play it at least 10 minutes a day, and he doesn’t object. It’s not just facts — it’s number sense, etc. It doesn’t instruct, but that is my job.
Melinda says
I was just in Toronto last month visiting my extended family and I had brought both of my iPods (one has a camera, the other has all my apps and music…). Lifesaver! My boy cousin (4) LOVED traffic rush. I got it for free a few years ago, but I think it’s 1.99 now. Well worth the money. My entire family (8-22) loves it, so it is tons of fun. He also liked ActionPotato (free), although he didn’t quite understand the concept. Chop Chop Ninja, both he and my little brother (8) loved.
My girl cousin (2) liked the Phone4Kids app. I also downloaded a bunch of kid’s Mandarin videos off of youtube (to learn Mandarin), but the bright, flashing colors drew her in and she loved that!
I used to use a ton of the learning apps for my brother, but now that the curriculum is nearing public school 5th grade, I can’t find any super good ones. Any suggestions? He’s 8, going into 3rd grade, but he goes to a super preparatory private school, so when we purchase books that are tailored to the public school market, we have to go for the 5th and 6th grade.
Tonggu Momma says
SO helpful, listing by age. Thank you. The Tongginator (age 8) also loves Stack the States, Boggle, Angry Birds, Toca Kitchen and Toca Tea Party, Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope and Scribble Press.
Laurie says
My oldest (12 yrs) daughter uses Khan Academy apps to help her with her GT math class. Thank goodness because I haven’t been able to help her much in that subject for several years!! 🙂 (I teach first grade…good with that math!) My youngest daughter(9 years) loves Virtual Families.
We’re checking out some of the other ones listed!
AnnC says
my girls (ages 7 & 4) LOVE Smurf Village…it is a farming game with different levels. and games within the app as you increase levels. They also love Angry Birds, Oven Break, Cars, Where’s my water?, Run Roo Run, Squirter….Thanks for sharing….some of these might be our new favorites!!
Suzy says
Egg v Chicken and Subway Surf are both entertaining. My daughter loves memory type games. I’ll have to check out your kids’ favorites!
Lisa says
Emme age 6 likes angry birds, eggy 100 and others I have to get exact names.mmshe has been teaching herself,sign language with a free app. Rover for iPads will also let you run flash for educational programs on the iPad like reading eggs, abc mouse, etc
Tammy says
My kids love Draw Something. The kids can play each other or against school friends with wifi.