Over the years I have put age appropriate apps on my Android tablet for my grandkids to play. Now, while I am a pretty good grandpa, I do not like letting a small child run around the house swinging the devices around their heads and throwing them to each other. So at a young age they learned that if you are using grandpa’s stuff, sit down and relax. They have not had a problem doing that…well, ok, they did at first.
They all like to watch fun videos online. You know, usually it has to do with a cat or a dog doing something cute. Sometimes another youngster singing a funny song and on-and-on. I would go with them to YouTube.com and have to preview almost each video. I do not know if you noticed YouTube videos or not but they sometimes have videos of some things that you may not want young ones to view. Also, if your kids are at the age where they can read a little the language sometimes supplied by other viewers is reprehensible to say the least.
YouTube came out with a new app for Android properly named "YouTube Kids." You may search for it by name at the Google Play Store or use this link, "bit.ly/1H2lAuF" and caps count in the link.
YouTube Kids provides kid friendly videos including Sesame Street, Super Simple Songs, Thomas and Friends and many other kid videos. They have also removed all of the comments so they will not see, read or hear anything that many may consider inappropriate. IT is a slick little app and this grandpa recommends it.
Another that my eight year old loves is "Pitfall!" It is a remake of the old Atari game I used to play where Pitfall Harry runs and jumps over collapsing bridges, across waterfalls and under and over outcroppings to get to the end. That being said the graphics are far, far superior to that of the original which makes it an entirely new game. I will say that I play this one on occasion too.
There are drawing/painting apps, letter games, piano keyboards, "paper dolls," animal pictures and games and even the talking apps like "Talking Ben the Dog" (do not get that one; it becomes tiring to old people but kids love it). Most of these apps you can find for free and some are for a small fee.
For actual learning and not just games look for "Kids Math." It is just like it sounds; it has some simple "games" for youngsters. Simple addition, subtraction, sequencing and higher/lower number arranging, with lots of graphics are there. So they may actually learn something along the way.
Last but not least, lots of children’s books are also available.
