Fun iPhone Apps That Keep Your Kids Busy

All parents know it’s always a good idea to have a few
things on hand to distract the kidlets in the car when you’re going for a long
ride or get stuck in traffic. And let’s not even talk about plane flights,
where you basically have to bring an entire carry-on filled with diversions
(never mind diapers/bottles/food if they’re still that young).

Say hello to the newest weapon in your arsenal: The iPhone.

A growing number of iPhone applications, both games and
educational, are being developed for children, and most are pretty reasonably
priced. Heck, these can even help distract the little ones if you’re in line at
the store or in the doctor’s office waiting room.

We’ve taken the liberty of tracking down several such
applications, breaking them down by age, for the pre-school and elementary-aged
set:

Age: 2+

iKids Play — Developed with input from
teachers, parents and children, it’s meant to replace storybooks, coloring
books and crayons in one app. There are six activities – rub, color, read,
story and paint. Warning: It involves touching the screen, so you’ll want to
make sure to bring plenty of screen wipes along. You can find out full details
here.  

Price: $2.99 (called an “introductory price,” so that may be going up soon).

Download it here.

Peekaboo Barn — An animal makes a sound. Your
child guesses what animal it is and taps on the barn doors. A critter pops out
and your child finds out if she was right. The animal names also pop up,
written in English or Spanish. And the illustrations are by frequent “New
Yorker‚Äù contributor Divya Srinivasan. You can find out full details here. 

Price:
$1.99

Download it here.

Or, there’s a free, truncated version, Peekaboo Barn lite,
you can download here.

Age: 5+

iBear Flags — With 206 flags in the database,
your children can use the application in three modes. Learn: Random flags pop
up, displaying facts about the flag and the nation it represents. Guess: A flag
pops up, and the user guesses which country it represents. Map hints are
available. Flags guide: Check out flags by picture or country name. For extra
fun, run it in Russian. You can find out full details here. 

Price: $1.99

Download it here.

There also are free, smaller versions available in iBear’s
App Store – Flags CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, more or less the
former Soviet Union), Flags EU (European Union) Flags G8 (Group of Eight),
Flags NATO (North American Treaty Organization), Flags OPEC (Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries): Check them out here. 

Trace — Your child draws his own path through
each level, by drawing platforms and navigating past obstacles. It becomes
increasingly difficult on each new level. It saves high scores, so your child
can try to beat his previous score. But be prepared – some levels could even
have the adults scratching their heads. Find out full details (plus a demo
video) here. 

Price: Free

Download it here.

Age: 7+

Bee Fruitful — An alternative to
multiplication flash cards. Your child can practice her 1-9 times tables with
this application. It’s taught through simple word problems (example on iTunes:
Gary has 6 boxes of bananas. Each box has 2 bananas. How many bananas does Gary
have?), and your child types in the number and hits the = key to enter. If she
changes her mind before hitting =, she can shake the phone to clear her answer.
Find out full details here. 

Price: $0.99

Download it here.

Brain Quest Blast Off: Grade 3 — Based on the
Brain Quest best sellers, with nearly 2,000 questions in math, language arts
and social studies. Your child can choose one of the topics or a “Grab Bag” mix
of questions. Questions come in a variety of forms, including multiple choice,
word jumbles and math equations. Children collect “trophies” as they complete
topics and levels. Find out full details here.

Price:
$9.99 (called an “introductory price,” so expect that to go up).

Download it here.

Other versions are available for Grades 4, 5 and 6.

Word Warp — Like Text Twist, but for children.
Your young one gets six letters to form words with and gets points for each
correct word. She’ll get to the next level if she finds at least one word that
uses all the letters before time runs out. Find out full details here.

Price: $0.99

Download it here.

Now that you’ve downloaded all these applications, your kids
may not want to put your iPhone down. So if you’re worried about battery life –
don‚Äôt. We’ve got your back. We wrote about several charging options last year,
and they range from $12.95 for a battery pack that gives you up to 8 extra
hours (of talk time) with 4 AA batteries to $99.95 for an external battery pack
(they have them for 2^nd generation iPhones now and you can pre-order
one for 3^rd gen) that doubles your battery life.

And the young ones can be a little ‚Ķ rough ‚Ķ on gadgets, so you’re
going to want a protective case if you don’t have one already.

We’ve written a couple times about good iPhone cases. In
this post,
there are several options ranging from $12.99 to $34.95. If you’re willing to
spend a little more to ensure your phone’s safety, the last option on the page,
the Tough Skin, might be the one for you. It‚Äôs quite sturdy. In this post, there’s an even more expensive option, the Otterbox Armor ($69.95). But don’t
worry, there are some less expensive options (like the ChocoCase, for $24.95).