Image: stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 Children-friendly features making the app parent-friendly

As we talked in the mentioned article, there are many aspects that make an app children-friendly or not. For example it should not contain in-app purchases and ads disturbing child’s attention. In addition, it should be easy and intuitive to use the app. Finally, it should provide a value for the kids – it is just great if they can improve some practical or social skills while playing! Or just learn something new.

Guess what? Of course if the app satisfies these criteria, it is just great for the parents too! You do not have to help your kids out of the advertisement’s trap. You don’t have to constantly help the kid with navigation while he or she plays. You don’t have to worry about your credit card being ripped off via the in-app purchase! And you know that kids are not just wasting their time – they are learning. Can it get even more parents-friendly than that? I hope so.

Enhancements making an app even more parents-friendly

Well, there are some things on the top that can make an app appeal parents better.

Most of the parents are scared of noisy games. Therefore we suggest that the apps with “screamy” and disturbing sounds do not fall into the parents-friendly category. On the opposite, if the sounds and melodies are moderate and non-obtrusive (or can even be switched off) then the app is more acceptable for us, ever-tired parents. In short, parents-friendly apps should spare our ears!

And one more thing that makes the app parent-friendly is a balance between occupying the child for an extensive period of time and not making him or her over-excited. It is great if the kid can play during the longer waiting time or a car drive and not get bored. What we don’t want however is a child who cannot calm down after that. Unfortunately this may be sometimes the case with the addictive competition-style games. Therefore be cautious when you are choosing!

We hope that you find as many parents-friendly apps as possible (join our newsletter and learn how!). We also strive to make sure that our own apps satisfy as much of the above as possible. Do you think there is something more to add to the list? What makes YOU, a parent, like the app? What doesn’t? Tell us in the comments!

Today is probably one of the most celebrated and important days in the year! Not only we survived the End of the World a few days ago (phew!) but we are also meeting a magical and wonderful Christmas today.

We wish you and your kids calmness, happiness and joy this day! If you have a free day, it is probably the best time to spend together with your kids. Let’s put our iPads and iPhones aside (I shouldn’t have said that) and go out to play with them and perhaps create something like this (if you are lucky enough to have snow!): Or something like this if you are lucky enough not to have snow: Merry Christmas to all of you!

I have written a few times about our upcoming app and finally decided to interview Maria-Pia herself. Who else can describe and tell about the concept than its creator? And she did. The interview is full of the tips that you can use right away. At the same time just in a few weeks you will be able to grab the app, play with Friendy and feel the difference it makes in your relationships with kids.

Here we go, our quick interview about Friendy:

Let us know what do you think in the comments! Also, follow us on Facebook and make sure you do not miss the app!

Moo for Kids Lite

This is a free app aiming to show you a preview of the Moo for Kids iPhone game. Its flow, animations and graphics are exactly the same as of the full game with the only limitation of 3 animals instead of 20.

The game is easy and fun to play, it is suitable for the toddlers and kids of 2-3 years old. Guess which animal said “Moo” and smile!

You can see how it actually works in the video below (just a note – the video is showing a full version):

Just download it here!

Animal Tiles for Kids Lite

This is another free app that we have. Here kids are collecting little puzzles in order to see the animal show! The game was designed to help kids to improve fine motor skills, logical thinking and problem solving skills. And to have fun too!

Let us show you a preview video of the app (and again – it is a preview of the full app, but you will get the idea):

Yeah, please enjoy them and have a great time with your kids! The apps are totally free and you can download them in the iTunes – Moo for Kids Lite and Animal Tiles for Kids Lite.

By the way, a kind reminder that we are running a crowd-funding campaign! Please support us and get the payback yourself! Thank you!

And just to check what I am talking about here – please visit our campaign page on AppBackr!

Like it? Have some thoughts and suggestions? Let us know in comments!

First things first

To start with, what is it all about? We have mentioned it a few times and will shortly do it here. The dolls that you have just seen deal with 6 basic feelings – anger, sadness, fear, discontent, happiness and calmness. Psychologists say that these feelings are the most common in our lives and many other emotions that we experience build on their top. Thus understanding these basic feelings may help us and our children tremendously in the everyday live.

Each feeling may be discussed with kids separately. You just take the doll and talk. Why does it happen? How to cope with it? When did you have it last time? What did you do? What should you do next time? Children can draw different feelings and situations, act themselves mimicking particular feeling, learn to accept and not be afraid of these emotions, learn to express and talk about them.

And now – you will be able to pick up the app and do the same! It is in the state of active development and will be released in early February. Kids will be able to do everything they could with real dolls and even more. It will be interactive, interesting and engaging. Check out some of the animations that we have created:

What are the positive effects? Children get to know themselves better – they build the self-esteem, manage to cope with negative emotions and stress, learn what they could do in the case they feel a particular emotion. As a result, they also become more empathic, able to communicate and build the relationship better and to be much more efficient in resolving the problems and conflicts in the future. Hopefully changing that future to the better.

Can you help?

We strongly believe in this idea. It is based on a psychological research and a great feedback from thousands of kids and parents using the dolls. But we need YOU to believe in it too. For the sake of your kids and other kids around the globe – to make them feel better, safer, happier.

There are many ways that you can help – spread the word, give suggestions and ask questions (info@appsandkids.com or just comments below), and finally – support our crowd-funding campaign on AppBackr.

It works like this – you give us a certain sum of money via this special platform. In turn we promise and AppBackr helps to ensure that when we start selling the apps we return you 50% more than you initially “borrowed”. It is an amazing win-win situation – we get more funds for marketing of the apps and you contribute to the idea, help spreading it and finally get your money back and even more!

If it sounds like a plan please visit our page on AppBackr, learn more about the platform and the project and give us some push! Thank you!

Today we are starting a series of sneak peek videos presenting our upcoming app created in collaborations with professional psychologists from Mental Picture. And the first feeling is Anger:

One of the game-points in the app is asking yourself – why can you and others be angry? Let’s try it! Tell us in the comments – what can make you or your kids angry?

Three random commenters will get a little surprise!
(Please keep in mind that we will use the email you provide in the answer form to give it to you – and only for that. We respect your privacy!)

Every app wants to be fun

Certainly even if your app is strictly educational you don’t want it to be dull! I could even believe that people looking for the “best educational apps” actually assume that it will be at the very least engaging to play.

Ask your kid – what did he or she do in the kindergarten? The answer will more often than not be “I just played…”. But ask the teacher! They have been reading, dancing, drawing, sorting, telling, singing and learning all day long. That is quite an extensive “just played”!

A similar challenge is ahead of every developer of educational app. Ask what happens with the apps that do not deliver engagement? They are not being played and not even purchased in the first place!

You need to pick just one option

But what happens to the apps claiming to be fun? Usually they are given kids while the parents are busy themselves. Sort of a virtual babysitter that you can also pass to the back-seat while driving. That is great for the apps intended to be just a pure entertainment. But it is certainly not the faith that you want your Great Educational app to have!

Therefore I have a feeling that apps boasting to have lots of fun automatically make parents think it is a back-seat app. At the same time if I want the app to convey the educational value it needs to be played in a different way. Perhaps at certain times of the day or week, perhaps together with parents. Only then it may actually be useful. This rises a challenge even to the greatest educational apps – how to convince parents and kids without playing the “fun” card? Oh my, the app needs to be really great.

We are choosing

The reason I brought this up is that we at often need to choose between the different ways of presenting our apps as well. It is definitely a fun challenge, however it is not always easy. Especially with the upcoming app that I would bring more towards the educational category. But hey, it will of course be fun too – I believe that your kids will definitely “just play” with it!

Stay tuned and let us know if you have any thoughts in the comments!

Moo for Kids HD is an iPad version of our old good friend, iPhone app Moo for Kids. It also has two parts – learning and guessing. Your kids will explore a wonderful world of nature and listen to the real animal sounds. After this they will play a game trying to guess, which animal made a particular sound – “moo”, “wow-wow” or “meow”. This will help them to develop associative thinking, fine motor skills and memory. All being a great fun at the same time.

Of course, you would like to see it in action. Therefore, we have prepared a small video for you:

Don’t wait. Moo for Kids HD is FREE. No strings attached, no hidden advertising or in-app purchases. Download it here! (Interested in an iPhone app instead? This is the link).

Let us know if you like it! Thanks!

Psychology of feelings

Our communication with the others, good relationships and conflict managing in the end are all based on a “simple” understanding of ourselves and our own emotions. Only after you understand what does it mean to be sad can you understand what a crying friend feels. Only after you understand what does it mean to be angry, can you help someone else to calm down. And what’s important is that experiencing a feeling does not mean that we understand it.

How often are we trying to hide from our own feelings? Aren’t you sometimes just afraid of them? I can easily remember myself trying to get rid of sadness the other day. We try to escape it, forget it, hide the feeling deep inside us. And I am sure you have lots of similar examples yourself.

What about trying to embrace it, telling the others and ourselves in the first place that we experience it and then overcoming it much easier instead? The same goes with being angry, scared, discontent – you name it…

How can we teach our kids to do that? Of course, by talking to them. Telling them that we experience lots of feelings everyday and that it is normal to have those feelings. We can’t just hide from them. We can’t just ignore them. We need to learn to deal with them. And how to do that? To make these conversations easier, to convert them into a game a EQ-doll was created.

 EQ-doll

There is an amazing toy helping little kids to get to know and manage their feelings. It is used in a number of kindergartens all around Sweden and has won a great acceptance from children, teachers and parents. After a couple of weeks playing with the toy, children learn how to deal with their emotions, how to get around them and how to accept them. The toy is called EQ-doll and is produced by a Swedish company Mental Picture that we are collaborating with. Let us introduce it:

It all spins around 6 basic feelings that everyone experiences – anger, sadness, fear, joy, discontent and calmness. The same character – different emotions. The toy lets your imagination fly – from just talking with your kids about it to drawing it, mimicking the feelings, trying to calm the toy down and coming up with possible situations where the feelings occur. It all helps the kids to take these certain emotions apart, understand their nature and learn to deal with each.

That’s all great, but I don’t have this toy!

It’s all good, it is becoming an app!

The greatest thing is that EQ-doll is becoming an app! We have been mentioning it now and then, but now we can tell it loud. We have started to develop this brand new application and it is going to be ready in October. Up until that there will be quite a bit of work for us, but we are aiming in creating a great and cute app that will actually make a difference in your life. It is a great opportunity to try an exciting method that works and helps your kids.

It is hard to tell everything in just one post – and there is certainly much more to tell. In the future we will ask our friend and the main creator of EQ-doll Maria-Pia to tell us more and to give more insight into how it works, why it is so important and how you can get the best of it for your children.

Want to hear it? Like us on Facebook or subscribe to our newsletter – you will not miss a thing!

All images used in this post are copyright of Mental Picture and Millinimbus.