Good, free iphone/touch apps for toddlers

[mickeymaker2003]

So, we just bought my 3 year old a used 8 GB iPod Touch off Craigslist (yes, I know it's a weird thing to buy for a 3 year old). What apps do your toddlers like? I am particularly looking for free ones.

 

[shortbun]

So, we just bought my 3 year old a used 8 GB iPod Touch off Craigslist (yes, I know it's a weird thing to buy for a 3 year old). What apps do your toddlers like? I am particularly looking for free ones.

WHO is this for? I'd say a 3yo would not have the find motor skills to really handle an IPOD. Good luck!!! What are you going to get him when he's 10? HA!!!

 

[mickeymaker2003]

She is very adept at using it and handles it carefully... She can turn it on, use the slider to unlock it, get to the movies, play music, turn pages on the apps to find the one she wants to play, use the games, and turn it off when she is done. She is completely independent doing all of these (no prompting needed). She turned 3 two weeks ago.

 

[All American]

Our 5-year-old started playing with the iPod when she was 4. Oddly enough, she just kind of "figured it out" by pushing buttons; I was the slow learner. My husband just received an iPhone as a gift to replace his iPod touch, and since I already have the Touch version, our daughter has "inherited" my husband's old one. (Translation: I keep it, but she can ask for it. Sometimes, I let her have it and, sometimes, I don't.)

She preferred my husbands iPod because of the Apps he put on it (I can't figure out how to put them on). One of her favorites is a lightsaber. It puts a lightsaber on it and you can swing it around to make the noise. Another one was a drawing thing where you can draw pictures with your finger (like a sportscaster does over a replay). I don't know if they were free, but she really enjoys them.

One more Thing: We put Invisible Shield on our iPods and have really been impressed with how well they protect the device. Mine takes quite the beating and is in great shape.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

If you have a wifi network and have the Touch connected to it, you can go to the app store (should be an icon along the bottom). Just search for what you want, tap the word free or price and then the word "install" should come up. Click that and it will ask you to sign into your iTunes account (even if it is a free one). Enter your password and the game will download to your Touch. If you normally have the wireless turned off, turn it on to do this and then you can turn it off again.

I am hoping for games that just involve tapping the screen in some way. I don't want to teach her to swing it around... She's 3 and that is just asking for trouble. She only knows how to use it with it sitting nicely in her lap and that's the way I'm hoping to keep it.

 

[Ephany]

I have 'make me a princess lite' on my itouch and my DD loves it, it's a dress/accessory paper doll type thingy. I actually splurged for the .99 cents full version b/c it's pretty much her favorite game. DD also loves 'spin art', it's .99 cents but you spin the paper around and drip paint colors and glitter onto it. I loved those things at fairs as a kid, both DD and my DH have a lot of fun with it.

I think I searched 'kids free' and 'doodle free' on Itunes and found pages and pages of apps. Many of them are the lite versions, but it's a good way to test them out.

Edit: some more - make a face (free), sprout player, and dress chica

 

[clori]

My 5 year old occasionally plays on my ipod touch. I have some apps that were free at least when I got them. Some of them are ABC Phonics, TicTacFree, Connect4, Doodle Dots,dolch words etc. I would search with terms such as toddler, preschool, math, alphabet etc and see what comes up for free. I found one free episode of super why which I also put on it.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am overwhelmed by the number of choices and was hoping for some recommendations

 

[foltzy]

My ds is almost 3 some of his favorite apps are ShapeBuilder (There's a free version but I paid the .99 for it because he loves puzzles and it's helping him with his letters and numbers), we have Roundhouse (Chuggington game that I found for free, don't know if it still is), Matching Zoo. He also likes one called Blowfish (Free) but he's not very good at it.

So far that's it. He loves to sit on the couch and play those 4 games.

 

[DalGal]

My 3 year old niece LOVES my Ipod Touch. Her favorite app is Pocket God. Nothing educational about it but will occupy her for at least 30 minutes at a time. She also likes Toy Story Mania, Catch a Mouse and the Idiot Test. When she runs the battery down on mine, she will ask my mom for hers if she's around. She also has a Puppies game that she plays on her brother's DS.

 

[tjcrabb]

Your child might be too old for some of my suggestions but my 18 month old niece loves the following:

Letters A to Z (.99 Speaks each letter of the alphabet with a related animated short)

I Hear Ewe (Free, animal sounds when you tap the picture)

eliasZoo (was free when I downloaded, now 1.99. I wouldn't pay that much for it. Animal sounds and pics)

Koi Pond (.99 virtual aquarium, you can feed the fish, play in the water etc)

Another sister has a 4yo girl and she loves the angelina ballerina dress up app and it is .99

Sophie (18mo) can't open her own apps but she knows how to select things and change pages. In fact if she sees an iphone she runs to it. The 4yo knows how to use my phone as well as I do! Her dad has one.
Tricia

 

[KilleriMac17]

my daughter loves Pocket God, it is good for learning to do things with the touch interface and figuring lots of things out. she also likes the free drawing programs you can get(don't remember the name). My daughter uses my wifes old iphone, we just removed the sim). she also has her own computer as well that she runs educations games and also watches movies on(it runs Windows XP, Vista, and OSX and she uses them fine..) she is 3 1/2

 

[Green Tea]

She is very adept at using it and handles it carefully... She can turn it on, use the slider to unlock it, get to the movies, play music, turn pages on the apps to find the one she wants to play, use the games, and turn it off when she is done. She is completely independent doing all of these (no prompting needed). She turned 3 two weeks ago.

Just give her your credit card and let her pick what she likes off itunes.

 

[lisaross]

quick question about the ipod touch -- my son wants one - he plays the games on his friends - does it make a big difference the different generation ones for games and what about the 8g vs 16 g v 32g? he will use it mostly for different games - which would you recommend - i am thinking of getting a refurbished one. he likes Life, cube runner, wheel of fortune - can he play these games on all of the different generation and g?

thanx..

 

[bweagle]

My DD will be 4 in a couple weeks. I have several apps on mr itouch for her for times we find ourselves waiting (doctors, etc). She also occasionally plays at home for small bits of time. Some of the apps I've found that hold her attention are: spinart, puzzle palace, my reef 3d, glow doodle, acrobots, volt, pollock, mini piano, bubble wrap, blowfish, dotopop, dr seuss books ( currently on sale), super why, make me a princess, match magic, save the picnic, penguin flip, hershey's chocolate milk

I grabbed most of these during times they've gone on sale or have been free. I think Super why is the only one listed that I paid full price for. Not certain of the everyday price of the others.

 

[mward73]

Our 3yo uses DH's iPhone all the time. The kid knows how to use it better than either of us. DH downloaded a match game (like memory) that he loves. He has a couple of other games on there as well - I'll try to remember to look tomorrow when I can grab the phone.

 

[meghanlea]

our son turned 3 a month ago and he loves the disney app where he can play cars, handy manny, etc. he also likes the star wars lightsaber app. sprout is good, my daughter is 6 and she likes to play the fashion ones or where you can dress up/make up people. i like seeing everyone's repsonses b/c i want to go get ours and add new apps for the kids.

 

[meghanlea]

well i just went and added a phonics game, matching, counting, another dress up game, the princess one someone mentioned, and a drawing one. I can't wait to show the kids tomorrow they got new games.

 

[Nicolepa]

My 2 yo's favorite game is (don't laugh) skee ball. He loves, loves this game. When he sees the touch he starts saying "ball, ball" until you give it to him.

 

[labdogs42]

I use an App Called App Sniper to find free apps. So, that's an app I use to find free or on sale kids' apps!

Kid apps we like:
Scoops
ABC Animals
ABC Alphabet
Animal Drop
Audio Zoo
Bubblewrap
Cross the Road (like frogger)
First Words Animals
Pre-K Safari
KidArt
KidCalc
Match Pets
Preschool Adventure
Zhu Zhu Pets

ETA, my DS is 5 now and he uses my iTouch all the time. I think we might get him his own touch instead of a DS for Christmas. You can do so much more with the iTouch! Is there a way to put parental controls on the wireless feature of the iTouch> Anyone know?