Lydia and Georgie share an iPad and they love to try out new games, especially when they feature characters or brands that they are already fans of. We don’t have a lot of Shopkins toys but they love to open the Shopkins blind bags, so they do have a small collection of them, which they enjoy playing with.
Georgie and Lydia love playing educational apps on the iPad, and especially love it when there are physical elements to interact with as well as the screen. Smart Numbers is a great example of this, and the girls have really been enjoying this “connected toy”.
Highlights for Children’s latest app, Highlights Shapes, is a fun game for preschool children, helping them to learn different shapes and colours. With fun animations and simple gameplay, I think it’s ideal for toddlers aged 2-3 years.
I first found out about My Friend Freddy Bear at BritMums Live this year, and was immediately intrigued by the product – an interactive soft toy that connects to an iPad (or other tablet – it works with Android devices too). Lydia is a huge soft toy obsessive, and so a teddy that knows her name and asks for cuddles is perfect for her.
Count Me In 123 Number Chums is a new app from Yorkshire Bank, and is a part of their new numeracy program for under 5s. The app is a free download available on both iOS and Google Play, and explores three different aspects of numeracy for pre-schoolers.
We were given a set of Tiggly Maths and a set of Tiggly Words to review, and to be honest I have quite mixed feelings about these ones. Lydia loves her Tiggly cushion, but the two sets have definitely had a lukewarm reception from both girls, although they do have their good points too.
Georgie has been playing with this app on and off for a few weeks now, and definitely enjoys it. Eli Explorer is a “free roam” style app, where children can direct Eli to go wherever they wish, as he interacts with his environment, and speaks the names of things seen on screen.
Georgie (almost 4) and Lydia (just 2) have both been playing with this app since I installed it on their iPad, and they both love it. Georgie knows her letters and is learning all of the phonetic pronunciations right now, so this app is perfect for her.
We were offered a trial subscription to the Hopster app, a new TV on demand app aimed just at children, and so we gave it a go for a couple of months. The basic idea of the app is that instead of needing to navigate to the children’s section of an on demand tv app like iPlayer, your child is able to open up the app and go straight to their favourite TV shows. Instead of complicated menus and controls the interface is ultra simple and child friendly.
Georgie really enjoys the Woolly and Tig tv show on Cbeebies, so when they contacted me to let me know that an iPad was being launched, I was looking forward to checking it out. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t have quite the same level of appeal as the tv show. The main idea of the app is to entertain children, while making every day activities seem more fun.
