Best iPad 1 apps for kids?

November 11, 2013 10:30 AM

I have an old iPad 1 that still gets pretty good battery life, and I'm going to give it to my folks for my niblings to play when they're visiting grandma and grandpa. I'm a childless dude in his late 30s, so I'm a bit out of the loop with what kids like these days. I've tossed things that I think would be simple enough for kids to play and have fun with (even if they're not "doing it right") like Angry Birds, but would like suggestions for stuff I may not think of. Thanks all.

Considerations:

No internet access. My folks live in the sticks, and their internet comes via 56k modem. No wifi available.

Few ads. I've seen several apps where it really isn't clear what you have to do to start playing -- there was just too many ads for other apps or in-app purchases. (I realize I can already disable the in-app purchases, but am not concerned about it; see above point about no wifi).

Cheap. I'm willing to get a few $1 apps, but if there's something awesome that's $15.99, I'll probably skip it.

Educational stuff would be cool, but stuff that's just fun to play with is fine too.

There are both boys and girls, and range in age up to 8.

posted by bigdamnnerd to Technology (9 answers total)

What specific ages? It makes a difference!
posted by DarlingBri at 10:50 AM on November 11, 2013

Response by poster: They literally are all across the range: one's less than a year, a couple are 2ish, a couple are 4 and 5 and the oldest will be 8.
posted by bigdamnnerd at 11:02 AM on November 11, 2013

Best answer: Toca Boca games are the best. Their newest one lets you design an action figure/minifigure. The hair salon games are terrific, and so are the kitchen games. Toca Builder is like a simplified Minecraft. Toca Band lets you add layers of sound and makes great-sounding dance music. There are a couple of free games (Monster Kitchen, the Christmas Hair Salon), but the others are inexpensive.
posted by Francolin at 11:03 AM on November 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: For the slightly older kids, you might want to look at DragonBox. It's spendier--six bucks--but educational, and, despite my initial hesitation, my daughter loved it. (As, uh, did I. And my best friend.)

Where's My Water/Where's My Perry are both really popular with kids, and I've seen kids as young as three beating levels easily. Same with Cut the Rope and its seventeen million spinoffs.

Also, Minecraft Pocket Edition. I think that it's five bucks, and it's worth every damn penny. Every kid I know who's used it is obsessed.

For the tiny ones: possibly some book apps? I'm on Android, but I know that you can get various Sesame Street books--Monster at the End of This Book, say, and Sandra Boynton books in app form.

If you're setting things up, it might be worth it to advance as much as you can in some of the apps where you unlock a world by beating the previous world. For example, when I put Candy Crush on a tablet for a friend's kid recently, I synced it with my facebook account, so that the first [mumblety] levels were unlocked, and then I removed my facebook credentials. The leveling up stays, which is really nice for little kids who don't quite get what they're doing. I don't know if Angry Birds lets you sync like this, but if not, it might be worth considering playing through the first world or whatever so that the littler kids have access to more levels.
posted by MeghanC at 11:04 AM on November 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: My kids (4 & 6) love the Toca Boca apps, 123 Color, My Playhome, and Cut the Rope. I've only run these on an iPad 3, so ymmv as to whether they work on an iPad 1
posted by belladonna at 11:32 AM on November 11, 2013

Some music would be nice, and maybe some videos if you can load them.
posted by theora55 at 5:16 PM on November 11, 2013

Best answer: My 20 month old son likes Touch Train 3d - it runs on my old iPhone 3GS so I'd expect it to be ok on an iPad 1. Very simple graphics but hours of fun making trains go round and round.
posted by doop at 12:20 AM on November 12, 2013

Best answer: The two apps that my almost-3-year-old likes most on my iPad are the PBS Kids app and Endless Alphabet. In fact the PBS Kids app is such a draw that he asks for PBS Kids like other kids ask for candy. I really, really like Endless Alphabet for learning letters and vocabulary; kids like it for the puzzle aspect and the animations.

We have an iPad 2, I don't know if they run on iPad 1 or not.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:27 AM on November 12, 2013

Oops, just remembered the wifi issue. Scratch PBS Kids then. Endless Alphabet will still work. The Toca Boca apps are also not dependent on wifi, and there are a range of ages oh those. My little one likes the train one best, and can do the tea party and the kitchen one himself, but there are others which are too advanced for him that the older kids might like. They are a little spendier though.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:30 AM on November 12, 2013