12 Creative Apps for Kids
I am thrilled to have Rebecca from ThirteenRedShoes back with us today. She has a great list of creative app recommendations for the budding young artists in our lives.
Although at first glance there seems to be an endless supply of creative applications, both artistic and musical, for children, I have really struggled in this area. I have found many applications that allow for creativity in design and making sounds, but real music lessons or even stories about famous artists or composers are hard to find. I set out to discover creative applications based on educational theory while being delivered in a joyous manner—here is a list of our favorites…
01. Toca Band
02. A Jazzy Day
03. Little Fox Music
The above applications allow a focus on tempo and creating your own individual sound (Toca Band), to joining in and singing well known songs (Little Fox Music), and learning about instruments by counting and exploring different stories ( A Jazzy Day). Toca Band also has an adorable app related learning experience, which can occur away from the screen. Their blog features some creative Toca Band goodies such as character cards, posters and coloring pages, which can all be downloaded here .
04. MoMA Art Lab is an amazing app. This is one of my favorites so far. Recently my Mum and sister spent some time in NYC and I urged them to visit MoMA, as I love this museum. The application has amazing links to videos of artists at work, as well as wonderful components that foster learning about some of the famous pieces of work on display in the museum. You can create sound compositions, draw with scissors, make line drawings (which was little R’s favorite, he really enjoyed watching Jim Lambie create his vinyl tape ZOBOP lines on the museum floor), create shape poems, and collaborate on a group piece of art. Almost the next best thing to visiting MoMA itself! Click here, to see some of little R’s creations!
05. Theater by the very clever people at Appracadabra is also very engaging. I love the idea of the little ones taking photos of themselves and creating a new character such as little R the muscle man and little F the mermaid!!
06. Plic Ploc Wiz is a very engaging application in which you can create your own images or work from a set template based on shape and color. The final products are adorable. This was actually one of the first applications that I downloaded last Christmas when we received our iPad and I still enjoy it for me. This application is free in app purchases, so just be aware that little ones may be able to click and purchase if you do not have your itunes account with the security setting of a password, or at least using an itunes account rather than direct to credit card!
07. The Faces I Make is the funniest app. You can make faces out of everyday objects such as light bulbs and bananas. Very quirky and very cool.
08. Pirate Scribble Kidoodle is adorable. Click on this link to see it is action.
09. We found Van Gogh and the Sunflowers when I wanted to expose the little ones to Van Gogh. We have been reading Camille and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anhot ,which is what the application is based upon. I have also put on hold a few Van Gogh books from the library. The makers of the app, Auryn, have not done any other books from this series, but I wish they had. I think i will introduce the boys to Picasso, Monet, da Vinci and Degas over the coming months and with crossed fingers some applications relating to these masters will emerge.
10. After a little app store searching, I found this free app, KaleidoDraw that little F can use to create adorable and colorful images. It is lovely to find this creative tool as an application. The Kaleidograph toy also has an online version however, on a desktop rather than as an iPad application. You can save the image to Facebook and Pinterest, however, I like having the option to save to your photo roll or email to family members, which you can do with the KaleidoDraw app only. Both are free, so see which option you prefer the most!
11. Phoster by Bucket Labs is also another great app that allows you to create text overlays to images you create. You can select your own image and then choose a text/poster layout and alter the text to your own liking. The colors and styles can all be tweaked. The final image can be shared and/or saved to your camera roll. This app is not really for little R, aged 5, at the moment, but in the future as he becomes a more confident writer, this would be an excellent provocation to encourage writing for others.
12. I love Arthur and Charles Create and Play almost more than Little R. We love making the little faces and emailing them to all the family! I also adore the graphics, very clever indeed. Don’t you just love our little creations?
More great app recommendations for children…
