Kids

MarcoPolo Ocean goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ January 21, 2016

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion in iTunes, and this week's selection is MarcoPolo Ocean. This means that the game, which is highly rated in the kids-education-puzzler category, is going to be free from now through next Thursday—a handsome savings of $3.

The concept of MarcoPolo Ocean is pretty simple. It's a digital sandbox of sorts, where kids are encouraged to do things like explore the deep sea, build a coral reef, and much more. Plus, its animations and playful narration help reinforce vocabulary, ocean concepts and other attributes.

Nighty Night Circus goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ August 27, 2015

Apple on Thursday named "Nighty Night Circus" its featured App of the Week in the App Store. This means for the next 7 days, you will be able to download the popular bedtime story and lullaby app for kids for free—saving you a solid $3.

The sequel to Apple's 2012 App of the Year, Nighty Night!, Nighty Night Circus allows children to play with a variety of circus animals and tuck them in as they go to sleep. The app features beautiful imagery, great narration and lullaby music.

‘Toca Nature’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ May 7, 2015

Apple has just named “Toca Nature” its App of the Week for this week. This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to download the award-winning education software for both iPhone and iPad for free—a great savings of $2.99.

Geared towards kids, Toca Nature allows you to shape nature and watch it develop. Want to grow your own forest? Go for it. Want to create a mountain range and enjoy the view? You got it. Plants, animals, landscapes and more are at your disposal.

Google launches YouTube Kids in the App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 23, 2015

The Internet giant Google on Monday announced its dedicated YouTube application for kids. Dubbed YouTube Kids, the app is now available for the iPhone and iPad as a free download from the App Store.

Billed as “the first Google product built from the ground up with little ones in mind,” it's been designed as a safe place for kids to experience YouTube content deemed “kid-appropriate” such as family focused clips.

Because it's focused on children, the software includes a set of options that help parents control the experience for their kids.

Dr. Panda’s Restaurant 2 is App Store’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 12, 2015

Part of its ongoing weekly promotion, Apple's App Store editorial team has now chosen a new Free App of the Week, Dr. Panda's Restaurant 2 by TribePlay, giving you an instant saving of three bucks.

Optimized for iOS 8 and designed for ages 6-8, this iPhone and iPad game comes with a notable educational value attached to the download.

The app helps children understand life and the world around them by inviting them to become chefs and make the pizza of their dreams and other dishes while experimenting with various ingredients.

It'll educate kids on the basic steps of making all sorts of different foods and help them familiarize themselves with how different recipes and kitchen tools work.

Who's ready to cook the food of their dreams?

Apple Stores to host free ‘Hour of Code’ workshops next Thursday

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 4, 2014

In addition to hosting Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump at the SoHo New York Apple Store as part of its Apps for (RED) promotion to benefit the fight against AIDS in Africa, Apple will be hosting another event at its stores, one tailored for students who are interested in coding.

Supporting the Computer Science Education Week which runs December 8-14, Apple's free Hour of Code 2014 seminar will be taking place at its brick-and-mortar locations next Thursday, December 11.

Parental Controls For iOS restricts the amount of time your child spends on your device

Alihassan Mahdi ∙ September 19, 2014

One of the features that iOS 7 lacks is the ability to control the amount of time your child spends using your device. Parental Controls for iOS is a new jailbreak tweak that aims to bring this highly anticipated feature to jailbroken iOS 7 devices.

Developed by Ge0rges, the tweak allows you to limit the amount of time a person can use your iOS device. Once the time has ended, the user will be automatically be locked out of your device and a pop-up will be displayed with three buttons: 'Emergency Call', 'Add One Hour' where a person will be allowed to use the device for an extra hour once the parental passcode has been entered and an 'Ok' button. The only way your child can gain access to your device once the time limit has been reached is when you choose to add an extra hour.

Apple announces filmmaking and storytelling focused Summer 2014 Workshops for kids

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 17, 2014

Apple Retail is kicking off its annual free summer camps for kids eight to twelve years old. This time around, three-day workshops will center around filmmaking and interactive storytelling with apps like iMovie and iBooks Author on Macs and iPads.

Apple wants to educate youngsters on the basics of making movies and creating interactive books, complete with their own illustrations and sound effects. Each workshop, according to the firm, ends with the Apple Camp Showcase "so campers can share their finished projects"...

Kids react to Apple II: ‘too much pixelation’, ‘where’s the mouse’ and ‘I don’t get the 1970s’

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 26, 2014

The Fine Brothers (Benny and Rafi Fine) have made a name for themselves with their popular React video series, comprised of shows like Kids React, Teens React, Elders React and YouTubers React.

In the latest episode of the Kids React show, today's generation of 6-13-year-olds get confused by an Apple II, one of the first mass-produced computers designed primarily by Steve Wozniak...

How to set up Parental Control on iTunes

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated December 21, 2018

If you have a kid, you know the internet can be a wild place for them to hang around. I've experienced first hand when my two year old daughter was casually watching cartoons on YouTube and ended up watching a guy shout in Russian while shooting an assault rifle.

iTunes, to a lesser extend, can be a similar place. Apps, books, movies, TV shows and podcasts can contain material that could be shocking to a younger audience. Thankfully, there is some simple things you can do to set up iTunes parental control. In this post we're going to show you how.

Drawnimal goes free as Apple’s latest Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 27, 2014

It's Thursday, and this can only mean one thing: the awesome Darklings game goes back up to its regular price as Apple gets to bring another iOS application down to $0, as part of the App Store's ongoing Free App of the Week promotion.

Today's free app: Lucas Zanotto's Drawnimal. If you have children or a very young brother/sister, Drawnimal is the perfect way to teach them the alphabet and at the same time get them excited about art.

Designed to help kids learn to think out of the box, the app ingeniously puts up a fun image of an animal on the screen, requiring your kid to follow the prompts and actually draw around the device that's sitting on a piece of paper.

Drawnimal will be free until next Thursday so grab it now in the App Store before it slips your mind...

‘Tiny Firefighters’ goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ February 28, 2014

Apple has named 'Tiny Firefighters' by Wonderkind its App of the Week for this week. This means that through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the application for both your iPhone and iPad, for free—a nice little savings of $1.99.

For those unfamiliar with it, Tiny Firefighters is an interactive app/book/game for kids that's both fun and educational. Help the firefighters and police officers perform their duties around town by putting out fires and catching burglars...