You might have noticed it too, but kids these days tend to develop and mature a lot faster. And while it’s not recommended letting small children spend long periods of time interacting with smart devices like tablets and smartphones, exposure to such gadgetry might help them develop their budding learning skills quicker.
A small child’s brain is like a sponge for information, so giving your toddler access to an educational app for a few minutes a day should not interfere with his/her natural growth cycle. So we have complied a list of child-friendly application for kids ages 1 or younger which have been specifically designed to help parents assist their little bundles of joy acquire lots and lots of useful information.
Even Monsters Get Sick
Here’s an app which was designed with an ingenious idea in mind. It’s always hard to get kids to take their (yucky tasting) medicine, so the folks behind the app thought children might relate to the characters in this storybook who like children get sick and need medicine to fight off the sickness.
The Even Monsters Get Sick e-book features full-color illustration, interactive animations and a custom soundtrack. The story can be read out or children can read by themselves, but parents of smaller children will probably go for the former variant.
Baby Zoo Piano
Parents who would like to see their child develop an interest in music, could try loading up the Baby Zoo Piano app on a tablet or a smartphone with a larger screen. The app gets kids acquainted with piano music accompanied by sounds of various domestic animals. Baby Zoo Piano is a bright and colorful game with an intuitive interface that’s easily accessible by any child beyond the newborn period.
Baby Zoo Piano will introduce your toddler to the realm of music by presenting him or her with three claviers with eight colorful keys each. All children have to do is press the keys to hear the sound, so it’s quite simple to get started. The app is free for download form the Google Play Store.
Fisher-Price Shapes & Colors Music Show
Fisher-Price is a household name when it comes to children entertainment, so of course they are offering a few baby apps. Like the Shapes & Colors Music Show which is completely free for download from the Play Store.
The first things a child learns when it comes into the world is how to identify shapes and colors. The app teaches the little one all about shapes and colors though interactions with animations, sounds and sing along song.
Fisher-Price offers a large selection of baby apps, but some are paid. Check the whole collection here, if you are curious.
Baby Sleep Instant
This is not an education app, but one that will prove very useful for parents of really small children. Unable to get your baby to go sleep? This app will help the child fall asleep instantly by playing a classic monotonous sound (lullaby) proven to be effective in these situations.
According to the creators of the app, sounds made by a shower, fan, music box or hairdryer are more effective than tones, music or sing. To get started, put the phone in vicinity of the baby’s crib, choose one of the available sounds and set the timer. Goodnight, baby!
Nursery Rhymes
Ok, so maybe the Baby Sleep Instant app did nothing for your infant. Then it’s time to go back to good old nursery rhymes. The Nursery Rhymes app delivers a collection of classic nursery rhymes including Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Itsy Bitsy Spider (in video format). The fun videos will teach children the basics of ABC phonics, first words, numbers, fruits, animals and much, much more.
However, keep in mind that only 24+ nursery rhymes and toddler games are free. If you want to unlock more features and games, you will need to purchase a subscription to the app.
Baby Phone
Another way you can teach your child nursery rhymes and lullabies is the Baby Phone app. The application will turn the parent’s Android smartphone into a kiddie-friendly handset to teach the child about numbers, animal sounds, songs and lots more.
The game aims to develop important skills through musical stimulation such as development of memory, motor skills and linguistic capabilities.
If you like Baby Phone you can go ahead and explore all the apps offered by App Quiz. Most of them are free, however you might want to be careful because some titles support in-app purchases.
Baby Night Light
Don’t let your child develop a fear of the dark with the Baby Night Light app which accompanies your kid’s descent into slumber. The app lets you choose between 14 different nightlights complete with a cute, animal companion of your choice.
Baby Night Light turns your smartphone into a night lamp that makes your child feel safe. Parents can adjust lighting effects, rotary motions and light intensity to give create the perfect sleeping environment.
Conclusion
At this age (1 year old and under) your child is forming the neuronal pathways that will help him or her perceive and understand the world. And technology could be used as a great tool to nurture the child’s learning processes. But remember: young minds shouldn’t be exposed excessively to tablets and phones, so giving your toddler access to a game or visual storybook for a few minutes a day should be enough. As you can see, the apps in our list are quite simple and don’t necessitate prolonged exposure anyway.
My oldest nephew showed me friv.com, and even before speaking my younger nephews learned how to use the mouse and play at that “no words” flash games page that should be an inspiration for “noword” or “no need to words” menus interfaces, as dashboards are, or peazip.
But still there are no 3×3 icon menu matrix sub menus available, and I hope someone would some day make a ideogram bar menu with sub menus in nested 3×3 ideograms clusters.