Sometimes you just have to color outside the lines. This awesome coloring app for kids just requires a few squiggles from your kiddo to get animated–getting him animated too.
The aptly named Squiggles! has 14 different pre-set pages (including one blank one) that preschoolers can use by squiggling on your iPad with their fingers. Once they’re done, tapping “go” literally makes the artwork come to life.
Squiggles come out of cars and rockets zoom around the screen, stickers move around, and a marker, paint brush, chalk and squirt bottle add interesting blobs and textures to things. Save extra nifty drawings in the gallery, print them out or email and share online.
But no worries–kids don’t have the option to share artwork on their own. All sharing features are in the parents’ area, which keeps icon buttons off the main screen and away from curious fingers who might otherwise send an oceanic masterpiece out to your Twitter feed a gazillion times.
Bonus: Check out the interactive storybook featuring Miku and Bobu. Two reading modes make interaction easy, and a short video featuring the two characters shows kids how to get creative with their squiggles. Wonderful app; kudos, Lazoo. -Pilar
Download Squiggles! for the iPad on iTunes for free! Learn more at Lazoo.
UPDATE: It’s now available for iPhone too
I would appreciate it if more of the apps, games and other info you share could be more equally divided between the iPad and the Android market.
Thanks.werzyc
Hi Mary, we’ve started categories specifically for both iOS and Android in our archives. It’s not yet complete, but you’ll find there’s plenty here for Android users. Still, as we’ve written before, there are a few factors in our app reviews:
1. Far more of our readers have an iOS device than an Android device (though some have both).
2. Android apps differ in functionality from device to device, making them challenging to recommend across the board. And we hate making recommendations that disappoint people. In other words, something could be awesome on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but buggy on the LG Nitro. (Just an example, LG!)
3. For a long time, developers of kids apps weren’t nearly as focused on the Android market.
4. Ratings for Android apps until recently have been wildly varied (for the above reasons), making it tough for us to track down great ones. Although with Google Play we’re already finding it easier. So expect more to come!
And hey – we’re always open to recos. info@coolmomtech.com if you ever have a fave you want us to look at. -Eds.