fun apps

Road construction is one of those travel hitches we all want to avoid, unless you're one of those toddlers and preschoolers who think those giant machines are the coolest ever. Now they can get their fill of drilling, paving, and bulldoz…

When the director of our ad team, Lisa, tells me to try a new app, I know it's going to be a good one. She has good taste. And this time it's Brain Dots (for iOS and Android ) which happens to be fun, challenging, infuriating, and someti…

I've vowed that someday we're going to take our kids to Paris like I did on a brief, very memorable weekend there in college (ooh, the croissants) but it's not on the schedule yet. While we save up our money, I've been letting my kids pl…

Yes, it's an ABC app. But unlike other ABC apps we've covered here, I don't know that the new ABCiné app (as in cinéma) from Spanish design studio Atipo for Meikme is going to help kids with the alphabet as much as it will help adults --…

They say every picture tells a story, which makes my six-year-old a master story teller. We get a book's worth of drawings from her each day and the explanations of her creations are always mind blowingly crazy awesome. So imagine our ex…

If a single BOOM from a nearby fireworks display sends your kids running to bury their heads in your lap, you may need kinder, gentler fireworks this Fourth of July. Like the ones found on this cute new fireworks app, Fireworks Lab , whi…

I may be the last person to discover Alto's Adventure which blew away the gaming world when it launched a few months back. Even my eight-year-old is like, Mom! You finally got it? But I admit that when I hear "snowboarding app," I don't …

One of our favorite last-minute suggestions for sentimental Father's Day gifts (and any gift really) has been to make a short, shareable video that you can create easily. While video editing used to reserved for professionals with zillio…

Over the years, we've found great illustrators who have taken their own baby photos and turned them into fantastic collage drawings. But now we found a sister team out of Barcelona who's attempting to do one better with their new Kicksta…

I am a longtime, shameless, all-things-Apple fan. But that doesn't mean I don't tip my hat frequently to cool, non-iOS products. And, when it comes to this new Google Photos app? I'm basically standing up and doing a slow-clap, because t…

We can hardly believe it that it's only been a month since we featured the launch of The Robot Factory app from awesome app developer Tinybop, but they're back again. This time with another fantastic educational app for kids, Simple Mach…

I have a close-knit family. My sisters and I talk a lot any given week. The thing is, we all live in cities spread miles (and countries) apart, so we rely on social media, texting and, when time zones line up nicely, video chats. And wit…

We're in those final weeks of school before summer break, which means my kids and I need to figure out how they're going to occupy themselves and keep their brains and hands active. Turns out I'm getting some great ideas from the online …

Walking through the crowded, cacophonic aisles of International CES 2015 earlier this year, we were instantly drawn to one booth featuring adorable little robots gliding around the rug, and beeping and booping at our feet. It turned out …

We absolutely love it when our childhood favorites make a modern comeback, like princess phones , Little Golden Records , and of course, Simon . So naturally we're shaking with excitement (ha) over the new Magic 8 Ball official app that …

My kids ask me if they can download new apps to my iPad every day, and I almost always say no. I hate to give up my precious memory space for the junky, ad-filled apps that appeal to them, but that I'd really rather they not play in the …

I have to admit that disposable cameras make me pretty nostalgic for the old days of pressing the shutter, then having no idea how those snaps turned out until I picked up the envelope of prints. ( Ed: Or better, finding an undeveloped d…

Every time Tinybop releases a new app, I'm not sure who's more excited -- my kids or me. Their newest release, The Robot Factory , is just as awesome as all the others that we've adored, like The Human Body , Plants , and Homes . The cre…

The selfie stick struggle is real, friends. From major museums, like the MoMA and The Met in NYC to the Palace of Versailles in Paris, to sports stadiums, to musical festivals Coachella and Lollapalooza, the ban on selfie sticks shows no…

It's only the beginning of our Easter spring break mash-up weekend, and my kids are already getting antsy. Don't they know that I, er , the Easter Bunny have things to do? So if you're like me and have exhausted the Easter crafts , and E…

This week I was reading a post from one of our favorite app developers, Toca Boca , about how actively they try to create gender-neutral apps, and I was really impressed learning just how much effort they put into it. Like the sketch the…

So rad. Honestly, those were the first words that popped out of my mouth when I saw this crazy-cool new drawing experience called Masterpiece . It is the latest offering from Osmo , the groundbreaking, iPad-powered gaming device built by…

As parents, we are not shy about our love of cool camera apps since that's easily half the reason we all own smartphones in the first place. And we've experienced first-hand how a really great camera app -- like the Camera+ 6 app -- can …

My grandmother once stowed away in the back seat of her father's Model-T while her sister went on a date. Then they crashed the car, into a pig. Now that she's gone, I really wish I'd had her record stories like that one so that my kids,…