In this day and age in Bangladesh with the space for outdoor play diminishing very quickly, and classrooms being similar to cages, games in smartphones and tablets have become a debatable but monopolistic source of entertainment for children. With that in mind, we've narrowed down the most absorbing, ingenious apps for all age groups, from preschoolers and primary school kids, to bigger kids (including you) which will not only provide entertainment but also augment the constructive mental growth of children in a subtle manner.
THINKROLLS: KINGS& QUEENS
This slice of gentle gaming fun brings a regal air to its dozens of logic and gravity puzzles (in the sense the roly-poly protagonists wear crowns, unless you decide to play as a chicken). The goal is to clear a pathway so the rotund hero can continue progressing through a massive maze. The snag is this involves figuring out how to work with all kinds of contraptions, like gears, bridges, hatches, and even a harp that makes an otherwise ravenous crocodile sleepy. Just the thing to get tiny minds working overtime, while sneakily getting them interested in videogames.
TOCA LIFE: OFFICE
You can't go wrong with Toca Life apps, which offer a range of scenarios, but Toca Life: Office is our favourite, enabling your kids to imagine what their parents get up to when they go to that exciting-sounding place called 'work'. Unfortunately for you, Toca Life: Office is almost certainly more exciting and colourful than your own office, with dozens of objects to muck about with, and discoveries to make. For toddlers, there's the basic joy of dragging things around, but older kids can revel in messing about with a photocopier, finding secret exits, and hopping into the office helicopter.
ENDLESS ALPHABET
If you've tiny humans toddling about, chances are you'll own some wooden puzzles where letters are slotted into a board. If you're very fortunate, you'll still actually have a few of the letters, rather than a sad infant pointing forlornly at gaps. Endless Alphabet should take their minds off of such losses, with dozens of words to sort by dragging letters about, and a bunch of amusing animations when each word is completed.
METAMORPHABET
Metamorphabet brings new life to learning the alphabet by way of imaginative, surreal and frequently disturbing animations. It begins with an 'A'. Tap and it sprouts antlers you can ping about. The 'A' then transforms into an arch and goes for an amble. And that's just the start. Next, you're watching a giant 'B' with a bushy beard and a beak belching an endless stream of colourful bugs. It's weird, creative, brilliant, and usable enough even for an 18-month-old to try their tiny hand at.
LITTLE DIGITS
Touchscreens are more intuitive than old-school PCs, but that doesn't mean interactions from very young children amount to more than them mashing their hands against the display. With Little Digits, though, such actions at least become productive over time, with the app cunningly using multitouch to help a child learn to count. The mechanics of the basic mode are simple: touch the screen with some digits, and the app chirps the relevant number, while displaying a cuddly number monster. Beyond that, you can delve into basic sums, and even record your own audio for the voiceovers.
SAGO MINI FRIENDS
There are loads of Sago apps for kids, but Mini Friends is particularly good. You choose a character and scoot about a neighbourhood, barging into people's houses and then playing little mini-games. These are simple enough for most kids - fix a birdhouse by smacking some nails into it; play dress-up; eat some snacks - and they cunningly promote empathy and sharing. For example, when two animals are sitting before a feast, lobbing all the noms at one of them makes the other look like it's going to burst into tears. Only by sharing is everyone left in a happy place.
PEEK-A-ZOO
This single-screen app features a bunch of cartoon animals and initially looks a bit basic. But it's really quite sneaky, offering a surprising amount of depth. The basic game involves your wee nipper identifying the correct cartoon animal, based on a simple clue. This might be a name, emotion, action, position or sound. Once the correct character is prodded, a new scene appears. These won't fail to bring a smile to a supervising parent's face, such as a seal trying to make a phone call on a banana, or a pig 'hiding' on a pink background.
NAMOO
Kids tend to like the outdoors, hence many parents finding a collection of pine cones and tiny grubby handprints in their house after a walk in the woods. But the weather doesn't always like kids. When it's being uncooperative, you can feed interest in plant life with Namoo. This interactive book has a gorgeous minimal art style and succinct text. Most importantly, the scenes encourage play and exploration, such as a proddable plant cell that makes beepy sci-fi noises.
WEATHER BY TINYBOP
In Weather by Tinybop, you tap icons, to discover hot-spots that unlock little interactive scenes you can fiddle about with. Kid in a good mood? Watch as they melt ice to help someone fish, or cool things down for a panting dog. A tiny Trump in waiting? Get concerned while they rip apart a house with a tornado, while laughing maniacally and yelling something about climate change being a hoax.
FOLDIFY
If you're concerned your kids spend too much time glued to screens, Foldify cleverly makes them think beyond glass and aluminium. The app kicks off with you selecting a template - such as a blocky human form, car, or arcade cabinet. You then use the app's tools to decorate your creation. Whether you're importing photos, painting like a junior Picasso, or adding more eye and mouth stickers than any one person reasonably needs, Foldify patiently builds up a 3D model of your masterpiece that can be twiddled with a finger. The best bit: you then print it out, cut and fold, and it exists in real life.
LOOPIMAL
Loopimal is essentially 'My First Sequencing App'. You drag coloured shapes to empty slots, which trigger canned loops performed by a cartoon creature. Master that and the screen can be split, enabling an animated Fab Four to smash out oddball beats. There's no going wrong, all songs are in C-major so others can play along, and the funky bass-playing octopus and stompy mammoth need their own record contract immediately.
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