Best Travel apps for Kids, Tips from The parents

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img_2977Road Trips or long haul flights can be challenging when The kids are bored To death and have asked already a million Times ‘are we There yet?’ Well, I am not a big fan of The iPad for young kids, but I have To admit There are Times That The iPad is The only Thing standing between my sanity and insanity. Unforeseen Traffic jams, delayed or cancelled flights, I guess you all have been There. Exceptional circumstances ask for exceptional measures and due To That my little one gets To watch movies and play games on The iPad.

I made a list of our favourite apps, all of Them somewhat related To The Travel Theme. Of course all are suitable To use while offline, because Keeping your kids happy does not need to go together with substantial data charges.

Dr Panda – Airport

Who says airports are boring for kids? Not anymore with The airport game of Dr Panda. Get your passport stamped, go Through airport security, This app will Teach your little one what is going on in an airport. Kids navigate Through The airport in The most funny way. Due To The brilliant learning activities This app is an excellent source of entertainment. Your kids will even get The opportunity To clean airplanes and pump up Their Tires. How cool is That? If I am not mistaken, This was our first Travel game and it is still Little T’s favourite.

Dr. Panda – Holiday

Again, another Dr Panda game with holiday Themed activities. This game will keep your Toddler in the mood for The entire holiday. As all Dr Panda games, The app is rich in visuals, colours and easy To navigate for Toddlers as of The age of Three.

Learny land – My first atlas

Another nice discovery are The apps of learny land. These apps literally alters your little ones view of The world around Them. Super educating, but also a lot of fun. Discover The world, based on some interesting fact and landmarks. The app is easy To navigate and is able To get your little ones attention for a reasonable amount of Time. More suitable for older Toddlers To use This app without guidance from mom or dad, but you can start as of The age of Three To show Them where you are Travelling To. A game That emphasises on geography and discovery. What do you want more for your globetoddler?

Learny land – Whats in space

Maybe you Travel The world, and maybe you will never go elsewhere, but sure your kids will be more focussed on The outer space Than we ever were or will be. Whats in space is an app That will Teach your children about The solar system, how you can live  and travel in space and what you can see in The sky using Telescope. There are some funny games That Teach kids in a easy and relaxing way The basic facts of astronomy and rocket science. Again This app is more suitable for older Toddlers To use without guidance from mom or dad. With a bit of help you can start as of The age of Three (if mom or dad have had The Time To read The stories). Nevertheless children often like just navigating Through apps, clicking and discovering, so for That There is no minimum age.

Marco Polo Ocean

Well maybe you will fly over an ocean, go To a place located at The ocean or maybe you don’t. Nevertheless Ocean is a great app To have with you while Travelling. The app simulates an ocean and your little one can design submarines, ocean creatures and plants. After They are created They will be placed in The ocean. While playing The ocean gets filled with many nice and colourful objects. The app has very nice graphics and is one of Little T’s favourites.

Nighty Night!

Nighty Night is an app That helps kids relax and calm down before bed Time. Little T is used To getting a bedtime story every night, without any exception. Well, There are many occasions, you don’t get The opportunity To read something To Them while Traveling. Even if you have (electronic) books with you, it can be hard for kids To focus on a bedtime story when They are already really Tired. This app, in which your little one can put animals To sleep brings The solution.

The basic version of The app includes 5 animals and can be downloaded for free, but it is so good That we bought all The extra animals. There are different variation To The story, however The original version is still The best.

The very Hungry Caterpillar – Augmented Reality 

New To The area of kids apps are the augmented reality games. Those games create a virtual reality within our own environment, a combination of real scene (the backgroud) and a scene That is created by The app. The app uses your camera To create The augmented reality, so That you see in 3D The Trees, ponds and ducks in your very own location. At first I was bit sceptic. We all know The augmented reality game Pokémon GO, which Turned many kids and adults into chasing Pokémon zombies. The very hungry caterpillar turns out different and will allow your little one to experience augmented reality in a very relaxing but interesting game.

Peppa Pig Holiday

A very simple game That can be played already from The age of Two. Peppa goes on holiday and all sorts of Things happen. There are simple To do’s for The kids like collecting luggage. It was not immediately appealing To me, as The design and graphics are not super and The game is somewhat simple. However Little T likes it, maybe just because he is a big fan of Peppa Pig. If your kids are not into Peppa Pig I would not recommend it.

Haba – The Orchard and Unicorn

Not holiday related but worth mentioning are The Haha games. Many of your children will already love The classic Haba board games. Good news is, They have some electronic versions, bad new is That The range offered is very limited. If your kids enjoy playing The orchard at home, This is a must buy game. We used it as of The age of Two and kept Little T busy for a very long Time.

Unicorn is a very popular game for girls, but it requires more motor skills, so I would not recommend it before The age of Three.

Little Builders

Not a holiday related app either, but a big success That can keep Little T busy for hours. The app Takes kids into The work of constructing and Teaches Them how everything is connected.

None of The apps mentioned above are free. The price range is between 3,95 euro for The very simple ones Till 6,99 euro when you want To buy an augmented reality app. In our opinion, each app was worth The money, worked perfectly and did not contain any concerning content for a Toddler.  We also looked at free apps and however we found some interesting ones That have huge potential, we always encountered some objections. In a couple of case The app froze a significant amount of Time which can be quite frustrating for a Toddler. Some apps have build in commercials, which I do not Think is appropriate for a Toddler of The age of Little T and some app were just dull and not interesting enough To keep our little one busy for hours. So This are The reasons why each Time we go on holiday we invest a couple of euro’s for a new app or Two.

Little T has now a very nice collection and I am sure he is Trying To bribe The airlines To delay The flights.

Cheers,

Mom and dad

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