BrainShake

An iPad game that tests kids’ reflexes and coordination

Grade: B | Age rating: 5+ | Price: $2.99

BrainShake is an electronic hand-held action game that challenges kids to think fast and act faster.

If  you were born before the millennium, think Simon Says.  If you were born after the millennium, think Bop-It.

What’s Hot:
While this game is bewildering at first since you have to squeeze, switch, pull, and twist the controls, kids will master it quickly.  Just when things are getting easy, the whole console spins around and things get more challenging. Read more…

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Math Bingo

A fun, educational math app for the iPhone and iPad

Grade: A- | Age rating: 4+ | Price: $0.99

Math Bingo is exactly what it sounds like: math meets bingo.  Luckily for your kids, this is also one of those games that’s greater than the sum of its parts.  This fun app was developed by an elementary school teacher, and it shows.

What’s Hot:
Kids choose a name, an avatar, a math skill, and a difficulty level.  When they answer questions correctly, a “bingo bug” appears on that bingo board space.  If they’re wrong, they hear a buzzer.  The game is timed, but not obnoxiously so.  The app keeps track of high scores, so kids can work toward improvement. Read more…

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Doodle Jump

An addictive jumping game for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Grade: A | Age rating: 5+ | Price: $0.99

Doodle Jump, the platform jumping game for the iPhone, iPod touch, and (best of all!) the iPad is indeed—”insanely addictive” as described by MacWorld.  Believe the hype.

Tilt your device left and right to make the Doodler jump from platform to platform, avoiding the brittle brown logs that break and make you plummet earthward.  You can even exit the right side of the screen and come in on the left.

What’s Hot:
Catch a ride with a propeller beanie, grab a rocket pack, and protect yourself with a force field shield to catapult yourself to new high scores.  We love the combination of  simple game play and the funny sound effects (even though we’re not very good).  Watch out for black holes and monsters! Read more…

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Soosiz HD

A fun iPad app for kids with tremendous replay value

Grade: A- | Age rating: 4+ | Price: $1.99

Soosiz HD is a really, really fun platform game for the iPad with eye-popping cartoon graphics.

What’s a platform game?  A game in which you jump from platform to platform and over obstacles.  Like Donkey Kong and Pitfall.  Am I dating myself?

In this one, your kids are a cute citrus-y character whose planet has been attacked by spiky bad guys.  Bummer.  The object of the game is to save the world.  Naturally, this is easier said than done.

What’s Hot:
Your kids can defy gravity as the hop on planet-y platforms overhead and circumnavigate them in their quest for coins.   They vanquish bad guys by jumping on them, and are rewarded with satisfying cartoon-style speech bubbles (POW! PLOP! PUNCH!).  They also get to wake up their sleeping friends (YIPPEE!).  They’ve got three lives to work with, and when they “die” the game lets them pick up right where they left off. Read more…

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Best iPad Apps for Kids

The top 15 iPad Apps we’ve tested that prove bigger really IS better

So you’ve got a brand new iPad and kids who are clamoring to play on it.  What you need now are a handful of fun, high quality apps with good replay value.   You don’t have time to slog through the entire iTunes App Store looking for them though.  Who does?

We do.  We’ve tested more apps than we can count.  We’ve got iPad apps for preschoolers,  iPad apps for toddlers, and now here are some of the best iPad apps for elementary school-aged kids.

If you like our reviews, please support us! Clicking our links takes you straight to the iTunes App Store and doesn’t cost you more.

1.  SOOSIZ HD

Age rating: 4+ | Price: $0.99

This awkwardly named app is a really, really fun platform game for the iPad with eye-popping cartoon graphics.  What’s a platform game?  A game in which you jump from platform to platform and over obstacles.  Like Donkey Kong and Pitfall.  Am I dating myself?

In this one, your kids are a cute citrus-y character whose planet has been attacked by spiky bad guys.  Bummer.  The object of the game is to save the world.  Naturally, this is easier said than done.

2.  FRUIT NINJA

Age rating: 3+ | Price: $1.99

Using their finger as a blade, kids swipe various pieces of fruit that fly up in the air, chopping them in half.   In classic mode, they also have to avoid the bombs.  This game is fun, easy, and very hard to put down.

We like the fact that you get all the action with none of the violence.  If your kids are the stress-y type, have them play in Zen mode.

3. DOODLE JUMP

Age rating: 5+ | Price: $1.99

The most downloaded iPhone app of all time is even better on the iPad—get ready to jump and jump and jump again in this insanely addictive game.  Tilt the iPad left and right to jump from platform to platform.

You can also get a boost from jetpacks, propeller beanies, and springs, but watch out for monsters!

4. FLING!

Age rating: 2+ | Price: $0.99

Great fun to play on the iPad. Just as addictive as it was on the iPhone, but now with more breathing room. There is not an iPad version yet, but I still enjoyed the iPhone version on the big screen.

Don’t forget, you can toggle back and forth between 1x and 2x if you feel there’s a compromise in graphics quality.

5. CHUZZLE

Age rating: 4+ | Price: $4.99

A fun, addictive and appropriate for all ages. Kids slide google-eyed chuzzles across the iPhone screen trying to group 3 like-colored chuzzles together. When they do, the chuzzles explode with a giggle, sending fur and eyeballs flying.

I’ve played this game on the PC, the iPhone, and the iPad and the iPad is head and shoulders above the rest.  I’ve lost hours of my life to it.

6. SNEEZIES HD

Age rating: 4+ | Price: $4.99

A fun iPad app, where furry little pompoms called Sneezies float across bucolic backgrounds. But, oh no! They’re trapped in bubbles! Kids free them by sprinkling sneezing powder.  The graphic details really pop on the large screen.

7. SLIDE-A-MA-JIG

Age rating: 4+ | Price: $0.99

Thirty wacky creatures are divided into five slideable parts on 20 backgrounds. Kids can mix and match them—with accompanying zany sound effects—to their hearts’ content. Playing it on the larger screen will make this silly app more accessible to even the youngest of comedians.

8. AIR HOCKEY

Age rating: 2+ | Price: $0.99

Oh yeah. The size of the iPad makes all the difference in two player games.  Now, do you want one puck or two?

9. PAC-MAN FOR IPAD

Age rating: 4+ | Price: $4.99

A fun vintage video game app that parents can play with their kids. It’s a toss up who will have more fun, but we like the idea of it being an app for the whole family. The joystick takes a bit getting used to, but didn’t the original the first time you held it? All the same ghosts and cherries are here to keep you going…

10.  BOOKWORM

Age rating: 5+ | Price: $4.99

An intuitive, educational word search game for new readers, rabid wordsmiths, and everyone in between. Younger kids may need a little help, but they’ll soon be hooked too.

Link letters left, right, up, and down on your iPhone screen to build words and earn points with this fun app.  Make too many short words and you get burning tiles, which can literally blow up in your face.

11. SCRABBLE FOR IPAD

Age rating: 5+ | Price: $9.99

There is no question that the Scrabble is one of the best iPad apps—it’s leagues better than the regular iPhone Scrabble app. The older app is kind of hazy on the iPad. I tried them both and Scrabble for iPad feels so much more dynamic. It’s got a high price, but for frequent players, bringing the iPad to a friend’s house will quickly replace bringing the box.

There’s even a free companion app for the iPhone called Tile Rack that lets you use your phone as a tile rack for group play—awesome!

12. WEET WOO

Age rating: 2+ | Price: $3.99

This is one of our all time favorite iPad apps. It is a one-stop parent-curated video browsing gadget for kids. Channels include Animals, Fun Shows, Learn, Music, People, and Places and developers have listed hundreds of hours of kid-friendly programming with everything from funny kitten videos to a Discovery Education short biography of Ludwig van Beethoven.

13. MORON TEST

Age rating: 6+ | Price: $0.99

I sort of hesitate to include this one, but my kids love it, so yours probably will too.  It’s not so much an IQ test as a game of reflexes and quick thinking.

It’s actually stylish and fun and very, very entertaining—too bad about the name.  My kids compete for family high score regularly and laugh while they play.

14.  SPIKEY’S BOUNCE AROUND

Age rating: 6+ | Price: $1.99

A fun, break out-style game in which kids launch a cute, spiky ball around a variety of bouncy environments trying to free the magic butterflies who are trapped in glass jars.

It can be hard to get the hang of it at first, but just like in the iconic mistake movie Groundhog Day, you can retry failed levels until you succeed.

15.  YARD SALE HIDDEN TREASURES: SUNNYVILLE

Age rating: 5+ | Price: $1.99

A truly great hidden pictures game with an unlikely premise: You move to a new town and have to decorate your house room by room so you can beat your snooty neighbor and impress the judges in the Superstar Homes magazine competition.

Problem is, you’re on a fixed budget so you have to shop at yard sales.  Luckily for you one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Once you’ve found what you need, it’s time to get out your paints, sandpaper, and glue gun to craft your way to the finish line.  My 10-year-old daughter can’t get enough.

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