The best downloads to keep kids busy – and quiet! – on your family travels.
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Toca Town
In this colourful app, kids can help 21 different residents explore six different areas of Toca Town. Children can act out things they might not be allowed to do in real life, such as having a giant pillow fight or flushing the toilet 20 times in a row.
Apple, £1.99
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First Camera
If your kids’ pinch your smartphone to take photos, FirstCamera is for you. It saves all their shots onto the app (leaving room on the camera roll for your own pictures). Built-in filters let them decorate their photos with stickers, speech bubbles, moustaches, hats and glasses.
Apple, free
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My first app – VOL.3 Airport
This third app in the series (Circus and Vehicles being the first two) allows your kids to have fun around the airport, exploring different areas, watching luggage being loaded and seeing the cabin being cleaned. The app also features four engaging games that are perfect to stimulate spacial awareness and logical-thinking skills.
Apple, £1.49
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Crayola colour, draw and sing
This fun app combines art and music as each splash of colour unlocks a new instrument and a song begins to take shape. Features 10 familiar songs, including ‘Frère Jacques’ and ‘Do Your Ears Hang Low?’. There are also more than 50 Crayola colours and 40 images to colour in.
Apple, £2.96
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Skit
Using your own holiday photos, which you can embellish with outfits and hairpieces, this fun app allows you to create videos to share with friends. You can also narrate your story and share with your online community via Facebook, Twitter, text or email.
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Hoopa City
With the help of Hoopa the hippo, kids get to construct their own city, using different materials to make houses, roads, schools and even theme parks. If you prefer something quieter, you can build forests, beach resorts and mountains.
Apple, £1.99
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Itrack Wildlife lite
A comprehensive digital field guide to animal tracks. Enjoyed by adults and children alike, this wildlife app is suitable for both novice and expert wildlife enthusiasts. Limited to eight species of mammal, the Lite version allows you to try many of the features of the iTrack Wildlife, without the cost.
Apple, free
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Monsters ate my birthday cake
It all begins on the magical island of Gogapoe, a place populated by humans and monsters. What starts out as a mission to get back Niko’s birthday cake becomes a quest for the fate of Gogapoe itself. Hordes of evil creatures cause mayhem, but there’s nothing you can’t fix with head butts, stink clouds and rainbow barf.
Apple, £2.99
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One globe kids
Put the world in your child’s hands with this safe, fun and interactive app. Children can meet new friends from around the world, sharing their language, games and food, and there are children’s stories from five different countries. Easy for non-readers to navigate using icons and audio to listen to the story.
Apple, free