The YouTube Kids app, the first Google product built from the ground up with little ones in mind, is available for free on Google Play and in the App Store App Store in the U.S., starting today, February 23, 2015.
Families worldwide are already watching millions of videos on YouTube. The app makes it safer and easier for children to discover and explore videos on topics they are curious about with family-friendly features, including:
Playful, Fun Design: The YouTube Kids app is delightfully simple and packed with age-appropriate videos, channels and playlists with a focus on content for early literacy. With larger images, bold icons and more, it’s fast and simple for little thumbs to navigate. And there’s a voice search option so even if your children can’t spell or type, they can still find videos that pique their curiosity.
Parental Controls: The YouTube Kids App offers several options that help you control the experience for your kids.
Timer: Let the app be the bad guy with a built-in timer that limits kids’ screen time. The app alerts them when the session is over so you don’t have to.
Sound Settings: Parents have an option to turn off background music and sound effects, so your kids can keep watching quietly while you catch up on chores or simply take a break in peace.
Search Settings: If you’d rather limit your children to just the pre-selected videos available on the home screen, you can turn off the search feature.
Product feedback: The goal is to continuously improve YouTube Kids App, so there’s also a space for you to give YouTube your feedback.
Family-Focused Content: Rest easy! Videos in the YouTube Kids app only focus on kid-appropriate content. You can browse channels and playlists in four categories: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore. Search videos of particular interest to your family, like model volcanoes, math tutorials, the amazing (and endless) world of trains—and everything in between. Enjoy favorites including Jim Henson TV, Mother Goose Club, Talking Tom and Friends, National Geographic Kids, Reading Rainbow and Thomas the Tank Engine, and discover new videos coming soon from beloved YouTubers like the Vlogbrothers and Stampylonghead.
Common Sense Media, a non-profit organization providing education and advocacy to families to promote safe technology and media for children, said that the YouTube Kids app is:
“An exceptionally fun way for kids to browse online videos and for adults to guide their viewing.”
“A serious contender as a family’s go-to way for kids to watch videos online.”
“There’s something for everyone on YouTube Kids. Toddlers to big kids will be able to find a show, some music, or some educational content that fits their interests.”
Check out a video about the new YouTube Kids app here!
With Christmas right around the corner, you can make this holiday season a beary merry adventure with your cuddly friends, the Care Bears. The brand new Care Bears Advent Calendar app from American Greetings is a magical interactive calendar you can download to your desktop or iPad, and each day brings festive fun! Follow your favorite Care Bears through a jolly experience filled with games, activities, videos and more to build the holiday excitement as you explore the dazzling sights of Care-a-Lot at Christmas time.
Packed with all of the fun sights and sounds of the holiday season children can start the countdown by ‘unlocking’ 25 activities like holiday-themed puzzles, videos, coloring pages and more, returning each day to unlock another activity. Children can design hundreds of snowflakes and create their own white Christmas with the Care-a-Lot Snowflake maker, decorate the Care Bears Christmas tree with special ornaments, and enjoy other wintry fun activities. Each day, click on the stars to reveal another special Care Bears surprise and check out all of the wondrous Christmas activities. Whether you’re helping trim the tree in the center of Care-a-Lot, making your own snowflakes or creating joyful scenes with interactive coloring pages, there’s something for everyone!
“The joyful and generous spirit of the holiday season and excitement of anticipating Christmas are a perfect fit for the sharing and caring message that’s synonymous with Care Bears,” said Derek Roberto, vice president of new media at AG Properties. “The interactive experience of exploring Care-a-Lot at Christmas is sure to make the season merry and bright with sights and sounds that will delight fans of all ages.”
As a dad of a three year old boy and one on the way, the wife and I decided it was time to get the little guy potty trained before his sister joined the party. That being said, like most 3 year olds Brady is a very stubborn kid, so we knew we were about to endeavor on a challenging journey. Wow were we wrong and that’s for one reason, the Kiddie App!
As you know, there are literally millions of mobile apps with little purpose or value, but the same can’t be said for the Kiddie App. We scoured the iTunes App store searching for potty training tips and that’s when we realized there is no app out there that covers bedtime, dinner time and potty training – all in one.
Every parent has a difficult time coping with the challenges of raising toddlers, especially when it comes the dreaded potty training, but now Kiddie App provides parents with a fun and educational tool to make everything a bit easier.
The app is jam-packed with interactive stories and sing-a-long songs which will help children learn the desirable behaviors. Best of all, using the Reward Charts can motivate your toddler and at the same time, we were able to share their progress with family and friends on Facebook.
Best of all, the app itself is FREE and you can buy a few additional stories for a few bucks!
Any parent, that’s about to enter the world of potty training should definitely check out Kiddie App!
Stopping for directions as I said was never one of my strong suits, but enter the age of GPS and now I just need to know a few key pieces of information and I really should get where I’m going. Well what happens when you don’t have those pieces of information like where’s a nearby restaurants that might have a changing table for kiddo, or a nice place to grab a bite to eat, or the best yet where to get gas. Not just gas stations but this little wonder app will show you the cheapest gas prices as well. Over the course of this summer I’ve saved at least 30 dollars, which when you think about the fact this app is $0.99 for the first 30 days. After your first 30 days are up, take advantage of the special summer offer and get 12 months of TeleNav GPS Plus for just $9.99/year. That’s over 50% off the regular $21.99/year price. Or subscribe for just $2.99/month but this is a limited time offer. To get started with the $0.99 – 30 day trial just download the app from iTunes.
Key features:
Find cheap gas prices nearby – updated daily!
Get clear spoken turn-by-turn directions from people, not robots
Traffic-guided routing helps you avoid traffic jams
Auto rerouting takes you to your destination if you ever miss a turn or take a detour
How easy is it to find the cheap gas… you tap the Search button and then choose Gas By Price in the list of categories. You can then select the type of gas (diesel if need be) you are looking for and TeleNav will find those best prices.
How to win it… Contest ends 11:59pm EST. August 31st, 2011.
3 lucky people will be winning the TeleNav GPS Plus for 1 year. Leave a comment below with your favorite feature of the TeleNav GPS Plus and please include some method for us to contact you in the comment (twitter or email).
You get 1 extra entry for tweeting about this contest (you can do this daily). Must contain the following information: @TeleNav @dadarocks –http://dad.tc/njM8Xk and you must also comment with the link to your tweet.
Example: I want to win a one year subscription to @TeleNav GPS Plus thanks to #TeleNavDad @dadarocks – http://dad.tc/njM8Xk
You get 1 extra entry for following @dadarocks on twitter – www.twitter.com/dadarocks You must comment that you’re a follower.
You get 1 extra entry for becoming our FAN on facebook – www.facebook.com/dadarocks You must comment that you’re a fan.
You get 1 extra entry for becoming their FAN on facebook – www.facebook.com/TeleNav (and leave a note saying that www.dadarocks.com sent you) You must comment that you’re a fan.
You get 1 extra entry for liking this page on facebook (like button at the top of the post NOTE: you must be signed into facebook for it to work!)
You get 1 extra entry for suggesting and having 3 friends become fans of DaDa Rocks on facebook (and have them leave a note saying you sent them) You must comment with their 3 names.
You will have 24 hours to reply before we pick another winner! Limited to the USA.
Disclaimer: TeleNav supplied the prize for this giveaway as disclosed in an earlier post I am compensated by being part of the Navigator and Chief program but all opinions are my own.
Slide-a-ma-jig [iTunes] is a very creative app where your child can build their own monsters.
There are dozens of monsters to choose from making this app being able to create thousands of crazy cartoons.
On their website you could download a PDF [Link] have your kids draw their own monsters and play the game on paper. Its a wonderfully creative outlet and hopefully you can play along too.
Marc loves it! I shake the iPhone and it creates a random monster and I usually add my own sound effects and Marc does a gut busting laugh. Invite your kids to make stories with the characters they create and give them names. I feel that this little wonder app can really push the creative powers of a child.
Click on the images for a bigger view.
Disclaimer I was provided this app for testing and the raffle is provide by Lucky Radish as well.
How to win it… Contest ends March 14th. [CLOSED]
You get 1 entry for placing a comment with you’re favorite character [Visit their site for others] and please use some method for us to contact you in the comment (twitter or email)
You get 1 extra entry for tweeting about this contest (you can do this daily). Must contain the following information: @LuckyRadish @dada_rocks – http://bit.ly/9O89O1 and you must also comment with the link to your twitter message.
