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Chelsea Beck/NPR
NPR ED
How To Pick
Kids' Apps For The Backseat This Summer
Anya Kamanetz
It's summer vacation season and many families will be lucky enough to
be heading off for at least a few days. At least half of parents say
quality time together is the most important reason to take a family
vacation, according to a national survey by the rental car company
Alamo.
Still, there will inevitably be downtime: at airports, on planes,
trains or in the backseat. So one new travel necessity is a tablet or
smartphone loaded up for the kids with an extra charger or battery.
In an ideal world, our kids' screen time won't be a bleeping, blooping,
brain-rotting distraction, but a creative and fun, even educational
diversion. So NPR Ed reached out to some experts for recommendations
and guidelines on helping pick the best apps, for backseat time or any
time.
These recommendations come with an important caveat. The American
Academy of Pediatrics' new guidelines on screen time for kids emphasize
the need for balance with other activities. The goal for school-age
children is at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day, and meals
and other designated family activities should be screen-free time.
Joint media use is another best practice that the AAP recommends: That
means playing games or watching videos alongside your kids and
discussing the content. That said, in a backseat situation, that's not
always possible.
"There are plenty of casual games that will burn time, but ideally
parents want something that will help their kids learn also," says
Christine Elgersma, who works in parent education for Common Sense
Media. The nonprofit provides hundreds of free media reviews to
families with information on fun, appropriateness and educational value.
So, here are the principles we came up with to guide your children in
selecting the perfect apps to while away the time.
"Educational" doesn't mean "drill and kill."
For the littlest kids, ages 2-5, Elgersma recommends an app called Busy
Shapes. "It's puzzle-based and gets increasingly more challenging as
kids play," says Elgersma.
It's developed by Edoki Academy, which has a group of apps that it says
are based on the Montessori method of early childhood education.
Montessori emphasizes self-directed and hands-on learning.
Even apps that get at specific skills should be more than digital
worksheets, says Elgersma, citing e-learning research by Kathy
Hirsh-Pasek at Temple University and others.
"If the experience can be replicated on paper, it doesn't make sense on
an app," Elgersma says. "A great app offers an experience that can only
be had on a screen." She points to Motion Math, a group of apps that is
being used in elementary school classrooms, and offers fun experiences
like running a cupcake shop.
Open-ended play is enriching, too.
Children, especially young children, have a developmental need to play
and use their imaginations.
Many of the most worthy apps for kids are better described as "a toy as
opposed to a game," in the words of Bjorn Jefferey, the CEO and
co-founder of Toca Boca. Toca Boca, one of the most award-winning app
companies, is recommended highly by Elgersma. Their first app was Toca
Tea Party, basically a play-pretend game, with no points or levels.
"It's more similar to Lego," says Jefferey. "You can't win at Lego, it
just is what it is." In user testing of the tea party game, one
surprising, and fun, change that preschoolers asked for was more
spilling.
In this category, Elgersma also recommends My Playhome, which is like a
digital dollhouse, and Me, by TinyBop, which is a personal scrapbook
kids can fill in by answering questions, putting in video and pictures.
Try an app that enhances your vacation experience.
Headed to an amusement park? Pango Build Park is an app for elementary
schoolers that involves building roller coasters and other parts of a
theme park — there's a little mapmaking involved too.
Going camping? Toca Nature is one of Toca Boca's newest offerings aimed
at kids older than age 4. Explore different habitats and get a gentle
introduction to the food chain.
And, if you prefer old-fashioned, road-trip diversions, there are
several free versions of the license plate game available for iPhone
and Android, and a wide range of karaoke apps if singalongs are your
thing. These can get the whole family involved together.
Watch out for ads and add-ons.
Some kids' apps are free to play initially, but dangle all kinds of
extra goodies that cost money. Earlier this year, Amazon was forced to
refund over $70 million in in-app purchases made by children without
their parent's knowledge. Apple and Google have had to do the same in
years past.
Elgersma says to look for apps that have a flat free or subscription
model, maybe with a free trial so you can check it out before you
commit. The iTunes store now provides a list of in-app purchases, so
caveat emptor.
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