I usually don't let my daughter play with our iTouch and iPhone, but we are going to be flying to Bermuda in 2 months and I was wondering if there are any easy free apps for my daughter to play with. I'm bringing a DVD player, coloring books, reading books, food, etc. to keep her occupied, but since we don't let her play with our phones, she is obsessed with wanting to play with it, and I thought that if it got bad on the flight we could let her play with our phones. Also, we are going to be in hotel rooms for 10 days, even though we will be vacationing and sight seeing, there is still a lot of hotel time that we need to occupy. Thanks.
Thanks for the great suggestions. Erin, I think you are right. My daughter definitely understands special circumstances. We fly all the time, and she only gets the DVD player when we fly and we have a bag of airplane toys that she only gets when we fly. I just wanted iPhone apps because I'm afraid that because we fly all the time, that now that she is older, she will get bored with her airplane bag, especially when she sees Daddy watching movies on his iPhone. I'll check into books on my eReader for her, it will be nice to not have to lug around a bunch of books.
The talking gremlin will mimic whatever you say & its very cute. My 5 & 3 yr old played with it for 30 minutes straight! So did I though lol! There are several talking animal type apps that are very similar to the gremlin one. The gremlin is free too!
If you don't normally let her play with these items why would you start now? If you allow her to play with them on the plane and again in the hotel, then you will have a major problem if you try to tell her no once you get home. All children need limits - and this is reasonable to me.
Bring some "fun" food - things she doesn't usually get (animal crackers in the invididual boxes or a single serving of goldfish), and some "presents". You can go to the dollar store and buy some books, coloring books, other minor stuff and then pull it out if you need a major distraction. Also, if she will sleep in her carseat in your car, then bring it on the airplane with you. She will sleep on the plane as well and be more comfortable and not want to be moving around and out of her seat.
Good luck! C.
i would definitely NOT let her play with your iphone now if you don't usually and don't plan to let her continue. a DVD player, books, coloring books, toys and snacks are really plenty to occupy a 2 year old. don't set precedents that you don't want to live with.
i'm so excited for you that you're going to bermuda! it's where i grew up and where my heart dwells. at what hotel will you be staying? make sure you go to horseshoe bay, the most beautiful beach in the world.
:) khairete
S.
my friend has a flash card app on hers and it was cool enough I almost got an Iphone!
I hear you. When we go to the doctor I have to use my ipod in order for the doctor to see places. Otherwise he only gets a glimpse and I don't feel that's enough to diagnose anything. So I have Thomas EVERYTHING on my ipod. There is the fun and easy game that you just tilt the device the direction you want thomas to go to. Super easy, my then 14 month old figured it out. What's her favorite character of sorts? I would look just do a search for that. I find the character type (Ariel, Cars, or whatever) hold my son's attention the longest.
We rely on our iphone apps in a pinch all the time. I think kids do understand special circumstances and fun to do on a plane/vacation vs. normal time. We love the Toddler Teasers and the Duck, Duck Moose games (Wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, park math, etc...). These may not be free, but we usually won't spend more than $1 for kids games and they're WELL worth it! Will definitely occupy her for the flight if needed in a pinch! Hope you have a great flight!
Hey -
I went on a plane trip with my children and I actually downloaded a couple of Dora episodes onto my ipod. My daughter loved it and it definitely occupied her. They were $1.99 each, I think. Also, I now have an iphone and she really likes Tozzle. They have a free version, but it doesn't have very many puzzles, so I went ahead and paid the $1.99 for the puzzles.
As others have said, when you get back from your trip, the kids will want to continue to play with these items. I just told them no. And now, they have no expectation of using my ipod at all. I do let them play with my iphone still, but it has to be at a specific time (in the doctors office, late in the evening, etc. It's not just willly nilly at their demand).
There is also a free toy story ap which is a matching card game. My 3 year old loves it, but I am not sure how a 2 year old would do with it. Oh, and "Make me a princess" - free ap to dress up a princess. You can even take a picture of your daughter and then she can dress up herself. My daughter loves this one as well.
Good luck!
L.
My BFF has some stupid coy fish pond app that my 15 month old LOVES. All it does it shows fish in a pond and when you touch the screen it sounds like you're splashing the water and all the fish hide. This has kept him entertained for 4 hours of boring furniture shopping!!
Not sure if this is available with the iPhone (I have an HTC), but you could do a search for an app called Toddler Lock. Once you turn on the app, it locks the phone so the kids can't make a call or mess with anything. It turns the screen into a drawing board and has shapes that pop up on-screen as well. My 1 1/12 year old twins enjoy it! Good luck :)
My 2.5yo loves bowling! There's a couple of free aps for that.
I only let him play with mine in restaurants (flight would totally be an option, too). So I always keep 1-2 movies on it as well, as a go-to. He loves Cars and Beauty and the Beast, so those are staples on mine!
I've never had an issue with him wanting to play with it since he gets to in restaurants. He understands that he gets it on special occasions.
well it's not free, but the starfall app is worth the couple of dollars, also she likes the doodle drawing apps, and all of the babyfirst tv apps have a free version, and she loves those.
There are so many, you may just want to browse through and choose a couple
Well this is not what you asked but... I have a color nook it comes with 2 free children books. Plus I purchased a few books on my nook for my kids its much lighter than carrying bunch of regularbooks. My almost 5 yr old can use it by herself.
Kindle or other e-reader app so you can buy kid's books
Talking Carl
Download episodes of her favorite shows
KidArt
Toddler Touch and See
First Words Sampler
Tozzle Lite
DuckDuck (It's for adults but my son was obsessed by it when he was 2 or 3)
Toddler Teasers Shapes
My kids even liked typing in the Notes and playing with Google Maps.
Forgot to add that I got these a few years ago so I don't remember which ones were free. Some of them are the lite version, others may have lite versions available. One app I wanted to add was Angry Birds. My son, when he was 3, was happy to fling the birds and didn't expect to win. But you'll have to play it too to get to the different levels.
Put some kids music on it, too.
