kids

Apple Stores to update kid's area from iMacs to iPads

The move to the smaller, app-centric iPads makes sense for kids as much as it makes for Apple. While the applications that were available on the iMacs were educational and kid-friendly, there is just something about Apple's iPad that kids simply "get."

Since getting my iPad, it has become a favorite request when visiting my nephews (2 and 4). Of course it makes my job as babysitter easier, but watching them handle iOS has been fascinating. My brother and his wife do not have any Apple products, yet my nephews seem to automatically understand the concept of … Read more

Preserve your kids' funny quips with Posterity app

As every parent knows, kids say the funniest things.

Like my daughter, who used to call hamburgers "hangabers." And loves to say, "You're very sweeticle, dad."

Take it from someone who knows: it's all too easy to forget these little bon mots. That's why I'm delighted by Posterity: The Family Quote Book for iOS, a simple but clever app that lets you capture all the funny things your kids say.

Posterity creates individual "books" for each kid, then lets you fill them with quotes. For each quote you can assign … Read more

The Kid is back: Kid Icarus Uprising

As we approach the year anniversary of the 3DS, only a handful of titles jump to mind as must-haves. When Nintendo announced that the Kid Icarus franchise was being resurrected for the 3DS, we immediately thought of what the updated side-scroller would evolve into, but Kid Icarus Uprising takes the game we remember from long ago, and throws it in a completely new direction.

Jeff:You might as well forget everything you remember about the original Kid Icarus game that first debuted on the NES. In addition to making me feel old, the new Kid Icarus is an absolute deviation from its quarter-century-old predecessor, maintaining nothing more than the same main character, Pit, and few recognizable enemies and weapons. … Read more

What's the best-sounding hi-fi you ever heard?

For me a great hi-fi doesn't necessarily have to be the best-sounding one.

It's more about a sound that draws me in. One CD or LP leads to the next, and I don't want to stop to eat, read, go to bed, or watch TV. A great hi-fi is one that lets the music cut loose. Even cheap gear might have what it takes to get my juices flowing. Take the Velodyne vPulse in-ear headphones; they make too much bass and are far from the most refined headphones in my collection, but I keep using them. I … Read more

Teach your kids to draw Everything Butt Art

Ever tried teaching your child how to draw an animal, but just didn't know where to start? Next time, try starting with a butt. That's right.

Everything Butt Art, a freemium iPad app, wants to teach your child how to draw, a learning process that relies on repetition and familiarity. One where every drawing starts with a butt. It may sound kind of strange, or perhaps even offensive at first, but once you begin using the app and go through the steps of each drawing, your apprehension quickly turns into admiration.

Let's take a look at how … Read more

iPad apps for kids: Bats! like a furry museum field trip

What is a "book" on an iPad? It's a question that bears some consideration, because the very nature of a tablet redefines the book experience.

According to Apple, iBooks 2 is the answer. However, plenty of booklike apps on the iPad also redefine the territory; the newly released Bats!: Furry Fliers of the Night doesn't live in iBooks, but this app feels as next-gen as Apple's iBooks offerings, or more so.… Read more

Make a Kindle Fire safe for kids

The Internet is a place where innocence goes to die.

Yes, it's also mankind's greatest repository of collected knowledge--but some of the Internet's knowledge might be a little inappropriate for young minds.

In spite of this, Web browsers have quickly blanketed my home over the past few years. They're on my phone, my TV, my computer, my tablet, and apparently coming soon to my refrigerator. As the father of a 4-year-old, I run our house like digital-era Holden Caulfield, disabling or password-protecting the browser on every gadget I can own.

It's not even the Web'… Read more

Fisher-Price wants your kids to watch TV everywhere

LAS VEGAS--Fisher-Price is coming out with a portable DVR that even a 3-year-old can operate. In fact, that's entirely the point.

Tonight at Pepcom Digital Experience the toy maker showed off its upcoming portable DVR players called Kid Tough, designed for kids 3 to 5. They're rugged devices that come in either blue or pink (clever, huh?) and that can record up to two hours, although the memory is expandable with a micro SD slot. The screen is a small but sufficient 3.5 inches and looks easy to use via a touch interface, which is what … Read more

Dying teen's final video goes viral

Shortly before Christmas, teenager Ben Breedlove, creator of the YouTube channel BreedloveTV, posted a two-part video about his lifelong heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It was the high school senior's most serious video and would prove to be his last.

On Christmas morning, while playing with his younger brother in the family's backyard, Breedlove succumbed to the condition that causes a thickening of heart muscle, went into cardiac arrest, and died.

In the days following, Breedlove's final two videos--in which he does not say a word but cycles through a series of flash cards to the music "… Read more

Best iPad apps for kids

It's the time of year where we spread some family cheer, and share some of our favorite kid-friendly iPad apps to keep your little ones entertained this holiday.

Editors' note: This post was updated on December 20, 2012 with new apps.

Among the iPad's catalog of hundreds of thousands of apps, there are a dizzying number of them geared toward children -- everything from interactive storybooks to learning apps to games. The question, as always, is finding the apps that are best for you (or, in this case, your kids).

That's where we come in. With the … Read more