PlayKids - Cartoons and games
Content galore with shows, games; strong parent controls.
PlayKids - Cartoons and games
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this app.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that PlayKids - Cartoons and games is a subscription-based service that gives kids access to several educational TV shows and activities while offering parents lots of control over the media their kids consume. There's original programming as well as selections from well-known creators such as Super Simple Songs and Pocoyo, and it's all ad-free. The developer claims that all content is selected by specialists on staff. Parents can restrict access to certain programs and limit the time in the app, requiring kids to take a break after a certain amount of time. Shows and games must be downloaded onto the device before kids can watch or play, which can take up quite a bit of the device's storage but makes it easy for play without Wi-Fi. There's also content available in Spanish or Portuguese, and tons of supported languages for using the app. Read the developer's privacy policy for details on how your (or your kids') information is collected, used, and shared and any choices you may have in the matter, and note that privacy policies and terms of service frequently change.
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What’s It About?
With PLAYKIDS - CARTOONS AND GAMES, kids choose activities from a line of train cars: shows, games, voxel (a building game), books, and other short videos. The last car is the bedtime car, featuring several lullaby selections that can be played withe a timer. Dozens of preschool-appropriate shows -- like The Wiggles, Pocoyo, Strawberry Shortcake - Berry Bitty Adventures, Bob the Builder, and Cleo & Cuquin are included, but they need to be downloaded before watching. Kids can also play a Minecraft-looking building game, create songs on the piano, play learning games, watch science videos, and even learn a new language. In the settings, parents can deselect any content they don't want kids to access and set time limits on app use.
Is It Any Good?
This app puts tons of kid-friendly content in one place with easy parental controls. Although other video services may offer more content, they don't offer the young-kid-friendly features that PlayKids - Cartoons and games has. Only kids' shows are included, most of them good-quality shows, and, even then, parents can restrict access to some shows in the settings. And, although it's a storage hog, the downloaded shows can be watched without an internet connection, making it a great travel accessory totally worth a month's subscription. The games could stand alone in a quality educational app, too. The video quality can be set to high or low (to save storage space), but the low quality is rather blurry. This one app alone could fully stock a preschooler's device.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about and consider a variety of options in addition to PlayKids - Cartoons and games for occupying and teaching toddlers. Check out Media Tips for Babies and Toddlers for ideas on balanced media use.
Load a device with several shows before a long car or plane trip to keep kids entertained without Wi-Fi. Ask questions about what they're watching along the way, and try to make connections to their experiences or knowledge.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android
- Subjects: Arts: music, painting
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: logic, making conclusions, problem solving, Creativity: imagination
- Pricing structure: Free to try ($4.99/month; $51.99/year. 3-day free trial available.)
- Release date: March 8, 2021
- Category: Education
- Topics: Dinosaurs, Superheroes, Book Characters, Music and Sing-Along, Trains
- Publisher: Movile Internet Movel S.A.
- Version: 4.24.3
- Minimum software requirements: iOs 11.2 or later; Android varies
- Last updated: March 29, 2021
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