Common Sense Media Review
By Dana Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Stories, beautiful photos help kids build global awareness.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
One Globe Kids - Friends Around the World
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
In ONE GLOBE KIDS - FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD kids choose a story, then listen to and read it by swiping through each page to turn to the next page. If you want to choose different approaches to the story, choose "Adventure" or choose "Start to Finish!" to read from beginning to end. Tap "Conversations" and press the red button to record audio of your own voice telling your story (which isn't shared publicly). Tap the language option to hear and practice speaking some vocabulary words in another language. Photos and audio add to this cultural and social learning experience.
Is It Any Good?
Kids can "meet" other kids around the world and discover what their lives are like without ever leaving home through the interactive stories on this app. One Globe Kids - Friends Around the World takes kids to meet Valdo in Haiti, who travels hours to get to school, wears a SpongeBob SquarePants T-shirt, and loves weekends in his village. Luna in New York City lives in a small apartment, eats breakfast twice, and rides her scooter two blocks to school. Kids can practice recording their own story with guiding questions that prompt kids to use their imaginations to relate to the app's stories and compare their own lives ("What do you like to eat for breakfast?" "How do you get to school?"), as well as practice a few words from each kid's language. Almost all of the stories require a $1.99 in-app purchase (unless you purchases the paid One Globe Kids - All Friends app). That price seems like an economical way for kids to experience other cultures and learn about other kids' lives.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how your life different from the stories on One Globe Kids - Friends Around the World? How is it the same?
Try speaking and recording some words in the languages of the featured kids with your kid. Learning and remembering just a few words in different languages at a young age can spark kids' long-term interest in and confidence about learning more languages.
View the map. Point out where you live and where the kids featured in the stories live. Use vocabulary related to geography to describe each place, such as Northern Hemisphere, Europe, close to the Equator, and island or land-locked.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects : Social Studies : cultural understanding , global awareness
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : thinking critically , Emotional Development : empathy , perspective taking , self-awareness , Responsibility & Ethics : embracing differences
- Pricing structure : Free to try (Free app includes one story; each additional story is $1.99 via in-app purchases. Free app includes one story; more individual stories (for example, "Maya in Israel," or "Floor in The Netherlands") can be added with $1.99 in-app purchases. There's also a complete version, One Globe Kids - All Friends, available for $9.99.)
- Release date : February 28, 2017
- Genre : Education
- Topics : Friendship
- Character Strengths : Empathy
- Publisher : Globe Smart Kids
- Version : 1.1.71
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 6.1 or later
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
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