THURSDAY 13 MARCH 2014 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 ooff grraavity inside CAMPUS • QA leads ground breaking Anatomy of of new wing for educational centre in Sri Lanka a black box P | 4 P | 10 Insulationn LEGAL ththermaermamalal b • Companies need to fulfil contractual obligations P | 7 FILMS • Catherine Deneuve on freedom and ageing with grace P | 8-9 HEALTH • SurfSet’s gnarly workout P | 11 TECHNOLOGY • Will 3-D printers ever make sense MUST HAVE ANDROID for home use? APPS FOR CHILDREN P | 12 Learn Arabic From maths and early reading to games • Learn commonly used Arabic words and digital toys, some recommendations and their meanings for Android-owning children. P | 13 2 PLUS | THURSDAY 13 MARCH 2014 COVER STORY Thirty best Android apps for kids By Stuart Dredge of fun mathematics apps for kids, each focusing on Ladybird I’m Ready to Spell (£2.99) a different discipline. Its second multiplication app Based on Penguin Books’ famous brand, this app lenty of children are receiving an Android tab- matches the rest with its mixture of exercises of uses a space theme to teach children some of the let as gifts for festivals and birthdays. Google’s times tables (from 1 to 15) with virtual characters key spellings they’ll need for school. Based around Nexus 7, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and a host of and a mini-game offered as rewards for progress. the UK Phonics Screening Check, it offers three Paffordable alternatives appealed to parents mini-games and lots of exercises to practise, with who’d decided to get a separate device for their chil- a decoratable space rocket marking progression. dren – and thus, in many cases, reclaim their own. EARLY READING AND WRITING So, what to download for these devices? There are Justin’s World - Lettersounds (£1.49) tens of thousands of Android apps for kids, but many Endless Alphabet (Free + IAP) One of a series of apps launched by Justin Fletcher, of them aren’t very good. Thankfully, there are some Endless Alphabet is brilliant: an introduction to whose face – well, many faces, given his number of gleaming needles in this haystack of digital media: the alphabet through a band of cute’n’colourful car- different characters – is familiar to young CBeebies here are 30 of the best apps to start with. toon monsters, who act out various words with the viewers in the UK. This app focuses on the first eight Note, prices are correct at the time of writing. letters dragged into place by your children. It’s full of letter-sounds that kids will be learning at school, (Free + IAP) means the app is free to download and character. Seven words come for free, with the rest with Fletcher appearing via video to keep things use, but uses in-app purchases in some way. unlocked by a single in-app purchase. entertaining. MATHS Medieval Math Battle Pro (£1.82) This quirky maths game combines sums with the kind of monster-battling you’d expect from a role- playing game. Designed to be played for 15 minutes or more a day the mathematics puzzles get harder as your child gets better at the game, providing a lasting challenge. Moose Math (£1.24) Released by well-respected children’s publisher Duck Duck Moose, this focuses on the key maths skills: addition and subtraction, but also sorting and counting. Around the sums is a fun game where chil- dren rescue pets and build their own virtual city – good for holding their interest. Slice Fractions (£1.99) Released earlier this year, this inventive game involves slicing through ice and lava on behalf of a cute mammoth character – and learning fractions along the way. There are more than 60 puzzles to solve, with the game geared towards educational fun rather than learning by rote. Medieval Squeebles Times Tables 2 (£1.99) Math Battle Developer KeyStageFun has released a succession PLUS | THURSDAY 13 MARCH 2014 3 anything the company releases is worth children: an app that teaches them to snapping up – this has a science theme. program in JavaScript by building and It gets children to explore the periodic battling giant robots. There’s a mix- table, with each element represented ture of solo and multiplayer battles, by a different cute character. Their job with a finely-tuned difficulty curve is to spin, heat up, cool and mix each to match the action to their skills. one to see what it turns into. Coding credits to upgrade their bot can be earned and/or bought via in- Talking Poppet (Free + IAP) app purchase. This is the latest appy offshoot from the Moshi Monsters online virtual Lightbot – Programming Puzzles world for children, and takes its cues (£1.99) from a parade of talking-character Pitched as a “programming puzzle apps before it. Children can talk to the game”, this challenges children to guide Poppet character to get her to squeak- their robot through 50 levels, lighting ily repeat their words, or interact with up tiles as they go. It aims to give them her via taps and swipes. It’s free to play, an understanding of key coding con- Ladybird Read it Yourself (£1.99 voice. It’s accessible enough for young with a single in-app purchase unlock- cepts, as preparation for full program- + IAP) children, too. ing extra features. ming tasks later on in their educational The second Ladybird app in this career. roundup is more about books: the colAR Mix (Free + IAP) graded reading series that’s been Augmented reality technology can STORIES helping generations of children learn be a gimmick, but this app squeezes in GAMES to read. It offers stories – bought via innovation without spoiling the fun. Grimm’s Bookshelf (Free) in-app purchase – across four reading You print out colouring pages, your This is what the name implies: a vir- Minecraft – Pocket Edition (£4.99) levels, ensuring it can grow with your children colour them in, then point tual “bookshelf” of separate storybook- It’s been available on Android for child’s abilities. your Android device’s camera at them apps from publisher StoryToys, which years, but Minecraft feels as fresh as to watch the picture come to life as made its name on Android by turning ever: a marvellous creative sandbox as DK Readers (Free + IAP) an animated, zoomable 3D object. fairytales from the Brothers Grimm much as a game, where children can On a similar note to Ladybird: Read Guaranteed to widen their eyes. into pseudo pop-up digital stories. build anything they like and share the it Yourself comes this from DK: a simi- Here, you can browse the catalogue, and experience with their friends. A crash- lar mix of digital books designed for access any that you’ve already bought. course in anything-goes architecture, different reading levels – “from farm DIGITAL TOYS its only limit is their imagination. animals to fishy tales and emperor Me Books (Free + IAP) penguins to Ewoks”. This is another Petting Zoo (£1.99) Me Books is an app for buying and BBC CBeebies Playtime (Free) example of in-app purchases being If your children love animals, this reading digital children’s picture books, Released in the UK as the official used responsibly: under the control of collection of 21 animated beasties is including those based on brands like app for TV channel CBeebies, this parents and protected via a PIN. sure to raise a smile. The work of illus- Peter Rabbit, Peppa Pig and Charlie features various games based on its trator Christoph Niemann, each hand- and Lola. The books, which mostly cost most popular games and characters drawn animal can be interacted with £1.99 each, offer voice narration and – from Something Special and Alpha CREATIVITY by swiping on the screen to see what the ability to record your own dialogue Blocks to new series Andy’s Dinosaur happens to them. It’s an app that your and sound effects. Adventure. All of the games are acces- Toca Builders (£1.99) kids will return to again and again. sible for young children, with more This app from publisher Toca Boca Justin’s World - Goldilocks (£1.99) added regularly. is clearly inspired by Minecraft, in that Toca Hair Salon 2 (£1.99) Another app from Justin Fletcher, it gets kids to build whatever they like Ever have problems getting your this is also fairytale-focused. It’s a Mr Shingu’s Paper Zoo (£1.99) using blocks. However, it skews even children to agree to a haircut? Toca retelling of Goldilocks and the Three One of the most inventive Android younger than Minecraft with acces- Hair Salon 2 may help, as it puts them Bears, blending illustrations and children’s games to be released in 2013 sible controls, and a troupe of robots in the role of a hairdresser, chopping video of Fletcher himself playing all was this, which gets kids to create a to help them build, demolish and paint (and washing, dyeing, curling etc) the the different characters. Simple and colourful zoo-full of animals via virtual blocks within the on-screen world. locks of virtual customers. There’s fun mini-games break up the story, origami folding, then play with them plenty of scope for creativity and silli- encouraging children to practise their (not to mention pick up their poo). The FriendStrip Kids Pro (£0.99 + ness in equal measure, as they master language, matching and sorting skills. origami aspect is very well done, and IAP) its intricacies. may encourage some animal-folding A number of schools are using this The Pirate Princess (£2.49) fun in the real world.