5 Digital Distractions for Kids and Their Parents

1. PlaySquare: Tactile TV

   Kids like to touch, and that goes double for screens. PlaySquare is all about touching, tapping and dragging, with a colorful cast of animated characters. Kids are encouraged to morph letters into an active world of words. Emmy Award-winning kids' TV producers created this app and dubbed it "touchable TV."

   Try an episode for free.

   For ages: 3 to 6
   Available on: iPad only
   Cost: Free trial

   

2. The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore

   This isn't an app; it's an app-experience! MoonBot Studios won an Oscar for its short animation of the same story, and it's also available as a picture book. The app relies on clever interaction to move the story forward, from making sounds, to tapping, to tilting. A $0.99 add-on app provides another level of augmented reality, allowing you to take photos of the book's pages with your phone and explore the world of Morris Lessmore. The app is his journey through the magic of words and books. MoonBot has the cleverest use of multiple mediums ever.

   For ages: 4+
   Available on: iPad only
   Cost: $4.99

   

3. Playrific: A Channel for Kids to Call Their Own

   If you're the parent who thinks picking an app is harder than picking up Legos, let a reputable source do the picking for you. Playrific doesn't create apps. It gathers them and offers them to parents as a channel. Well-curated and well-presented, the offerings change weekly so your children remain entertained and their play is tracked so you can see where their interests and explorations take them. I call it YouTube for kids.

   For ages: 4+
   Available on: iOS and Android
   Cost: Free

   

4. Crowdsourced Play: Blu and SuperFugu

   Blu is Wemo's web-based world of underwater exploration and creation. The company calls it crowdsourced play. Its creatures are made by its community and together they explore the underwater habitat based on a very smart AI engine.

   This week the company launches its first app for kids, SuperFugu HD. The app provides a luscious world for young explorers of the sea. Kids play the part of their fish, and it responds accordingly — eating things it should and staying away from dangerous predators. Kids can increase their fish's power as they play through levels and learn to maneuver. SuperFugu is free, but you can pay to explore further. This app makes simple for parents to choose everything from allowance levels to how long to play.

   For ages: 6 to 12 for The Blue; 4+ for SuperFugu
   Available on: iOS
   Cost: Free

   

5. TinyTap Lets You Create Your Own Games

   For parents tired of being uninvolved spectators while kids play with their electronic friends, there's Tiny Tap. It's easy to use, and you can create your own games using photos and the web. Then, add a few taps, music, colors and words. Matching games? Travel in the games? Point to your nose? Choosing good foods? These are some of the simple activities parents and kids have enjoyed for years, and TinyTap makes it easy to make, play and preserve such games. Feeling lazy? Go play another family's creation at the TinyTap app store. The app is downloadable for free but you'll pay $0.99 to download an app from the TinyTap store.

   For ages: 4+
   Available on: iOS
   Cost: Free

   

Entertaining distractions for kids have come a long way since the early days of Concentration and Connect the Dots. That's especially true if you're an iPad user.

Take a look at these masterpieces that highlight some game-changing graphics interaction and even how you buy them. You'll find apps that create a full TV-like interactive channel, encourage parents and kids to build and share games, use augmented reality and are produced by animators with award-winning pedigrees, heralding a new generation of kids' apps.

They might cost you as much as a Starbucks latte, but they are much more satisfying. What are your kids' favorite apps?

Image via Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images