4 apps for kids

Do you do the app thing with your kids or not? Is playing with an app on an ipad better than watching television... worse.... or pretty much the same thing? I don't really know but what I do know is that our kids want to use our ipad.... it makes sense – I want to use it too! Everything in moderation, eh?

There seems to be about a trillion apps available for kids – and it can be hard to sort the good from the bad... and that is where word of mouth can come in handy. I would love to know what apps your kids love to use. And, in turn here are the popular ones in our house. (Now would be the time to apologise to android users... the apps below are all available from the itunes store for ipad.)

1. SquiggleFish

Available in the itunes store here (£1.99)

This app combines good old fashioned drawing on paper with the technical fun of an app. The kids draw sea creatures on white paper with a black outline and whatever colour they like. Once the drawing is complete you can take a picture of the sea create within the app. Then watch as your mermaid or fish or submarine comes to life and swims in the sea. When I first tried to get this app to work I got frustrated until I read the instructions. There might be a lesson in that.

2. The Human Body

Available in the itunes store here ($2.99)
This is an amazingly detailed app of - you guessed it - the human body. You can watch blood pumping, analyse bone structure and record your own sounds. But what the kids love best is making their avatar eat and then poop. On a sidenote this app is illustrated by the amazing designer and illustrator Kelli Anderson.

3. Mystery Math Town

Available in the itunes store here ($2.99)
This is one is for my 5 year old. It is part adventure, part spooky house and part mathematics. It involves searching for fireflies and releasing them from their glass jar prisons. To get through any door or window you have to solve a maths equation – you can set the difficulty level. Try touching some of the furniture in the houses, there are some cute extras.

4. Paper by 53

Available in the itunes store here (Free but then all extra bits to make it good cost $2.99 each)
I downloaded this app for myself but the kids have taken to it. It is a simple drawing app, it works well for us as we can each have our own separate journals within the app. It is a little annoying that you end up spending a lot to add the extra functionalities. Make sure you like it before you hand over the cash. If you and your kids like this drawing app I recommend the paintbrush and the color mixer tools.

What apps do your kids like?

If this is your first visit to At home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along via email, RSS, google+ or facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instagram. Cheers Ali

Travel Activity... Journalling

We recently spent some time travelling around New Zealand in a campervan. It was great fun and I would love to do it again. I thought our holiday would be a perfect time to introduce the kids to journalling so before we left I bought:

• Acid-free spiral bound A5 diaries
• Some fabulous bright watercolours that were perfect for travelling (this is not a paid link I just LOVED them). 
• Small paintbrushes
• A variety of artline fine felt tip markers 

Every second day we all sat down and did some drawing and painting in our diaries. It was a combined family effort, Cakey and I often worked together on the same page. There was no right or wrong way to do this, we just painted what most appealed to us from the day. The best thing about this is now we have a lovely keepsake of our holiday.

If this is your first visit to At home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along via email, RSS, google+ or facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instagram. Cheers Ali

Holiday activities for kids

How do you feel about colouring sheets? I would prefer my kids to draw than colour in pre-drawn scenes. I provide lots of opportunities and materials so that drawing is part of our everyday life. But you know what, I liked colouring sheets as a kid and my kids like them too. We don't use them regularly and I am not a fan of highly detailed colouring books. Thankfully there are many free printables available that give a little prod but don't do all the work. When my kids are a bit lack lustre about drawing, an inspirational colouring or activity sheet can do the trick.... and they are perfect for travel.

A couple of months ago we went on a holiday to the Gold Coast. We had lots of activities planned but I knew that there would also be plenty of time spent in our apartment. I remembered reading about a friend's Big Book of Crafty Goodness where she bound together a stack of kid-friendly printables as gifts. Brilliant idea.... I got to work and made two printable packs for my kids. These were loose leaf packs held together with paper clips and this is what they contained:

• Town colouring sheet by Lessons Learnt Journal. This printable is made up of stacked rectangles and triangles with lots of scope to add in your own detail.
• Printable Drawing Shapes by Picklebums. A whole variety of open-ended circle based printable sheets.
• Monsters by Picklebums. Cute monster shapes to cut out and play with on a vacation.
• Sample pages from Susan Striker's Anti-Coloring book. These are fabulous drawing prompts.
• Alphabet colouring pages by Mr Printables. I included the letters of my kids' names just for fun.
• Printable mazes. Cakey is just beginning to enjoy the challenge of a maze.
• A couple of abstract swirly doodles which you can download here and here.
• My fish printable. A simple fish outline perfect for kids to add fishy detail.
• My flowers and rainbows colouring sheet.
• I also included some coloured paper with random holes and shapes cut out of them, this was inspired by a post by The Artful Parent.
• Had I seen this post before the holiday I also would have included this awesome googly eye drawing prompt.

I also took away a set of pencils and markers as well as our watercolour tray. The kids chose to paint most of the printable sheets. When we returned I bound together the painted sheets as a holiday journal. On the back of each page I wrote a few notes to remind us of all the things we did on our family holiday. 

If this is your first visit to At home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along via email, RSS or facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instagram. Cheers Ali





Linked to The Kids Co-op, Tuesday Tots

Travelling with kids (mini post box)

We are off on our first big trip as a family very soon. I have never flown overseas with children before and I am nervous – 10 hours on a plane with a 3.5 year old (Cakey) and a 16 month old (Boo)... I pity the people doomed to sit near us.

I have been looking around the shops to buy some little toys for Boo that might keep her occupied but everything was either too expensive or too bulky. So I have made her a miniature posting toy because she loves putting things in containers and then taking them out again.

Miniature post box

To make this, I found some colourful postcards and glued them onto cardboard with pva. When they were dry I cut them into little squares. I then found a little box and cut a hole in the lid so she could post them. I let her test it out to see whether this was going to be a successful toy – it was a winner, she played with it for ages. Now I have it hidden in my suitcase hoping it hasn't lost it's novelty value. The beauty about this is that if pieces get lost under the airplane seats it doesn't matter.

I glued postcards onto cardboard and then cut them into squares

I let Boo have a test go to see whether she liked it – she did.

Cakey loves mail too – she is constantly asking if any of our letters are for her... "nope, just bills" always comes the reply. Anyway, I have put together a little mail kit for her too. This is very simple but I think (hope) she will enjoy it. I collected some interesting promotional postcards you find in cafes. I teamed each postcard with a small white card and a mini highlighter pen and sealed them all in an envelope. I plan to hand these out one at a time on the flight.

Cakey's mail kit

These two ideas are obviously not going to cut it for a 10 hour flight so I have also been stockpiling ideas thanks to some fantastic bloggers who have hit the sky and/or road with kids in tow and lived to tell the tale. So if like me, you are planning on getting away over the coming holidays I am sure you will find something your kids will love in one of these posts:

• Toddler Approved has a whole bundle of ideas for flying – all gathered from experience!! I particularly like the letter hunt game using the inflight magazine and the barf bag puppets.
• My creative family has outdone herself with ideas for mess-free travel activity bags designed to occupy kids while driving long distance with a child to adult ratio of 2:1.
• Sun Hats and Wellie Boots has enough ideas to occupy kids for an entire camping trip. I love the individualized activ ity packs – each designed to make something different. Any kid would be enchanted.
• Let Kids Create has ideas for a long car trip such as taking baking trays to use for magnet boards and creating backseat pipecleaner creations.
• Hands on: as we grow has a neat 3 year old friendly version of I spy.
• Kitchen counter chronicles making use of the humble clip board on long car journeys, and the art of the secret toy.
• Dinosaurs and Octopuses shows you how to make a geoboard – they aren't going to let you take it on a plane but it would be great for a car journey or on a camping trip.

If this is your first visit to At home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along via email, RSS, google+ or facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instagram. Cheers Ali

Flowers and Rainbows colouring sheet

I find colouring-in sheets useful waiting for a doctor's appointment, on long car journeys and on plane trips. We have a long plane trip looming so I have designed a colouring-in sheet for Cakey, which was loads of fun for me to do too. It is called 'flowers at the end of the rainbow' and if you like it you can download it here.

The inspiration came from a fabulous piece of 1970s curtain material that I picked up at a garage sale. I am planning on turning the material into a quilt – I just need to learn how to sew!!

The colouring-in sheet has been tested by Cakey and it got the thumbs up – I really hope that the kids in your life like it too.

Cakey's version

My coloured in version, yes I cheated and used a computer

For other free printable resources have a look at my Printables Pinterest Board

If this is your first visit to At home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along via email, RSS or facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest and Instagram. Cheers Ali