Day 314 - Draft for an Article - (897 + 312 words)

The following is the final draft copy of an article for a Family Magazine I occasionally contribute to - I also added another 312 words in total and edited it down to this.

Apps: A Family Guide.

For the uninitiated Apps and Software in general can be a daunting prospect. If software and computing devices are not ‘your thing’ then it can be a confusing and harrowing prospect trying to make sense of it. The biggest fallacy about buying software though, is that you have to know all about it in the first place.

Like with most things the right attitude and approach to selecting software for your family is key. The other thing I would recommend is to not get caught up in the App vs. Game definition. Games and Apps are both just pieces of software and they don’t always do what they say they do. Some Games educate incredibly well while some so-called ‘Educational’ Apps are a waste of time. It’s good to know as much as you can about the product regardless of whatever label is on it.

The best way to approach most technology questions is to be informed and to ask the right questions. You don’t have to be that much of a techno-junky to ask the right questions and get answers that will help you decide what’s right for your family. Here are five things you can do to stack the odds in your favour.

1.     Research. You should know what Google does, so use it. A quick search on “Apps for Kids” will bring you thousands of results and instead of being daunted by the volume, pick the ones you like the look of and start reading. Look for comments and reviews by other parents, there are plenty of parents sharing their views (not all will agree) so it will not be hard to find opinions.

2.     Check with the peers you trust. You likely have family members, friends or colleagues in the same boat as you and they may be armed with experience or knowledge. Checking with someone you know and trust trumps guesswork every day of the week.

3.     Watch out for micro transactions. The trend with ‘free’ games and apps these days is to offer the game for free and then you pay to get extras inside the game. Passwords are your friend; always protect your devices with a password and especially the payment options. If you are not sure check the comments and reviews, if the app/game is one that stings the unsuspecting players/parents, I guarantee there will be comments somewhere.

4.     Look for a Rating. Apple, Android, App Store and Windows all have rating guides on their various sites and apps. If you can’t find one then don’t trust it and move on to something else. There are thousands to choose from.

5.     It’s your decision, no one else’s. Ultimately you know your children better than anyone and have the right and the responsibility to make content choices for them until they are capable themselves. Age appropriateness is a guide, and if you are doing some research and know what the app or game is about then you can make an informed decision. Never make an uninformed one, better to know for sure than to guess.

The biggest question I get asked is “what’s good?” and there is an inherent problem with this question because thousands upon thousands of apps and games are in the network and that figure grows every day. By the time this goes to print there will be tens of thousands more.

However here are some of the apps for that I recommend right here and now, and I hope they will be around for a while.

Duolingo: An app that teaches you to speak, read and write in several languages in a natural and fun way. Using the basic premise of ‘gamifying’ the process (getting points, using lives, high scoring) a five minute exercise in this app every day will have you (or your school aged children) learning the core concepts and vocabulary of their chosen language without it feeling like a chore.

Flow Free: this Game is deceptively good at teaching lateral thinking and good planning. Essentially a game of connect the dots, the quick thinking child and/or adult will spend hours solving the puzzles and honing their hand/eye co-ordination. It seems very simple because it is, and the best games are often simple.

Dora’s Coloring Book: A free App that has dozens of line drawings that need colour added via virtual crayons. There are hundreds of variations these in the app stores for free and for a price tag. Have a look for the one(s) that suit your kids, Dora the Explorer has been a favourite for my daughter since she was two years old.

Puzzle Planets. Another game, but one that educates as much as it is fun to play. Developed by a New Zealand company for the National Geographic Society, this game is all about planetary development and teaches while you play. A unique and entertaining game that works by placing tectonic plates on a planetary sphere to allow planets, and therefore life, to develop.

These four Apps and Games are some of the ones I like right now, but there are so many to choose from when the tastes, needs and likes of your family are always going to be different. I would recommend following the five steps above, and always doing your research on any Game/App before you put it in the hands of your kids.