4 ms·

I echo the others here, Thanks! I have young kids and we let them use tablets on long trips, vacations, airplane rides. Finding games for them is impossible.

by giarc 7y ago

I echo the others here, Thanks! I have young kids and we let them use tablets on long trips, vacations, airplane rides. Finding games for them is impossible. They are too young to understand when characters, levels, items are locked. It seems like every 2 minutes they get stuck on some ad screen with a hidden X. I just want a game that when I pay $4, I get the full game. It doesn't even have to be a big, intensive game. My kids would be happy with a finger painting game, as long as all the colouring sheets and paint brushes are available.

awinder 7y ago
I don't know how young is young, but finding this PBS app was great: https://pbskids.org/apps/pbs-kids-games.html https://pbskids.org/apps/pbs-kids-games.html No ads, works disconnected from the internet, and games are pretty simple and not driven towards some kind of monetary business system.
celticmusic 7y ago
As an adult I downloaded some tower building game and then eventually realized I had to pay to be able to keep playing it reasonably. It was my first experience ever with pay-to-play. I just deleted it and flat don't play mobile games anymore.
hamaluik 7y ago
Sago Mini might work for you if you’re willing to pay and your kids are the right age: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/sago-mini-world/id874425722 https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/sago-mini-world/id874425722
- madoublet 7y ago
  It says it has IAPs.
gregmac 7y ago
Yes, exactly this. I don't have any issue with paying for worthwhile games, but I do have an issue with games that try to continually extract more money from me -- you could spend hundreds of dollars on some of those "free-to-play" type games, and sorry, but the value just isn't there. You often can't even see this until you're into the game already (which I'm quite sure is by design), or read through some of the negative reviews. A 5-year-old who just wants to play that game with the characters they know doesn't understand this, and honestly, it's just easier to avoid entirely.
nrb 7y ago
If you’re in the Apple ecosystem, Apple Arcade is pretty great for this. Every game on it is an actual game, no IAP or ads.
- severine 7y ago
  Sorry to be snarky, but if they were on the "Apple ecosystem" they wouldn't call a tablet "a tablet"...
  - csande17 7y ago
    On Android, Google recently launched their own version of Apple Arcade: https://play.google.com/about/play-pass/ https://play.google.com/about/play-pass/ I haven't personally tried it, but it claims there are no ads or in-app purchases, and the catalog includes a bunch of classic kids' games.
  - giarc 7y ago
    OP here, you are right. We bought some cheap Fire tablets and have regretted it. Amazon app store is a terrible experience. Almost 0 reviews for even popular apps. The only nice thing is you can push apps to devices through the Amazon website.
japhyr 7y ago
When my son was younger, Toca Boca was putting out decent apps that were fun, reasonably priced, and had no ads or IAPs.
egze 7y ago
Maybe not that advanced for your needs, but I made this drawing app for my son when he was little. https://babydraw.byteflip.de https://babydraw.byteflip.de
- giarc 7y ago
  My work flags your site as Pornographic for some reason.
severine 7y ago
Perhaps you'll find GCompris interesting: https://www.gcompris.net/index-en.html https://www.gcompris.net/index-en.html It's free as in beer, as in freedom, and as in ad-free.
Vrondi 7y ago
Buy them a Nintendo Switch, or even an old gameboy system. Durable, offline, and tons of kid friendly games out there.

by giarc 7y ago

awinder 7y ago

I don't know how young is young, but finding this PBS app was great: https://pbskids.org/apps/pbs-kids-games.html https://pbskids.org/apps/pbs-kids-games.html No ads, works disconnected from the internet, and games are pretty simple and not driven towards some kind of monetary business system.

celticmusic 7y ago

As an adult I downloaded some tower building game and then eventually realized I had to pay to be able to keep playing it reasonably. It was my first experience ever with pay-to-play. I just deleted it and flat don't play mobile games anymore.

hamaluik 7y ago

Sago Mini might work for you if you’re willing to pay and your kids are the right age: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/sago-mini-world/id874425722 https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/sago-mini-world/id874425722

madoublet 7y ago
It says it has IAPs.

gregmac 7y ago

Yes, exactly this. I don't have any issue with paying for worthwhile games, but I do have an issue with games that try to continually extract more money from me -- you could spend hundreds of dollars on some of those "free-to-play" type games, and sorry, but the value just isn't there. You often can't even see this until you're into the game already (which I'm quite sure is by design), or read through some of the negative reviews. A 5-year-old who just wants to play that game with the characters they know doesn't understand this, and honestly, it's just easier to avoid entirely.

nrb 7y ago

If you’re in the Apple ecosystem, Apple Arcade is pretty great for this. Every game on it is an actual game, no IAP or ads.

severine 7y ago
Sorry to be snarky, but if they were on the "Apple ecosystem" they wouldn't call a tablet "a tablet"...
- csande17 7y ago
  On Android, Google recently launched their own version of Apple Arcade: https://play.google.com/about/play-pass/ https://play.google.com/about/play-pass/ I haven't personally tried it, but it claims there are no ads or in-app purchases, and the catalog includes a bunch of classic kids' games.
- giarc 7y ago
  OP here, you are right. We bought some cheap Fire tablets and have regretted it. Amazon app store is a terrible experience. Almost 0 reviews for even popular apps. The only nice thing is you can push apps to devices through the Amazon website.

japhyr 7y ago

When my son was younger, Toca Boca was putting out decent apps that were fun, reasonably priced, and had no ads or IAPs.

egze 7y ago

Maybe not that advanced for your needs, but I made this drawing app for my son when he was little. https://babydraw.byteflip.de https://babydraw.byteflip.de

giarc 7y ago
My work flags your site as Pornographic for some reason.

severine 7y ago

Perhaps you'll find GCompris interesting: https://www.gcompris.net/index-en.html https://www.gcompris.net/index-en.html It's free as in beer, as in freedom, and as in ad-free.

Vrondi 7y ago

Buy them a Nintendo Switch, or even an old gameboy system. Durable, offline, and tons of kid friendly games out there.