iPhone games to keep kids busy on the road

By Sam Chapnick

Got a kid, an iPhone and a family vacation planned?

These are our family’s favorite iPhone games for keeping kids amused on the road (we love them all, they are not in order of love):

I’m excluding any social media or games requiring an Internet connection.

All Ages:

Sketchr: Basically etch-a-sketch for the iPhone. At first it is a bit awkward to tilt the iPhone to get it to draw, but after learning to move it gently, this is a blast! Especially for nostalgic Gen Xers. Ahem…

Subway Lite: Another one of my absolute favorites, this taps into several developmental skills while still being fun and challenging for all ages — including adults. Like a slide puzzle, the goal is to try to get the subway car “home” by moving it along the track blocked by other vehicles.

Free PicPu: “A slide puzzle, oh I’m too old for those.” That was my initial thought until I played this game. Using real photographs instead of drawings, it’s hard to figure out exactly what goes where while getting them strategically into place. A great one to while away a delay in the airport or on the runway.

Infant to Toddler:

iScribble: Simple app where kids do “finger painting” on the screen. Older kids can change colors, line sizes etc.

AniSays: A listen and repeat game requiring kids to listen to an animal sound, then press the animal to produce the sound again with increasingly complex patterns. This game is a stand-out because the instructions are verbalized and very, very simple!

ABC Match: Another simple game of concentration where letters are revealed and verbalized. Great for developing letter-recognition skills.

Eat, Bunny, Eat: Tetris for the really young. Tilt the phone side to side to catch the falling carrots and feed the bunny. My favorite feature is the simplicity – ,-unlike many kids games this is intuitive and there is no need to explain the directions to younger children.

Early School:

Cartoonize Me: Kids can use the iPhone to take a photo or grab one from the library and then “enhance” it with all the usual graffitti: big handlebar mustaches, floppy hats, multiple piercings, pig noses, etc.

Ike Workshop:This was one of my favorite games, with a combination of tangrams, matching and hidden pictures. Kids are given an outline of an object and then have to find the different pieces to make the whole. One example is the outline of an iron with a cord — and there were at least two cords and two metal bodies to choose from — each with subtle differences of color or shading. *You may need to explain the instructions the first few times.

Doodle Jump: Another game that requires a bit of subtle maneuvering and fine motor control (I failed miserably numerous times, but luckily kids have far more patience for that!). You move a doodle creature up to its alien space ship by jumping it from one “shelf” to another.

Crazy Frogzy: Simple coordination game requiring players to catch flies by tapping on the screen to make the frog jump up and avoid bees. The simplicity makes it good for younger kids as well.

Middle School:

Spore: The production value of this game alone would make it a top pick even if it wasn’t such a fabulous concept. First customize the look of your spore; then help it navigate through the “primordial ooze,” picking up nutrients and other benefits in order to evolve. Although it’s a bit complicated conceptually, if you explain it to younger children, they can play the basic game.

Brain Quest: While not strictly a game, for parents who want their kids learning on the go, this flashcard standard has added some interactivity and reward systems. Personally, I would have like to see them make it more fun and less obviously educational, but for parents who like a more traditional educational approach, this is a winner.

SimCity: Prejudice revealed: This has been one of my favorite electronic games since it first came out over 10 years ago. The implementation for the iPhone is well done, if naturally a bit more awkward than for the full-screen computer. Still, this is the IDEAL game for a long trip as it requires substantial planning and building, easily keeping kids occupied for an hour or more.

D-Star: At first this game seems very simplistic, but delve deeper into the levels and you see it’s actually a great exercise in strategic planning. A ball is moved around a course in order to bump another shape. Get points for bumping off that shape, BUT with the way the ball can maneuver, it requires advance planning to see how to master it in fewest moves — ergo getting the most points.

Chocolate Shop Pro: Cutomers come in the shop and kids need to fulfill a complex series of steps to serve them and get pointsbased on order speed, accuracy and tips. Although it may seem like training for a job involving the question “Would you like fries with that?” as it gets more complex it becomes more interesting.

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