Different things appeal to different people. While scholars may be attracted to hearty biographies, teenagers often flock to easy-to-read novels. Different tastes call for different products.
This is especially true when you’re talking about children.
Kids require a certain level of excitement, aesthetics, and overall entertainment. When building apps for kids,you have to keep these factors in mind.
Before you dominate the children’s app market you need to make sure you know the ins and outs of building applications for young ones.
- Understand your audience
Kids these days are practically born with tablets in their hand. They not only know how to use them; they often know how to use them better than their parents.
Today’s children are technological natives and you need to keep that in mind when designing your kid-friendly app.
Basically, don’t patronize them. If you’re targeting children over 8 years old, it’s likely that they’ll intuitively know how to use the app. Skip the step-by-step instructions and simply let them play.
- Educational and interactive
Most children have short attention spans. This isn’t their fault, they’re kids!
When they use your app, you have little time to get them hooked. If you create an app that’s both educational and interactive, such as a language learning game or geography quiz, kids will learn as they play and will be intrigued to continue playing.
- Let them reap the benefits
Offer a reward system after each level or award points for every correct answer. Today’s generation of youngsters are accustomed to being recompensed for everything.
- Think ahead
Children are our future, and so is technology. When you build your app remember that technology is always changing. Thus, you need to create something for multiple platforms. If you build an app that is strictly for tablets, you’re wasting valuable time as you’ll likely have to eventually build it for phones and other devices. This can be easily avoided by designing an app for multi-device resolutions.
- Consider of the parents
While building your child-friendly app, think of who is paying for it.
Yes, the child may possess his own tablet, but when he clicks on your app, that $0.99 is coming off mommy or daddy’s credit card.
If your designs are too adult-oriented or the language you use is too complicated, parents are going to be less inclined to let their children use your app. This goes without saying but avoid nudity, vulgar language and anything that can be construed as higher than PG-13.
Keep your app G-rated and you’ll keep the whole family happy!