Here are three noteworthy apps for children.
One is a re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood in a funny, easy-to-control app by Nosy Crow that costs $4.99. The app, for iPhone and iPad, is full of surprises, including an ending you help create. It also treats a dark topic with a note of humor: the wolf locks Grandma in a closet instead of eating her, for example. You can take eight paths through the woods, where you collect various items you’ll need to trick the wolf and free Grandma from the closet.
Fairytale Maze 123, for the iPad, is a collection of 20 well-made mazes, each with a popular fairytale theme. In one maze, you lead the prince to Rapunzel; in another you help the three little pigs visit their homes in the correct order to avoid the wrath of the wolf. The mazes vary in complexity, sometimes containing multistage features. All in all, this is a solid app, costing $2.99, that is well worth the download. Need to know: The background music can get annoying but you can toggle it off in the parent settings.
StoryBots Tap & Sing, a free app for the iPad, is a living xylophone with keys that can teach you how to play songs. Each note on the two-octave scale is represented by one of JibJab’s StoryBot characters. You can toggle among four voices in three songs — Mary Had a Little Lamb, This Old Man and Row Row Row Your Boat. For more songs, you need to subscribe for $4.99 a month, a feature that is sold as an in-app sale, so be careful: if your child knows your password, an accidental subscription could be activated.