Great iPhone Apps for Parents

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Never Bored ($2.99)
If you’ve ever heard, “I’m bored!” you need this app. There are 100s of creative activities to keep your children mentally or physically active on their own or with a friend. The car games are especially fun and can be used not only in a car, but waiting in a restaurant or while hiking. Many of the games can be adapted for 2 or more players, making them great for a family road trip. All of the activities get your child thinking or moving—the app is used to generate age appropriate ideas—flick through a list until you find one that looks interesting, easily get details and then set the iPhone aside and get your brain or body in motion.

In addition, there are numerous suggestions for places to visit and a quick tap on location brings up a map showing the locations nearest you. We use Never Bored when we need an activity for 10 minutes while we wait for a doctor appointment or when we need a family game to play while driving. Never Bored can generate lots of ideas with just a quick tap—check it out at http://www.mainelysoftware.com/ .

Hangman. By JamSoft (free)
This version of hangman (note the ‘.’ at the end of the name) is great for your child to play alone or to play with you or a friend. When playing alone, there is a choice of word lists, so your child can work on learning countries or chemical elements or just pass time guessing nouns.

My daughter and I enjoy playing in two player mode. In this mode, one player enters a word or phrase that the other player tries to guess. When we play, our phrases can take on the humorous or quizzical as well as the educational—can she spell the words she thinks up? We have even had conversations back and forth in the form of hangman phrases while waiting for a restaurant table.

Shazam Encore ($4.99)
Try out the free version of Shazam and see what the buzz is about. Not only can you find out the song titles and artists of songs you like (called tagging a song), but you can also tag songs your children like and learn the names of the artists they are listening to as well as check out the lyrics if you can’t quite understand the words as they are sung or rapped.

After you have tagged a song, you can preview and purchase the song, read a biography of the artist, and for some tunes, read the lyrics. So the next time you’re wondering what your children are listening to just use Shazam. Learn more at http://www.shazam.com/ .

Geocaching ($9.99)
If you are a parent who would like to get your family outside together, then geocaching is a great activity for your family. Geocaching is a high tech treasure hunting game played the world over. Geocachers search for hidden containers (called caches) which often contain small trinkets to trade, and record their finds online—a game, a goal and a prize all in one. And I have found adults equally motivated by having a prize while hiking.

If you are a geocacher then this is a must have iPhone app. The user interface for this application combined with the quality of the gps in an iPhone, have made my iPhone my default gps device for geocaching. Using this app, you can find nearby caches, look for caches in a particular area, save information for offline use if you’re headed to an area without good data coverage (a common issue when hiking) and upload your finds directly to the geocaching web site. The interface is simple and intuitive yet comprehensive. Purchase this app and get your family hiking together. Check out the sport of geocaching at http://www.geocaching.com/ .

Now Playing (free)
So it’s a rainy day and you’re unlikely to head out geocaching. Now Playing is an outstanding app to see what movies are playing at the local theaters.

We use this app when we’re out and want to quickly find a good movie for our family. You can quickly get a list of the movies playing at local theaters with the rating, length and show times all listed in one easy to read interface. Dig a little deeper and you can read detailed reviews from individual users as well as go to your favorite movie review website for their opinions.