PaintSparkles
On iOS
On Google Play
I downloaded this in a hurry one day to entertain my toddler while I was teaching an online class (back in the height of the pandemic). It’s a surprisingly engaging app, which has recently been revived during a recent bout of illness and my toddler now requests it regularly.
The basic paint mode allows for free drawing – but the paint leaves a brief sparkle trail as you draw – it’s pretty satisfying. There are 3 brush sizes (tap on the brush to get different sizes).
Features such as “shake to paint” are a little annoying for a toddler, but as she passed her 2nd birthday, the stamp and sticker features (the stickers are little animals that also have tiny amounts of animation) are big hits. Some of the stickers and stamps are available in the free version, others have a padlock to indicate the subscription will unlock them.
The selection of pictures to color are also fairly decent – with the first in every category free, and about 20 in each category that are unlocked with the subscription. There’s about 20 categories – so the subscription does provide a lot of coloring images if that’s your thing.
And you can bring in your own images from photos and save all drawings back to photos. According to the app’s privacy policy [https://www.crazylabs.com/app/] anything you copy into the app is stored locally, and not transmitted to the company. This is a valuable feature.
As always, we don’t pay for the subscription, and after a few uses, my little one is used to closing the purchase subscription box if she opens it accidentally. I really wish there was a single payment option – I would happily buy this once. [read my reasons for not paying subscriptions here]
Recommendation: A really great app that provides multiple entry points and different activities. The subscription is the only downside (although it’s a good opportunity for kids to learn they can’t have everything they want).
Tags: Drawing, art, creative, app, subscription required
App details
Available on: iOS (Apple); android (google
Price: Free, requires subscription for
Ads: yes, on opening only (free version)
App ages rating: 4+
My age rating: 1+
Category: art, creation
Publisher By TabTale (now known as CrazyLabs) https://www.crazylabs.com/
