Kinder Surprise comes to life with Applaydu

The popular chocolate egg with surprise toy has a new way of enjoying the treat. Applaydu, the new app from Kinder, is now available in Canada. Developed with Gameloft, and educational guidance from Oxford University, Applaydu brings Kinder Surprise toys to life and opens a world of fun and discovery for families with games, stories, and opportunities for creativity and exploration.

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Google Play Store to launch 'Teach approved' children-friendly app section

With a lot of parents having their children at home right now, there is a need to keep the young ones entertained when they aren't doing schoolwork or chores. Google hopes to help out with a new Kids section in the Play Store. The apps in the said section will be "Teacher approved," and Google claims these have been rated by teachers and meet the company's quality standards. The apps are evaluated based on how age-appropriate they are, the quality of experience, enrichment, and delight. Google also adds more information about whether the app will be right for their kid. It's first launching in the US, with international countries getting it in the coming months. We're hoping it arrives here sooner than later.

Amazon Alexa adds kid-friendly skills, lets your child play with SpongeBob and Elmo

We haven’t really seen kid-related skills because of strict child privacy protection laws but Amazon has found a way to comply with the laws and encourage a new set of users to keep using its smart assistant and home speakers. The new Alexa skills rolling out in the US first will let kids play a SpongeBob game and an Elmo-related skill are debuting alongside a new Verified Parental Consent feature, where parents will need to approve use of the features via the Alexa companion app the first time the “kid skill” is enabled. Parents or guardians will need to enter a one-time password via SMS or phone or verify by credit card. It’s a one-time approval process. This new feature is sure to entice more companies itching to reach out to a younger demographic. And making it easier for children to access this tech will make them more reliant on them in the future

The new skills include a SpongeBob SquarePants game where kids need to take and relay increasingly difficult food orders to the staff that include the likes of SpongeBob, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs. For the Sesame Street’s skill, you get to play hide-and-seek with Elmo using audio clues to find out where he’s hiding. You can also practice the alphabet. On top of that, Amazon is launching its own Storytime skills that can read bedtime stories to kids from ages 5 to 12. The collection features stories read by Saturday Night Live’s Aidy Bryant and Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Source: TechCrunch

Netflix redesigns Kids mode on Android tablets

Netflix ditches its dark and brooding layout for something bright and airy for its Kids mode on Android tablets. The streaming service goes from black to white and adds new circular icons to introduce some characters your kids are sure to recognize. Aside from the new look, Netflix also improved casting to Android TV and Fire TV devices. There’s also the usual bug fixes included in this update.

Source: Android Police