How To Build An App For Kids?

How to build an app for kids

No matter how much of an experienced programmer or developer you are, you may still find yourself at loss for what to do when it comes to building an app for kids. To build an app that kids will actually enjoy using, you will need to answer a number of pertinent questions.

We live in a fast-paced technological world today where children are learning to interact with mobile devices as early as 6 months of age and kids under two years can interact logically and consciously with simple apps. Here are some important considerations if you intend to build an app specifically for children either for educational or entertainment purposes.

Determine the target age group
Every app has a target audience and simply saying you want to build an app for kids is pretty generic. For adults, it is possible to give a broad generalization for their target age. But children of different age grades have unique needs which means you need to clearly define who your intended audience would be. Are you targeting older kids, preschool children, or toddlers? The answer to this question will have a major impact on the complexity of the apps and the methods of interactions to integrate into your app. For instance, children under two years may not be a great audience for a gaming app, but would you can build an audio or video streaming app for them.

Consider the decision-makers
Even when building an app for kids, you have to bear in mind the fact that those kids won’t install the app themselves. This is particularly important for kids under seven. This means you have to appeal to the parents just as much as you will need to appeal to the kids. If kids will determine how useful your apps will be, parents will determine if they will be downloaded at all. Asides from building the app itself, you also have to find a way to appeal to your target audience by making parents see the value, quality, and safety of your app.
For older kids, they choose the apps to download themselves which means you have to find ways to make your app appealing and attractive to them as well.

Appearance and user experience matters (and it’s different for kids)
Although UI/UX is important for any app, when it comes to building apps for kids, it is even more vital with a lot of special considerations. A good UI for an adult app may not be so great for a kid’s apps. A child’s apps must be as attractive as possible and should also be designed to be very easy to use. You want everything on the app to be clean, exciting (with colors and animations) but also quite intuitive. Kids will dump your app if they find it too difficult to navigate.

Focus on interaction
Apps built for kids should be designed to be fun and interactive. Kids have a short attention span and it takes effort to build an app that can hold their attention for a long time. You can gamify the app, add social integration, animations, funny sounds, challenges, and other features to make the app as attractive as possible for the target group.

Apps for children definitely have various requirements that differ from regular apps for adult. The considerations above are important if you want to build an app that will keep kids engaged and satisfied.