Playground HD1: Game App for Kids Featuring 12 Different Games

Looking for a great game app for your kids? Playground HD1 – 12 games for kids aged 2-6 in 1 App by Jan Essig is a top one! It features 12 different game in one app to help and support your kids learning.

Based on the comments from the reviewers at Review for Dev, this app is well designed, engaging and easy to use. Ideal for early childhood it offers a large selection of games including Puzzles, Memory, Find it, Piano, Draw, Erase, Catch, Remember and more! It is available in 15 languages!

All the games are designed to support your kids memory, language, fine motor skills and observation skills. Some top features include: “some unique and original games”, “full of fun and educational games for young children of various skill levels”, “timer to set a time limit to restrict the amount of time your child is on the app!”

On average it scored 4.5 star and following are the reviews from Review for Dev!

Playground HD1 – 12 games for kids aged 2-6 in 1 App is available for download via the iTunes App Store - Universal App

Lite version available if you want to give it a try before buying!

Angie D.: I am a speech-language pathologist in a large suburban school setting. I service children with language impairments, speech impairments as well as students who are moderate-severely impaired and non-verbal. I also have two small children at home. I regularly use an iPad during my speech-language treatments.

Rating
What I liked	This app was wonderful! I loved how parental controls/settings are controlled by holding the button for 3 seconds. I also loved having the option of setting a timer to allow children to only have a set amout of time. Both my almost 3 and 5 year old loved the game and are currently trying to pull my ipad out of my hands to play it longer! There were different levels that kept both of my kids attention and excited
Suggestions	The app did crash once when we were playing remember. I would also like to see the timer pop back up when it goes off. My kids immediately started asking to play longer when it went off but having to go back into the settings section seemed like an extra, unnecessary step
General opinion	This is a FABULOUS app for children 2-7! There are so many games and they are all wonderful. Activities increase memory, language, fine motor, and attention to detail skills. I loved that it was an app that both of my children (3 & 5) were excited about and was one that I could sit down and play with them! The timer that parents are able to set to limit amount of time spent playing is an added bonus! Definitely worth your money!!!

Stacie L.: A homeschooling mom of 3 kids. My youngest son has high functioning autism. I love to scrapbook, cook, bake, and travel. I blog about homeschool/autism/reviews/givaways. I also write home school curriculum and hope to one day make my own apps.

Rating
What I liked	I really liked the wide variety of game choices. The games are easy enough for kids to understand and play. The Erase game is very unique. I have never seen that before in an app. My daughter was definitely not bored with this game. I see it as a game kids can also enjoy playing with their parents and siblings. The graphics were smooth and adorable. I loved the choice of different sounds in the piano. My daughters favorites are the Erarse, Draw, Collect, and Remember.
Suggestions	For once I am having a hard time really finding something that I don't like about the app. In the Remember portion of the game it would be nice if maybe there was a musical tone so you don't have to hear the animals voice. That does wear on you after a while. My wish list would be to see a Christmas theme added to this. If you were to add games what about dot to dots.
General opinion	I think this is a fantastic app for kids. The ease of use and wide variety make for long and enjoyable game play. This also is a very family friendly game that kids can enjoy with their parents and siblings with turn taking. I will definitely be passing the word on about this game. I believe this is my daughters new favorite.

Ricki B.: Ricki Block has been a Speech Pathologist since 1976. She also owned a School Supply/Toy Store for 22 years. Currently she is the administrator for 10 Speech Therapists in a preschool. She created a website, The Preschool Speech Source - loaded with helpful resources, the BEST APPS & REVIEWS, FREE handouts and speech materials.

Rating
What I liked	1. 12 different games to play- star system is nice reward and helps child know how many items to look for on screen, "Pairs" game - clever progression, "Erase" , "Catch" , "Roll" and "Collect - very unique and great for fine-motor and visual motor for OT's , love the simplicity of "Remember" and "Piano"- excellent for listening/memory warm-up 2. Choice of 15 languages 3. Has a built in timer - for teachers- can keep track of improved time to complete an activity 4. No glitches - back button easily brings you back to the Home screen
Suggestions	1. Instructions and hints for "Search", "Slide" and "Colors" game would be helpful - e.g. "Search" - child could confuse same vs. different, couldn't always find pic. - 2. "Draw" and "Puzzle" are very common apps - not sure they are a necessity 3. Would like to see a lower price for this app - $4.99 is high - you can create 2 apps from this one! 4. Provide levels of difficulty - would be helpful for the user
General opinion	Playground HD offers 12 different early childhood games to play at varied levels of difficulty. Occupational Therapists will love this app! It offers cute games (Erase, Catch, Roll and Collect) which gives child repetitive practice for fine motor &visual motor skills. There are also 2 adorable music games(Remember & Piano) for listening & memory. Child is rewarded when task is completed. There is a built in timer to track the time.

Eric P.: I am an iOS developer turned blogger. I review iPhone and iPad apps on my blog: http://geekswithjuniors.com. I have two sons (3 years old and 1 year old) which make a perfect test environment for many educational apps aimed at toddlers. I have an iPad 2 and two iPhone 4S in addition to the new Apple TV.

Rating
What I liked	1. I like the way the app locks away the parental features using the tap and hold gesture. I personally find it surprising that most juniors would not be able to wait for three seconds or longer. Nevertheless, this approach seems very effective. 2. I really like the customizable timer that parents can set before handing out the iPad and the app to their juniors. I also like the way that the app allows time extension, but only with parental approval. 3. I like the way the app is beautifully illustrated for younger audience. I like the way the entire experience of the app is designed for juniors
Suggestions	1. I think the app is missing the narrator's voice. Adding a narrator could help guide the new users to navigate and play with the mini games. 2. I think the slider puzzle could be scaled down a bit - instead of filling the entire screen. This would allow smoother play on the iPad. As of right now, the tiles are too big and clunky to slide around. 3. In the current roll mini games, you can switch each tile to show one among four images. I think it would be better if you can simulate real-world 6-sided cube puzzles where you can slide each of the 9 cubes up/down/left/right to switch the images.
General opinion	I think the activities are well designed and have a good way to increase the difficulty level gradually to keep older juniors interested while not frustrating younger ones. The fact that most of the mini games have their difficulty level slowly increases shows the amount of care the developer has when developing the app. I will publish a complete 1,100 words review later today (11 AM CST) on my blog: http://www.geekswithjuniors.com

Amanda S.: I am a speech language pathologist that uses an iPad in therapy everyday! I have seen it impact and motivate so many lives! I use it for productivity and for personal as well! I give presentations to SLPs on how to incorporate iPad/technology into therapy! I believe in keeping up with technology in my profession!

Rating
What I liked	I really like the variety you get with this app. I really like the touch response very crisp and responsive. I like the variety of tools you have in the coloring game, it allows for kids with developing fine motor skills to color! I like that you have to touch and hold the setting button for 3 seconds, genius (and thank you for putting the external links in the restricted settings!) !! I also love that you can set a time limit on it for your child!! Very neat feature!! I think this app would be perfect for 2-4 year olds!
Suggestions	I think it would be beneficial to make different levels of difficulty for the app. Your target audience is such a wide age range and you should section it off for younger vs. older kids. My six year old thought some of the games were boring but they were just geared for the little ones. I think the most important thing you could do to this app is to add a quick intro to explain the game when then select it. For example when the select the search game it could say "Can you find what's different?" For erase: "Rub your finger on the screen to find a hidden picture"
General opinion	Very cute app that includes 12 different mini games for your child to play!! Perfect for ages 2-4 years old! There is enough variety to keep your child interested and you can even set a time limit to restrict the amount of time your child is on the app! It comes in 15 different languages! The games cover a variety of skills such as finding differences in pictures, coloring, matching, puzzles, memory, music, tracing, and much more!

Stan A.: I am a blogger and I have a 5 year old who lives with me and is able to test apps. I enjoy a wide variety of apps. I really like challenging games, photography, children's apps, apps that make or save money, books, etc.

Rating
What I liked	This is an excellent kid's app with a very good variety of educational games for young children. My daughter enjoys many of the games and it is convenient to have them all in the same app. The thing that stuck out to me the most is the Piano with the adorable voices and the customization options. I like the timer feature which keeps track of how long she uses the app so I don't have to. The delay for the settings is one of the better childproof buttons that I have seen.
Suggestions	The price might be a little high for some people and lowering it could bring more customers. I thought that the Colors game was a little too difficult, it would probably be much better if it were a little less challenging. With the games that start easy and get progressively harder such as Remember it would be nice to be able to continue where you left off instead of having to start over each time. In the Find It game the pictures don't always line up correctly with iPhone. At the end of the Collect game the app just freezes up and you have to restart.
General opinion	This app is full of fun and educational games for young children of various skill levels. My 5 year old really likes many of the games but some are a little too challenging for her. There is a timer so you don't need to keep track of how long your child uses the app. The piano in this app is the best, the sounds are very cute and you can customize it in several different ways. The app is a little steep but it is worth it.

Caitlin O.: I am a mom of 3 boys and also a special education teacher for students in kindergarten through second grade. In addition, I am the owner and author of a teaching blog called Learning Ahoy! I love sharing apps on my blog page and Facebook fan page that I feel will be useful to other teachers.

Rating
What I liked	Wow, what a great app! I love all of the different activities. They provide for lots of fine motor development and cognitive development. I really like that you can control the amount of time a child can play and that in order to adjust the settings you need to hold the button down for 3 seconds. My 3 year old really enjoyed this app, especially bopping the cows on the head.
Suggestions	I would like to see the ability to set this up for different children/students to use. That way the settings could be set specifically for them. The additon of easy/hard etc in the settings would be great so that the difficulty level could be varied.
General opinion	Wow, what a great app! I love all of the different activities. They provide for lots of fine motor development and cognitive development. The parent has the ability to control the amount of time a child can play and the settings can not be changed accessed unless you hold the button down for 3 seconds. This app provides enough differentiation that both my 3 year old and 6 year old are able to enjoy it.

Samantha M.: I am a mother to an adventurous two year old! I am always on the lookout for educational and creative apps for him. I am also a Kindergarten teacher looking for great apps for my all of my students whether it be for students with special needs, English language learners, or even struggling readers.

Rating
What I liked	I really liked that there are so many different options for kids in this app AND the toddler mode. Unlike other apps in this category, this app allows children to chose from 12 games! Each game is educational and keeps my son's attention for quite a long time! They are very creative and offer a nice variety of games ranging from drawing to playing music. I also loved the timer and the three second hold for settings!
Suggestions	There is not much that I would improve in this app! The only thing that I would suggest would be to add a hint on the "Search" game. Instead of just giving away the answer, perhaps a flashing circle to steer the younger kids in the right direction would be helpful. Otherwise, no other improvements :)
General opinion	Overall, this app is a great investment. At $4.99 it seems a bit pricey, but considering you are getting 12 apps for this price, it makes it a great deal! Some of the games are very unique and are a first for us and can be easily adapted for different ages. My son loved this app and has played it ever since I downloaded it a week ago! My kindergarten students have yet to use it, but I know that they will love it!

Michelle W.: I am a mother of two children ages 5 and 7. I like to see what educational and fun apps that are out for them to play. Puzzle apps are a big hit with our 5 year old right now, while my 7 year old likes educational or art type apps.

Rating
What I liked	My 7 year old played by herself and really liked the find the difference game and playing the piano. My 5 year old played all of the games and said that his favorite were colors and collect. I thought all the games were fun and would recommend this app to a friend.
Suggestions	In the piano game the frog sounds like a duck, it should sound like a frog so children are learning the correct sounds. Both my kids and I played the slide game and thought it was too hard. I couldn't figure out the pattern to get the whole picture correct, I got about 3/4 of it.
General opinion	Great app with 12 games to choose from. My kids and I really enjoyed this app when we played it together, especially the piano because of the different sounds. Nice graphics and sounds. This app has a nice variety of games to play for all ages and would recommend thus app to a friend.

Erin F.: I am a first and second grade teacher and I love using technology in my classroom. We currently have 4 iPads and 3 iPods that we use daily. I also use technology in my personal life, especially for health and fitness.

Rating
What I liked	I really enjoyed the variety of choices that children have all within the same app. This app would be a great one to use while enabling the "Guided Access" mode on an iPad. Children with different ability levels can all find something fun in this app. The app itself also worked very well for me without any bugs. I also love the fact that there are no advertisements or links to purchase other items within the app. The piano app is adorbale and I think my students would think it is so much fun. The timer is also a great addition and would be very helpful for children sharing a device.
Suggestions	I wish that this app had a voice telling children directions for each game. Younger children might not be able to read the directions included or know by instinct what should be done. In the Collect game, I would like to see it do more work for fine motor skills by making the child's finger stay within the path to collect stars. It would be more useful for the fish only to move when a child's finger is in the correct place.
General opinion	I love this app for young children. There is plenty for them to do so that they don't get bored with this app. One great thing about this app are the easy to use buttons for children. There is not a lot of clutter on this app, so children can quickly learn how to navigate the games. I would recommend this for your young learner.

Disclaimer: Guest review from our partner Reviewfordev.com and Fun Educational Apps was paid an admin fee for its publication.

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Rating
What I liked	This app was wonderful! I loved how parental controls/settings are controlled by holding the button for 3 seconds. I also loved having the option of setting a timer to allow children to only have a set amout of time. Both my almost 3 and 5 year old loved the game and are currently trying to pull my ipad out of my hands to play it longer! There were different levels that kept both of my kids attention and excited
Suggestions	The app did crash once when we were playing remember. I would also like to see the timer pop back up when it goes off. My kids immediately started asking to play longer when it went off but having to go back into the settings section seemed like an extra, unnecessary step
General opinion	This is a FABULOUS app for children 2-7! There are so many games and they are all wonderful. Activities increase memory, language, fine motor, and attention to detail skills. I loved that it was an app that both of my children (3 & 5) were excited about and was one that I could sit down and play with them! The timer that parents are able to set to limit amount of time spent playing is an added bonus! Definitely worth your money!!!

Rating
What I liked	I really liked the wide variety of game choices. The games are easy enough for kids to understand and play. The Erase game is very unique. I have never seen that before in an app. My daughter was definitely not bored with this game. I see it as a game kids can also enjoy playing with their parents and siblings. The graphics were smooth and adorable. I loved the choice of different sounds in the piano. My daughters favorites are the Erarse, Draw, Collect, and Remember.
Suggestions	For once I am having a hard time really finding something that I don't like about the app. In the Remember portion of the game it would be nice if maybe there was a musical tone so you don't have to hear the animals voice. That does wear on you after a while. My wish list would be to see a Christmas theme added to this. If you were to add games what about dot to dots.
General opinion	I think this is a fantastic app for kids. The ease of use and wide variety make for long and enjoyable game play. This also is a very family friendly game that kids can enjoy with their parents and siblings with turn taking. I will definitely be passing the word on about this game. I believe this is my daughters new favorite.

Rating
What I liked	1. 12 different games to play- star system is nice reward and helps child know how many items to look for on screen, "Pairs" game - clever progression, "Erase" , "Catch" , "Roll" and "Collect - very unique and great for fine-motor and visual motor for OT's , love the simplicity of "Remember" and "Piano"- excellent for listening/memory warm-up 2. Choice of 15 languages 3. Has a built in timer - for teachers- can keep track of improved time to complete an activity 4. No glitches - back button easily brings you back to the Home screen
Suggestions	1. Instructions and hints for "Search", "Slide" and "Colors" game would be helpful - e.g. "Search" - child could confuse same vs. different, couldn't always find pic. - 2. "Draw" and "Puzzle" are very common apps - not sure they are a necessity 3. Would like to see a lower price for this app - $4.99 is high - you can create 2 apps from this one! 4. Provide levels of difficulty - would be helpful for the user
General opinion	Playground HD offers 12 different early childhood games to play at varied levels of difficulty. Occupational Therapists will love this app! It offers cute games (Erase, Catch, Roll and Collect) which gives child repetitive practice for fine motor &visual motor skills. There are also 2 adorable music games(Remember & Piano) for listening & memory. Child is rewarded when task is completed. There is a built in timer to track the time.

Rating
What I liked	1. I like the way the app locks away the parental features using the tap and hold gesture. I personally find it surprising that most juniors would not be able to wait for three seconds or longer. Nevertheless, this approach seems very effective. 2. I really like the customizable timer that parents can set before handing out the iPad and the app to their juniors. I also like the way that the app allows time extension, but only with parental approval. 3. I like the way the app is beautifully illustrated for younger audience. I like the way the entire experience of the app is designed for juniors
Suggestions	1. I think the app is missing the narrator's voice. Adding a narrator could help guide the new users to navigate and play with the mini games. 2. I think the slider puzzle could be scaled down a bit - instead of filling the entire screen. This would allow smoother play on the iPad. As of right now, the tiles are too big and clunky to slide around. 3. In the current roll mini games, you can switch each tile to show one among four images. I think it would be better if you can simulate real-world 6-sided cube puzzles where you can slide each of the 9 cubes up/down/left/right to switch the images.
General opinion	I think the activities are well designed and have a good way to increase the difficulty level gradually to keep older juniors interested while not frustrating younger ones. The fact that most of the mini games have their difficulty level slowly increases shows the amount of care the developer has when developing the app. I will publish a complete 1,100 words review later today (11 AM CST) on my blog: http://www.geekswithjuniors.com

Rating
What I liked	I really like the variety you get with this app. I really like the touch response very crisp and responsive. I like the variety of tools you have in the coloring game, it allows for kids with developing fine motor skills to color! I like that you have to touch and hold the setting button for 3 seconds, genius (and thank you for putting the external links in the restricted settings!) !! I also love that you can set a time limit on it for your child!! Very neat feature!! I think this app would be perfect for 2-4 year olds!
Suggestions	I think it would be beneficial to make different levels of difficulty for the app. Your target audience is such a wide age range and you should section it off for younger vs. older kids. My six year old thought some of the games were boring but they were just geared for the little ones. I think the most important thing you could do to this app is to add a quick intro to explain the game when then select it. For example when the select the search game it could say "Can you find what's different?" For erase: "Rub your finger on the screen to find a hidden picture"
General opinion	Very cute app that includes 12 different mini games for your child to play!! Perfect for ages 2-4 years old! There is enough variety to keep your child interested and you can even set a time limit to restrict the amount of time your child is on the app! It comes in 15 different languages! The games cover a variety of skills such as finding differences in pictures, coloring, matching, puzzles, memory, music, tracing, and much more!

Rating
What I liked	This is an excellent kid's app with a very good variety of educational games for young children. My daughter enjoys many of the games and it is convenient to have them all in the same app. The thing that stuck out to me the most is the Piano with the adorable voices and the customization options. I like the timer feature which keeps track of how long she uses the app so I don't have to. The delay for the settings is one of the better childproof buttons that I have seen.
Suggestions	The price might be a little high for some people and lowering it could bring more customers. I thought that the Colors game was a little too difficult, it would probably be much better if it were a little less challenging. With the games that start easy and get progressively harder such as Remember it would be nice to be able to continue where you left off instead of having to start over each time. In the Find It game the pictures don't always line up correctly with iPhone. At the end of the Collect game the app just freezes up and you have to restart.
General opinion	This app is full of fun and educational games for young children of various skill levels. My 5 year old really likes many of the games but some are a little too challenging for her. There is a timer so you don't need to keep track of how long your child uses the app. The piano in this app is the best, the sounds are very cute and you can customize it in several different ways. The app is a little steep but it is worth it.

Rating
What I liked	Wow, what a great app! I love all of the different activities. They provide for lots of fine motor development and cognitive development. I really like that you can control the amount of time a child can play and that in order to adjust the settings you need to hold the button down for 3 seconds. My 3 year old really enjoyed this app, especially bopping the cows on the head.
Suggestions	I would like to see the ability to set this up for different children/students to use. That way the settings could be set specifically for them. The additon of easy/hard etc in the settings would be great so that the difficulty level could be varied.
General opinion	Wow, what a great app! I love all of the different activities. They provide for lots of fine motor development and cognitive development. The parent has the ability to control the amount of time a child can play and the settings can not be changed accessed unless you hold the button down for 3 seconds. This app provides enough differentiation that both my 3 year old and 6 year old are able to enjoy it.

Rating
What I liked	I really liked that there are so many different options for kids in this app AND the toddler mode. Unlike other apps in this category, this app allows children to chose from 12 games! Each game is educational and keeps my son's attention for quite a long time! They are very creative and offer a nice variety of games ranging from drawing to playing music. I also loved the timer and the three second hold for settings!
Suggestions	There is not much that I would improve in this app! The only thing that I would suggest would be to add a hint on the "Search" game. Instead of just giving away the answer, perhaps a flashing circle to steer the younger kids in the right direction would be helpful. Otherwise, no other improvements :)
General opinion	Overall, this app is a great investment. At $4.99 it seems a bit pricey, but considering you are getting 12 apps for this price, it makes it a great deal! Some of the games are very unique and are a first for us and can be easily adapted for different ages. My son loved this app and has played it ever since I downloaded it a week ago! My kindergarten students have yet to use it, but I know that they will love it!

Rating
What I liked	My 7 year old played by herself and really liked the find the difference game and playing the piano. My 5 year old played all of the games and said that his favorite were colors and collect. I thought all the games were fun and would recommend this app to a friend.
Suggestions	In the piano game the frog sounds like a duck, it should sound like a frog so children are learning the correct sounds. Both my kids and I played the slide game and thought it was too hard. I couldn't figure out the pattern to get the whole picture correct, I got about 3/4 of it.
General opinion	Great app with 12 games to choose from. My kids and I really enjoyed this app when we played it together, especially the piano because of the different sounds. Nice graphics and sounds. This app has a nice variety of games to play for all ages and would recommend thus app to a friend.

Rating
What I liked	I really enjoyed the variety of choices that children have all within the same app. This app would be a great one to use while enabling the "Guided Access" mode on an iPad. Children with different ability levels can all find something fun in this app. The app itself also worked very well for me without any bugs. I also love the fact that there are no advertisements or links to purchase other items within the app. The piano app is adorbale and I think my students would think it is so much fun. The timer is also a great addition and would be very helpful for children sharing a device.
Suggestions	I wish that this app had a voice telling children directions for each game. Younger children might not be able to read the directions included or know by instinct what should be done. In the Collect game, I would like to see it do more work for fine motor skills by making the child's finger stay within the path to collect stars. It would be more useful for the fish only to move when a child's finger is in the correct place.
General opinion	I love this app for young children. There is plenty for them to do so that they don't get bored with this app. One great thing about this app are the easy to use buttons for children. There is not a lot of clutter on this app, so children can quickly learn how to navigate the games. I would recommend this for your young learner.

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