The Best Free Android Apps for Kids

Young children enjoy the PBS Kids Games that contain many of their favorite characters, such as Daniel Tiger and the Sesame Street gang. As you might expect from PBS, many of the games have an educational theme, so your kids are learning while they are having fun.  

• Best for ages: 3 to 6
• Parents should know: PBS Kids Games is free with no in-app purchases or advertisements, so you don't have to worry about what your young one is getting into while playing the games.

Don't overlook old-fashioned creativity. Kids Doodle is what you would expect from the name: An app that lets kids doodle on their tablets to make their own drawings. Children can pick from a variety of pencil types capable of drawing straight lines, dashed lines, dotted lines, and lines made up of stars, among other variations, all in a variety of colors. While the app is ad-supported, the advertisements aren't as in-your-face as with some other apps.

• Best for ages: 3 to 8
• Parents should know: Great for younger kids. Older kids that love to draw may be more interested in Draw Something Classic, which is a multiplayer guess-what-I-am-drawing game that is fun for kids and parents alike.

One of the great things about younger kids is their ability to be entertained by things that are educational. This combination becomes tougher to pull off as kids get older, but for younger kids, games are a great way to learn subjects such as math. Moose Math provides entertaining characters and fun games combined with basic math questions to let your kids laugh their way toward learning arithmetic.

• Best for ages: 4 to 6
• Parents should know: Moose Math contains Common Core Standards and includes a parents' section to see how well your kid is doing.

YouTube is an excellent source for both educational and entertainment videos, but it isn't exactly kid-friendly. Not by a long shot. That's what makes YouTube Kids so great: Your child can get the best parts of YouTube without you worrying about what they are watching. The app includes a search feature that has voice support, so younger children can say what they want to watch. You can turn off search completely to limit what your kid is watching.

• Best for ages: 5 to 12
• Parents should know: YouTube Kids contains "unpacking" and "let's play" videos that feature kids playing with toys. This can lead to your kids begging for toys, so if you are looking for an alternative to kids programming because of commercials, YouTube Kids might not be the right fit.

Schools are introducing foreign languages at increasingly early ages, with some schools adopting dual language immersion programs for kids as young as kindergarteners. Whether your child is learning a language in school or you want them to learn one at home, Duolingo is the perfect app. It may also be the perfect app for you to learn a new language alongside your kid, as Duolingo is great for almost any age.

• Best for ages: 6 to 99
• Parents should know: Duolingo requires some reading, but for level 1 and 2 readers, this may prove an opportunity to practice both English and a second language. Duolingo displays an advertisement between lessons to help pay for the service, and it also offers in-app purchases.

Roblox is Minecraft for kids who have grown bored with Minecraft. Heavier on the social side, Roblox can be a challenging game for parents and young kids to understand. Essentially, it is a massively multiplayer game of user-created games that range from puzzle games to social simulation games. The game is free with an in-game currency that can be purchased for real-world dollars to buy accessories or additional perks.

As you might expect, Roblox comes with a lot of parental controls, including chat restrictions for children younger than 13 and the option for parents to turn off chat completely. 

• Best for ages: 8 to 12+
• Parents should know: Children as young as 6 can enjoy the game, although they may not understand how to play the more difficult games. As a social game, parents may want to monitor what younger kids are doing in the game.

The Pokemon Go craze ensnared both kids and adults and helped put augmented reality on the map. Augmented reality has been around for years, but it was mostly used in apps like stargazers that use a device's camera to point out the location of stars. Pokemon Go combines the idea of collecting Pokemon with real-world locations where you can only "see" the Pokemon by using a smartphone or tablet. While the craze has died down a little, it is still going strong.

• Best for ages: 8 to 12
• Parents should know: Pokemon Go is played away from home in places like restaurants and parks. This free app contains in-app purchases.