We are keen to help parents on KiddyCharts with the challenges that having little people throws at them, and we all know what challenges sleep can bring….we have our charts to help with encouraging kids to stay in their beds, but could there be an app that can help a little bit with setting up a good sleep routine for your kids?
We were asked to check out the Little Well Beings help your child to sleep app for the iPhone, iPad (79p) and Android (95p) market.
What is the help your child to sleep app?
The idea for the app is to help you to calm your child, and develop good sleep habits before they go to bed. This, in turn, should help aid them to have a restful night. The app has four main characters, the Sun, Moon, Star and Cloud who your little one mimics.
Each character encourages a different behaviour; from yawning, and stretching to deep breathing and the all important lights out! Your child helps the character on screen do their specific behaviours, and they are then encouraged to do the same themselves:
- Sun – closing eyes
- Moon – yawning
- Star – stretching
- Cloud – deep breathing
- Light – Time to turn it off so all four characters can sleep :-D
This is a great little video from the producers of the app to give you a little more information:
What do we think of the help your child to sleep app?
This is a charming idea for kids, and the app is clearly a calming influence for children. The music in the background is gentle, and the colours within the app are light, as suitable for a time when children should be winding down after a hard day running about. The app is aimed at younger children, from under ones up to age 4, and as such is very simple to understand.
The poem within the app, which provides the instructions to the children, is adorable, though not too very given that this is a paid for app.
We all know that encouraging a good bedtime routine in our children can have a significant impact on their ability to sleep. This app would be best used as part of a wider sleep routine of course, perhaps including a bath, a bedtime story and even a little reflective time before shut eye with a parent.
What did the other parents we asked think of the help your child to sleep app?
The parent bloggers who helped us test the app all thought it was a cute, and cuddly app that offered a good way to calm their children. The characters are all engaging and well drawn. The moon could do with a visible nose though, for children to find more easily. In order to get him to yawn, the nose needs pushing on screen, and my kids struggled with this, as did others. This is likely to be a frustration, particularly for autistic children.
Thanks so the following bloggers for helping out:
- Joy, from Pinkoddy,
- Kay, from Two Little Paines,
- Gemma, from Sunshine on a Cloudy Day, and
- Sam, from Happy Homebird.
Overall – 7/10
This is a great concept for an app and has been executed in a charming way. There are just a few niggles in the initial version, but I am sure that these will be ironed out in subsequent ones, hopefully with the help of this review ;-) . The cost of the app is low, though there were some concerns with parents that it was a little short as a paid for app. Definitely worth a try alongside your usual sleep routine if your little ones needs a little help getting calm before bed.
We rather loved the little star, and having to help him stretch his arms, but then we are a little biased when it comes to little yellow stars aren’t we…. ;-)
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!