App Watch: Apps as Parenting Tools
IPhones with their shiny touch screens have quickly captivated small kids as well as adults. Parents are catching and are creating apps just for them.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Duck Duck Moose is one such company. Caroline Hu Flexer founded it with her husband, a software engineer, and a friend, a designer, a little over a year ago, after seeing how much her oldest daughter was interested in the device.
“As a mom, I was always carrying around a bagful of crayons. I thought it would be great to have something that was high quality and educational for my child,” she says.
The company decided to try to turn the idea of pop-up books into an app. The first one, Wheels on the Bus, plays the popular song while children can touch the bus on the screen to swish the wipers, open and close the door or spin the wheels. Flexer’s husband, who is a cellist, recorded the music with a pianist and a violinist, while their daughter, who was three years old at the time, recorded a gibberish track that proved to be a hit.
