4 zany games for kids

Do your kids love to steal your phone to play games? If so, instead of their playing your time-filler du jour, why not download some of the best games for kids? And with this list, you don't need to worry about in-app purchases, because these apps don't have any.

ShipAntics: The Legend of the Kiki Beast

StoryToys Entertainment Limited, best for ages 7-12, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 4)

Ahoy, matey! Kids join the crew of Captain Fred's seafaring vessel, the Barnacle. Along with Amanda, the Captain's daughter, and Otto, a mischievous baby Octopus, players solve mysteries aboard this zany ship. In one, Deezil, a monster that acts as the ship's engine, is overheating because someone has messed up the pipe system. Can you restore order in time?

Why this game's fun for kids: This tap-to-explore adventure combines cartoon animation with puzzles. Players select one of the wacky characters to talk with to move the story forward. Things like swabbing the deck and fixing the pipe system are turned into puzzle games. This fun app is the first chapter of a three-part series that gets kids reading as they play.

Oink, Oink — My Crazy Farm

Ravensburger Digital GmbH, best for ages 6-14, $2.99, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Rating: 4 stars

In this puzzle game app, kids become master fence-builders to cage zany farm animals that are running amok. Players quickly swipe across the screen to create enclosures that pen similar animals together. Adding to the chaos are things like big tires and springboards that send the animals bouncing.

Why this game's fun for kids: Drawing a line to create fences is easy, but with livestock galloping around, corralling the animals can be quite challenging. However, the game's progression is carefully constructed so that kids always feel as if a level is winnable. And these out-of-control animals are adorable even in their helter-skelter running.

Gro Flowers

Gro Play, best for ages 4-8, $2.99, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Rating: 4 stars

Kids design their own flowers with this simple paint-and-play app. When a child draws a pattern on one petal, the app duplicates the pattern on the other petals creating a kaleidoscope effect. The surprise of watching the whole flower fill in with just one stroke is magical. Bees arrive to pollinate the flowers and help to spread the newly designed flowers' seeds across the field. The bees also reward players with additional colors and paint brushes to create more diverse flower designs.

Why this game's fun for kids: By putting children in charge of populating this world with flowers, the app empowers kids to experiment with colors and patterns. Since players can't color outside of the flowers' outlines, the results are stunning, particularly when pollinated flowers appear to wave across the field. The bees, butterflies and other creatures that appear add to the fun, as does the pesky human who tries to spray the bees with poison. The combo of art and science produces beautiful flowery results.

Buddy & Me

Sunbreak Games, best for ages 6-up, $.99, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android

Rating: 3.5 stars

This action game combines Mario-like platform jumping with the constant side-scrolling movement found in apps known as "endless runners." Kids join a nameless little boy within his dreams. Every night, the boy frolics with his magical friend Buddy, a floppy-eared, furry creature that can fly. Players control the little boy as he runs and jumps through magical, tree house-filled landscapes on his quest to collect as many stars and musical floating bunnies as possible in two minutes.

Why this game's fun for kids: Unlike other endless runner apps, "Buddy & Me" provides kids with unlimited lives so that they can't fail. By letting kids fly on an adorable dragon-like companion and play in a dreamlike enchanted forest, this app appeals to kids new to endless runners. Kids just tap, double tap and swipe a finger to succeed. The game even adjusts its difficulty depending on how you play.

Jinny Gudmundsen is the editor of TechwithKids.com and author of iPad Apps for Kids, a For Dummies book. Contact her at techcomments@usatoday.com. Follow her @JinnyGudmundsen.