Top 10 Easy and Fun Game Apps for Children with Autism from Sunnyside Children’s Clinic

Whether we realise it or not, technology has become a major part of all our lives. Everything we need fits right in our pocket at the touch of a button. Individuals on the Autism spectrum or with a diagnosis of severe learning difficulties are finding new ways to develop and grow using iPads and tablets.

iPads can promote learning as well as being fun! There are tons of apps available geared toward different ages, interests and learning abilities.

It’s an easy way to help improve communication, cognitive skills and fine motor skills when you’re on the go.

With the iPad’s intuitive tapping and sliding touch screen movements, it’s easy for individuals with Autism or related disorders to use iPads or different tablet devices.

Most importantly, it can be used as a functional or leisurely device that opens up new areas of learning and fun.

Types of apps

Most tablets come equipped with an app store. There’s thousands of apps to choose from, sometimes it just requires a bit of searching. We did some of the work for you below. We categorized app functions into different buckets:

Calm, relaxing apps help with emotional regulation
Games and educational apps help with focus and learning
Informational apps help out in the community, particularly with issues surrounding waiting, travelling and noise levels as they can act as a preferred distractor and engaging device.

Why apps are so useful

There’s more to tablets than just the apps! There’s a lot of other benefits for individuals with Autism:

Unlike having to carry around toys and books, tablets are digital and easily portable making it simpler for you to travel
Apps are predictable, accessible and easily orgainised. Not to mention they’re constantly being updated with new features so it rarely gets old.
Learning can be broken down into discrete areas while still having fun!
Independent learning can be accessed through colourful, fun and inventive apps for all levels of learning and ages
Tablets make it easier for co-ordination and continued development within areas of fine motor skills, cognition and communication

So now that we chatted about the benefits of tablets let’s get to the fun part. Our team at Sunnyside Children’s Clinic picked out their top game apps for children with differing skill levels and ages. If you don’t see your favourite on the list, let us know and we’ll add it so we can make this your go-to source for this topic.

Don’t forget! When starting the games, set the level to easy for children to understand the game and progress to the next levels.

Our top picks

The Dolphin Stunt FREE

The Dolphin Stunt game is an underwater adventure allowing you to help the dolphin catch as many stars as possible to win extra points and open new levels. Swim through golden rings without crashing for bonus points!

Angry Birds FREE

Crash into all the pigs and collect the bird’s eggs they have stolen! Bonus points for crashing into items and collecting jewels to move onto new levels.

Bad Piggies FREE
(from developers of Angry Birds)

From the pigs point of view…. build castles and forts from lots of different parts in time without the bomb blowing up!

Bubble Shooter FREE

Classic bubble shooter game where popping all the bubbles reveal prizes and extra points given for smashing as any as you can within given time.

Cut the Rope FREE

Help Om Nom, the little green monster, collect as much candy as possible by cutting the rope where the candy is tied and hidden! Collect gold stars and hidden prizes to move to new levels.

Monkey Balloon Game FREE

Monkey loves his bow and arrow, help him pop as many balloons in different shapes to reveal treasure, special powers and earn bonus points.

Cave Run 3D FREE

Run as fast as you can from the collapsing cave while collecting jewels, healers, treasure and more within the time you have! Each new level has a different cave and features.

Paper Toss FREE

Try to throw the paper into the trash basket while dodging the obstacles to earn points to each new level.

Highway Racer 3D FREE
(very slow setting)

Race cars through a city full of obstacles. Change your car to have different colours, wheels and speed options.

Recommended to start on slowest level first.

Touch Hockey Extreme:
FS5 FREE

An air hockey game with multi-player support, choice of tables, colours and puck size. Win points to move to new levels.

Memory Games For Kids
FREE

Memory game from choices such as food, animals, colours and shapes and transport. Flip the cards over to find the matching pairs to win points for new levels.

Peekaboo Barn

Animal barn adventure game where farm animals are hidden behind doors/objects around the farm! Find them and their sounds. Includes lots of different animals, barns, and audio and voice reorder options.

Angry Mouse Maze Scramble
FREE

Run away from the angry housekeepers and help the mouse find his away around the maze while collecting lots of cheese and avoiding the mouse traps!

Match and Rescue

Help Tusky the exploring elephant to match delicious fruits to rescue trapped animals and earn high scores for new adventures in other lands.

We hope you had as much fun with this post as we did. Let us know on Facebook – did this post generate ideas for discovering other games you enjoyed too? What are your technology tips or favorite apps? Check back soon to see our list of apps which are great for skill building!

Share22

22 Shares