Handing over your GALAXY S4 is all very well, but it is easy to forget that you are effectively giving your kids a portal to the internet, with all the potential dangers that implies. Norton Family parental control is a simple web filter that can block out adult sites and monitor what your child is browsing on your phone.
The app is able to monitor both the Samsung browser and Google Chrome and will even send you an email alert if they try to access something they shouldn't.
For £29.99 you can buy a year's subscription to Norton Family Premier, which adds the ability to monitor SMS messages, monitor and block certain app downloads and receive regular reports on your child's online activities.
7. Kids Place – Parental Control
Free – get it here
The other thing to be aware of when giving a child access to your smartphone is that little fingers have a knack of deleting things they shouldn't, or poking around in personal messages that you would rather keep private. Kids Place is a custom launcher for your S4 that lets you create a cut-down list of apps and games you don't mind them playing with.
The app is lockable with a PIN code and you can have it take over the Home button so they can't get back to the regular TouchWiz home screen without your approval.
8. Kids Place Video Player
Free – get it here
Kids love watching YouTube and mobile videos, but it's easy for them to stumble across inappropriate material.
This handy YouTube and mobile video viewer is compatible with Kids Place and lets you create a list of videos that they can watch. It will even filter their YouTube search results so you can ensure things stay family-friendly.
9. RollingTones
Free – get it here
RollingTones is based on the Tenori-on sequencer – a musical gadget that lets you 'draw' on a grid to create a sequence of notes and then plays them back as a looped rhythm. Most Tenori-on style apps offer just one kind of synth noise to play with, but RollingTones has a palette of instruments including snare and bass drums, cymbals and handclaps, with multiple 'pages' to flip between for more complex compositions.
The app is so simple to use that even very young children can make something that sounds good and older kids (and adults) can create more interesting tunes.
10. Color & Draw: Super Artist Ed.
£1.96 – buy it here
Staying in and painting was always a favourite way to pass a rainy day when we were kids, but now you can use the Samsung GALAXY S4 for mess-free creativity. And the Color & Draw: Super Artist app is really three apps in one.
The sketchbook will allow freehand drawing and painting using different colours and virtual pens and brushes. The colouring book has over 100 line drawings to colour in, as well as several incomplete pictures that come with voice instructions to help your child finish them off.
Finally, there is also a 'photo decorator' mode that gives your child pictures from your camera Gallery and lets them decorate the shots with stickers and freehand drawings.
