For mums & dads
Pro Moving Planner
Even if you are lucky enough to have
a relocation consultant helping
you through your move, this is still a
must-have app. A self-described
“relocation logistic assistant”, this
app is rich with features to keep you
and your move on track. It takes
some time to get acquainted with
all the options, but some of the
most useful ones offer the ability to:
collaborate with other users, create
multiple timelines, add shopping lists, track providers and contacts – as well as
their quotations – and export data with ease. Using the “augmented reality”
module, you can even visualise your new place, easily adding furniture or boxes
or identifying repairs directly on the pictures of your new home. If you’re looking
for decorating or landscaping inspiration, the app allows you to bookmark sites or
pin your favourite photos.
Available for Apple devices
For toddlers
Bubble Wrap
Whether you are relocating
across town or to the other
side of the world, whenever
stuff has to be packed in
bubble wrap, the youngest
members of the family
are bound to discover
the joys of popping it. The
developers of the Bubble
Wrap app know just how
much fun popping it can
be, and must have had some fun thinking of ways to go beyond the pop, too.
Three games add to the fun. So if, or rather
when
, you find yourself hogging the
phone for a bit of plastic popping fun, you can at least challenge yourself.
The Blitz Pop function counts how many bubbles you can pop in a minute.
Pop 500 will have your fingers dancing across the screen trying to pop 500
bubbles while you fight the clock. Finally, with the Pop All option, you can test
how long it takes you to pop the entire sheet of more than 2,000 bubbles. Oh, I
mean your toddler can do all of that.
Available for Apple devices. Similar apps are available for Android devices
For kids on the move
Kid in Story
A relocation can be tough on kids, who
struggle to understand why they have to
leave all that’s familiar to them and may
fear what the new location will be like.
This app allows parents to create
digital stories featuring their own kids. The
app can be used to create any story, but
is particularly useful in helping children
visualise themselves in their new home
and tackle their fear of the unknown.
The process is very intuitive. Create
pages and add a background by
inserting (or taking) a picture of a new
home or street, for example. Next, overlay
a picture of the child. Moving and scaling
the child is also simple and allows the
storyteller to get very creative.
Pages are created in no time and all
that is missing is the text or reader’s voice,
which can be recorded. Finally, the story
can be saved to Dropbox, emailed or
even saved as a .pdf and printed out. In
no time, your child will have a little help
imagining how fun the new home will be.
Available for the iPad
Relocations are fraught – packing, moving, saying goodbye to
friends. But, these apps can make it a little bit easier and a
bit more fun, writes
Angelina Draper
.
There’s an app for that
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