Mini Painters

Posted by Sarah Reidy on March 12th, 2012
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Mini Painters, developed by Airy Labs, is a multi-player social/drawing app for kids in early elementary school and older. The object of this universal app is to guess correctly what other players are drawing (think Pictionary) in the fastest time possible. Unless a parent is assisting, children need to be fairly proficient at reading to be able to play Mini Painters.

Children can choose their preferred level of difficulty and when they are the “guessers” they must tap on one of six choices as soon as they think they can identify what the artist is drawing. There are six rounds per game, and depending on the number of children playing, each player gets to take at least one turn as the artist. The rest of the time, they are guessing.

When online, children can play with five of their friends (if they also have accounts) or against random opponents worldwide. This is where the app gets really interesting. When your child creates an account on Mini Painters, he or she gets to choose a user name (from existing names) as well as to create their own profile with a cute, customizable avatar. They also list their country of origin, their favorite color, favorite food, favorite music and their mood. Players may also “friend” other players if they wish, so that they can play with them again.

As a parent of a "tween" girl, I find the social aspect of the game to be one of its best features. This is an opportunity for younger children to be introduced to an online community that is both educational and creative. There is no chatting function, so there is no need to be constantly monitoring the conversations to make sure your child is safe. I suppose there is the possibility that someone could try to ruin a good thing by drawing inappropriate content but this has never happened to us and both my children have played with this app dozens of times. My daughter loves making new friends from different countries and she boasts that she has a friend from Japan.

Not only does this app receive high marks from our family for the social aspects of the game, but also for its creativity. When children have their chance to be the artist, they can choose their brushstroke, color, and have a clean palette on which to create their masterpiece. The better artist your child is, the easier it is for others to guess what the picture is, which earns both the artist and the guesser more points. It also encourages children to read and learn new words, as the word choices are quite diverse and challenging.

While I think this is among the highest-quality apps I have ever reviewed, the only criticism I have is that, to my knowledge, there are no built-in safeguards against inappropriate content. The drawing takes place in real time, so there is no opportunity to review and remove drawings that are negative or otherwise violate the rules. Like I said before, we have never had a problem, and it would sure be a shame if a couple of bad eggs ruined this wonderful opportunity for friendship and creativity.

The bottom line is that I cannot believe an app offering such a rich experience is free, as I would have gladly paid for it. My kids were thrilled that, in addition to playing with the app on my iPod, they are also able to play it on their Kindle Fires. Bravo Mini Painters! We can't wait to see what else Airy Labs has in store for us!

iPhone Screenshots

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Mini Painters screenshot 1 Mini Painters screenshot 2 Mini Painters screenshot 3 Mini Painters screenshot 4 Mini Painters screenshot 5

iPad Screenshots

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Mini Painters screenshot 6 Mini Painters screenshot 7 Mini Painters screenshot 8 Mini Painters screenshot 9 Mini Painters screenshot 10
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