Kids Drawing Games for Toddler

Review by eFreeware

If you are looking for something to occupy a child between the ages of two and six, and you would rather that time went into drawing than into another round of a matching game, Drawing Academy is built for exactly that. Bini Games has assembled a coloring and painting app with 150 step-by-step tutorials, a set of drawing tools, and activities that fold in early letter practice. It has been on Google Play since August 2019 and has passed ten million installs, with a 4.0 average across 16,584 ratings.

What you get is a guided art session rather than a blank canvas. The child follows a pattern, uses brushes, markers, stickers, fill and decorations to complete a picture, and the finished drawing turns into a short animation. The developer describes it as suitable for ages two to six, which is a wider band than it first appears: a two-year-old and a six-year-old will get quite different things out of the same activity, and the app is arranged so that the younger end can still produce something recognizable.

The app is free to download and carries advertising, and some content sits behind an in-app purchase. The developer notes that only part of what the screenshots show is included without paying, so expect that a purchase is what opens the rest.

What separates it from a plain coloring book

The distinguishing feature is the payoff at the end. In most coloring apps a child fills in a picture and that is the end of it; here the drawing comes to life as a small animation once it is finished. For a four-year-old who is still working out why effort is worth it, that reward loop is the reason to keep going, and it is the sort of thing that makes a second and third picture more likely than a single one.

The step-by-step structure matters too. Rather than handing over an empty page and a palette, the app walks a child through a drawing in stages. That suits the age group it is built for, because a child who cannot yet plan a picture gets a shape to follow and a sense of progress at each stage. The developer's claim that children follow patterns without going outside the lines describes the same idea from the other direction: the app keeps the result tidy, which for this age is usually the difference between pride and frustration.

There is also a breadth of subject matter that a single coloring book would not cover. Forest, farm, ocean, zoo, transportation, toys and holidays all appear, along with fairy-tale characters and animals. That range means the app can be brought out again in a different mood or season without the child feeling they have seen it all, which is not true of a book with twenty pages.

How the drawing and coloring works

Each of the 150 tutorials breaks a picture into steps. The child works through them in order, and the app supplies the tools needed along the way. Brushes, markers, stickers, fill and decorations are all part of the set, and the color range covers the basics plus the in-between shades children tend to reach for. The fill option is the one that does most of the work for small hands, since it colors a whole area without requiring a steady drag.

Stickers and decorations are where a child can depart from the pattern. A picture can be completed as shown or embellished with whatever the child likes, and that freedom is what keeps the activity from feeling like a worksheet. The developer pitches it as a coloring book with unlimited creativity, and while that is marketing language, the combination of a guided base and free decoration is a fair description of how the two halves fit together.

The animation at the end closes the loop. A unicorn, a cat or a sun that the child has just colored starts moving, which turns a static result into something to show someone. For parents, that is also a convenient moment to hand the device over and get a reaction, which is more than most coloring activities offer.

Color by number and early letters

Color by number is the second mode, and it is aimed squarely at the younger half of the stated age range. A numbered area tells the child which color to use, so the picture assembles correctly even if they cannot yet read or match shades by eye. The developer includes a dinosaur-themed color by number section, which is a sensible choice for the audience.

The ABC element is folded into the painting rather than separated into a lesson. Letters appear as part of the drawing activities, so practice happens while the child is doing something else. It is a light touch, and that is appropriate for two- to six-year-olds, who tend to resist anything that announces itself as teaching. As an incidental introduction to letters alongside an art activity, it does what it sets out to do.

The two modes complement each other well. Color by number gives a child who is not ready for free drawing a way to finish something correctly, while the step-by-step tutorials give an older child more room. Having both in one app means the same download can serve a household with children at different stages.

Parental control and the shape of the free version

Parental control is part of the design, which matters in a category where children often hold the device themselves. For a parent handing over a phone or tablet to a four-year-old, knowing that the app is built with that in mind is a reasonable starting point, though it is worth setting your own expectations for what any children's app can lock down.

The free version is a partial experience. Only some of the content shown in the screenshots is available without paying, and an in-app purchase is required for the rest. That is a common arrangement, but it does mean the free download is best treated as a trial of the format rather than a complete coloring book. If your child takes to it, the purchase is what turns it into the full set of 150 tutorials and activities.

Advertising is present as well. For a children's app that is a consideration parents weigh differently from one household to the next, and it is worth knowing before you hand the device over rather than after.

Who this fits

The natural fit is a household with a child in the two-to-six range who enjoys making things and needs a gentle structure to get started. A three-year-old who struggles with a blank page will get more from color by number and the guided tutorials than from a free-drawing app, and a five- or six-year-old can use the same tutorials as a base and then decorate beyond them. Parents who want an art activity that ends with something to show, rather than a screen of unfinished scribbles, will find the animation payoff does a lot of the work.

It also suits families with more than one child in that range, since the two modes cover different levels of ability without needing two downloads. And it suits parents who would like a little letter exposure to happen alongside the drawing, without turning screen time into a lesson.

The app is less obviously aimed at anyone past the early elementary years. A seven- or eight-year-old will likely find the patterns too simple and the animations too young. Similarly, parents who want a completely free coloring app will find the content split between what is included and what requires a purchase, and households that avoid advertising in children's apps will want to factor that in. Neither is a flaw in the app so much as a description of what it is: a guided, animated coloring academy for the preschool and early elementary years, with a paid tier and ads attached.

The verdict on Drawing Academy

Drawing Academy does one thing well and does it for a clearly defined age group. The step-by-step tutorials, the color by number activities and the animated results form a coherent loop: a child follows a pattern, finishes a picture, and gets a small reward for it. The range of themes keeps it from wearing out quickly, and the tools give enough freedom that the guided structure does not feel rigid. With more than ten million installs and a 4.0 average from 16,584 ratings, it has clearly found an audience among parents of young children.

The caveats are straightforward. The free download is a partial version, with the rest of the content behind an in-app purchase, and advertising is part of the package. If you are comfortable with both, and you have a child between two and six who likes to draw, this is a reasonable addition to a tablet's home screen. If you want a coloring app for an older child, the fit is less clear, and the guided format will feel limiting before long.

For the audience it names, though, the combination of structure and animation is a sensible pairing. It gives a small child the satisfaction of a finished picture without demanding skills they do not have yet, and it gives a parent a screen activity that produces something worth looking at. That is a narrower promise than some drawing apps make, and it is one this one keeps.

What's new in version 5.5.7

Minor bugs have been fixed. Enjoy the smoother play! Got any ideas on how to make the app even better? We would be happy to hear from you at [email protected]. Think that we've done a great job? Rate us in the store!