The Best Android Apps for 3 Year Olds (5 free apps for learning and fun)

Summary: The best free app for 3 year olds is PBS Kids Play app. 

The best free learning apps for 3 year olds are Duolingo, ABC and Starfall.

It’s difficult to find apps for three year olds. Discovering the sweet spot between interesting and too complex, having easy, and intuitive controls, and so many other choices becomes overwhelming. 

I prefer to give my three year old apps with no ads, and ideally they are free, and work offline.

Keep reading for my top 5 picks!

PBS Kids Games – the best free Android app for toddlers

• Price: Free
• Ads: No
• Does it require an internet connection? No*
• Recommended ages: Up to 8
• What I like:
  • Hundreds of games
  • Easy to navigate 
• What I don’t like:
  • Some games are too challenging for a 3 year old. 
  • It uses a lot of data
  • Doesn’t save game progress
• My 3 year old’s review: I call it Daniel. 

PBS Kids Games has hundreds of fun and educational games including ones with Daniel Tiger, The Wild Kratts, Pinkalicious, and more.

Some of my daughter’s favorites are 

• Molly of Denali- sled dog adventures, learning about preserving and storing food
• Peg and Cat- a pizza game with counting and fractions, building a “toy machine”
• Fidget Power- building renewable energy sources to power buildings 

It’s easy for kids to navigate the app. They click on their favorite characters on the right side, and then it brings up all the games related to that show.

Plus, there’s a “game of the day” to help kids find games they might have never thought to try.

Overall, the navigation and actions work well, even for a three year old.

Most games are relatively short, from a few minutes, to maybe 30 minutes for some of the more complex ones for older kids. The downside is that your progress isn’t saved between sessions.

While the PBS Kids Games app works offline, fewer games are available when you aren’t connected to the internet. 

Plus, this app uses tons of data. Be sure to use an unlimited data plan or wifi.

Overall, the variety of games, fun characters, and ease of use make this the best app for three year olds! Not to mention that it’s free!

Related post: The best infant learning apps for Android

Duolingo ABC – The best learn to read app for three year olds 

• Price: Free
• Ads? No
• Does it require an internet connection? No
• Recommended ages: Up to 8
• What I like:
  • Has a variety of activities to keep children engaged
  • Free printables
• What I don’t like:
  • Some of the speech is a tiny bit “robotic”
  • Can only be played in portrait mode
• My 3 year old’s review: I like what this game talks to me during the stories. But I don’t like the snack museum when Fofo eats all the food.

Duolingo, the same company that makes the popular language learning app, also has a free app called Duolingo ABC that teaches kids to read and write.

It’s free, ad-free, and Duolingo sends me emails with printables for my daughter!

She enjoys the short, age appropriate stories and activities. So far, they include letter recognition, rhyming, and questions about the stories in the game.

Related post: Melissa and Doug Kitchen Set Review – a great toy for 3 year olds

Starfall – the best learning app for 3 year olds

• Price: Free ($30 per year for full access)
• Ads? No
• Does it require an internet connection? Yes
• Recommended ages: 3-11
• What I like:
  • Excellent privacy policy
  • Used by teachers
  • Games are untimed
• What I don’t like: requires an internet connection 
• My 3-year -old’s review: Yes! I like all the games like summer. And the train. But I don’t like the book about the train because I don’t like when the engine says no. 

At Starfall, children have fun while they learn

Starfall is a nonprofit organization that began in 2002 to develop a free program to teach young children to read. Now, 20 years later, they have an app available for iOS and Android that teaches reading,  math.

They’ve kept to their core mission, their app is free of ads and they have an excellent privacy policy.

Starfall does not collect personal information from children or track children’s progress. Children do not provide personal information to access and use our services. The Starfall websites and apps directed toward children operate in accordance with COPPA and FERPA. Starfall does not display any advertising to children.

Unfortunately, this game requires an internet connection to play.

Many features of the app are available for free. Or for $30 per year, your child can have full access to the app.

You can also access the activities on a computer at starfall.com.

Some of the activities my daughter enjoys include: letter tracing and recognition, coins, counting, songs, calendars with months and days of the week, shapes, colors, and building and choosing your own avatar, pet, and room.

Related post: Latch Boards for Toddlers

Crayola Scribble Scrubbie Pets – the best free app for 3 year olds

• Price: Free 
• Ads? No, but has product videos and tells children about their other apps, which aren’t free
• Does it require an internet connection? No
• Recommended ages: Up to 8
• What I like:
  • Easy, fun, lots of replay value
• What I don’t like:
  • App has links to paid apps in the app store
  • App has commercials for their products 
• My 3 year old’s review: I call this game merfun pets. Cuz it’s so fun!

Not every app needs to be educational. I chose Crayola Scribble Scrubbie Pets because it can be played offline, and doesn’t have ads.

Kids color, feed, wash, and play with various critters, ranging from cats and dogs to rabbits, unicorns, dinosaurs, birds, and more.

They can take care of each pet individually and there are no timers or time limits. The app also includes several different minigames (some of which do have timers).

This game where you splatter paint everywhere is pretty amazing 

Most actions within the game fill up the progress bar at the top of the screen. Each time it’s filled, the child receives a new pet and more activities open up, making it accessible and easy to understand. All of the game’s content is accessible without any purchases.

This game does have some “covert” advertising. If a child has a real Crayola Scribble Scrubbie pet, the parent can automatically unlock it within the app. There’s also a “movie theater” that basically shows tv commercials for the toys. 

And worst of all, there’s some link in the app that takes the child to the Google Play Store and recommends that they download thr “Crayola Create and Play” app. The Create and Play app is free but the free access runs out after a few days. I have spent a lot of time explaining to my daughter why we aren’t buying that app

…

Overall, my daughter tends to play this app after she’s played a learning app for a while to give her little brain a break! 

Sesame Street Cookie Calls

• Price: Free (more features available in paid version) 
• Ads? No
• Does it require an internet connection? No
• Recommended ages: 
• What I like: simple, quick, and fun
• What I don’t like: only 6 different calls available in the free version
• My 3 year old’s review: No, no, no! Cookie Monster is too scary for me!

Have a video call with Cookie Monster! The interface doesn’t get much simpler than the four intuitive buttons!

Accept your call from Cookie and you’ll see your face and Cookie’s, just like a regular video call.

I suspect kids who enjoy video calls more than my daughter will like this app!

The free version comes with 6 different calls from Cookie Monster. For $5.99, you can unlock all 35 different video calls. Or purchase 4-5 at a time for $0.99.

For an additional $0.99, you can schedule the calls so that Cookie will call your child and remind them to get dressed, brush their teeth, or take a nap at the times you choose.

Explore Daniel’s Neighborhood

• Price: $2.99
• Ads? No
• Does it require an internet connection? No
• Recommended ages: Up to 5
• What I like: No ads, intuitive, lots to do and replay 
• What I don’t like: Nothing so far!
• My 3 year old’s review: I like ALL OF IT! I like to drag the tigers and the food around. 

Explore the Neighborhood of Make Believe in the best Daniel Tiger app for 3 year olds! Visit Baker Aker’s bakery, Doctor Anna’s office, the grocery store, Enchanted Garden, school, and more.

Each scene has a cute minigame. And the child can move the characters and items around each scene.

Definitely a fun and engaging app for three year olds who love Daniel Tiger!

Daniel Tiger’s Stop & Go Potty

• Price: $2.99
• Ads? No
• Does it require an internet connection? No
• Recommended ages: Up to 5
• What I like: Short and simple to use
• What I don’t like: just a minor quibble, but the block building physics are pretty unrealistic. 
• My 3 year old’s review: I kind of like it but not really. It’s fun about the kids playing. But when they go potty it’s not fun.

Any parent whose kid watches Daniel Tiger knows the classic song

If you have to go potty, stop and go right away. Flush and wash and be on your way!

In Stop & Go Potty, kids play blocks and other games with Daniel and Katerina. Then, when it’s time, they go to the bathroom. Kids help them with remembering to wipe, flush, and wash their hands. Then they go back to playing.

Molly from Denali – worth downloading

I don’t have any problems with this app, but the PBS Kids Games app has the same activities. 

This app does have a few additional activities, more interactive stuff as well as progression, but my three year old would rather have more games in the PBS Kids app.

Gabby’s Dollhouse – Fun for a few hours of play

The Google Play store has been recommending the Gabby’s Dollhouse app for my daughter. She loves the show! But after I downloaded it, it only amused my 3 year old for a few hours.

Related post: Looking for more toys to spark your little one’s imagination? Here are our favorite awesome baby doll accessories for your toddler!

Busy Shapes and Colors – Good for younger kids

• Price: free, $2.99 for full version
• Ads: None
• Does it require an internet connection? No

I thought this app looked fun! But my three and a half year old gets bored with the basic shape sorting. They also have color sorting. 

Beck and Bo – has potential 

This app looks good but we haven’t tried it yet. 

Sago Kids World Mini Game – Looks good but pricey

Has great reviews but requires a subscription for $6.99 per month after the free 7 day trial! A little pricey in my book

Animal Jam – No go

Unfortunately, this app allows kids to join online communities, and that’s way too young for this age!

Hippo Kids Monster Truck – Blatantly tells kids to ask parents for money

Blatantly and directly tells kids “If you want to race with this monster truck, ask your parents to pay for the full version of this game!”

Other apps to try for three year olds

I only install new apps when my daughter gets bored of the ones she has. I have these ones on my list to check out next.

• Toca Boca
• Fisher Price Puppy
• Thomas and Friends
• Play Doh
• Sesame Street The Big Moving Adventure 
• Hello Kitty Nail Salon
• Molly of Denali: Learn About Nature and Community

Based on my experience so far, PBS apps seem like pretty good options, though some aren’t free.

What device does your 3 year old use?

We use the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite 8 (click to view on Amazon).

My main criteria were that it wasn’t too big, and that it was fairly inexpensive in case it got broken.

My daughter is pretty gentle, but we use the BMOUO Kids Case. It’s held up pretty well over 6 months so far. 

Wrap up- The best Android apps for 3 year olds

As far as the best app for 3 year olds, I recommend PBS Kids Games.

For the best learning app for 3 year olds, Duolingo and Starfall are great options that will grow with your child.

These three apps are free, so feel free to try them out before downloading them for your child.