Apps for kids to design their own characters

Creating your own eye-blinking, shoulder-shrugging digital character can be a heady experience for kids. Here are two apps found in iTunes that make the process simple.

Toca Mini

Toca Boca AB, best for ages 5-10, $2.99, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Rating: 4 stars (out of 4)

Known for creating brilliant digital toy sets, Toca Boca has hit a homerun with this app.

When kids open "Toca Mini," they see a white three-dimensional character with no facial details. Touching the Mini's face pops open a tool kit that lets you drag-and-drop animated eyes, mouths, noses and eyebrows onto the face. Eyes blink, mouths smile, eyebrows wiggle and noses sneeze. You can also decide the skin or clothing colors, and paint by simply running a finger over an area. Placing stickers on your Mini is also an option.

The design process is simple enough for young kids to explore, but sophisticated enough that older kids can create superbly detailed characters, such as humans, skeletons, cats or aliens. If you can imagine it, the app provides you with the tools to create it.

Your Mini lives in a box, and you can decide which backdrop best shows off its features. As you work, spinning it around on its axis, the Mini poses, laughs, waves, sighs and even tries to scare you. Kids can use the onscreen camera button to snap a memorial photo. When players want to create a new Mini, the old one is boxed up and sent on its way. Unfortunately, once it is gone, it can't be recalled, but its photo can be shared with others.

While fleeting, this creative experience is a delight to explore. As kids engage their imaginations to design characters, they also learn to be self-aware as they fashion Minis that are similar to or different from themselves.

Paint & Play with the Bean Bag Kids

Mundomono, best for ages 6-8, $.99, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Rating: 3.5 stars

This app opens with a blinking-eyed white bean bag doll staring out at you. Kids can swap out the animated eyes for ones with glasses or just one big eye. Buttons at the top provide you with a painting program with different-sized brushes and the ability to paint with patterns. As you decorate your bean bag kid, it looks around at what you are doing and moves in cute ways, such as swinging its foot.

For kids who don't want to create their own, there are over a dozen pre-painted Bean Bag Kids. There are tigers, aliens, dogs and more. The character you design or select is available for playing mini-games, including running from a crabby paint cloud and dodging paint blobs shot from a cannon..

Your bean bag kid is easy to rotate so that you can color it on all sides. Unlike "Toca Mini," your creation stays with you. If you want to start anew, simply choose the paint bucket option and splash white paint over your creation. The app periodically takes photos of your character, but sharing privileges are protected by a parent gate.

This app provides simple character creation and a wacky play environment. But these characters aren't quite as expressive as the ones created using "Toca Mini."

Jinny Gudmundsen is the author of the new book: iPad Apps for Kids, part of the For Dummies series. Contact her at techcomments@usatoday.com. Follow her @JinnyGudmundsen.