I actually had to get a refund from Apple for an in-app purchase my son made while using Talking Tom Cat (I since deleted that app and turned off in-app purchases). I've got two kids and what I would add to the observations listed in this article are as follows (these apply to any app that is intended for kids, but also apps where a significant section of the userbase might be kids - for example, my four-year-old is…
good points, #2 may be difficult for certain uses, since it's the system that displays the pop-up notification for push notification. But I agree it should be removed if possible. #6 can be done with how multitouch is handled, like the wrist guard feature in note taking apps like penultimate. In most cases, just allow multitouch interactions with objects on screen. #7, question for parents: what's the monetization po…
Just make a paid app - it's that simple. I won't hesitate to put down 99 cents, or $1.99, or $2.99, for an app that my child will get enjoyment out of, especially if it has some learning value.
Speaking of learning value, I think a more sophisticated approach to learning would be useful. For example, the standard approach is to make the game involve numbers or letters, but I find my child gets bored with these. But he's fascinated with strategy games, so a tower defense game built for kids would be perfect for him. He'll just play it for fun but he'll be learning how to strategize, how to plan, how to react to changing situations, how to choose between different options, etc.