Touch toys for little hands
Toys
For grown-ups
fidgetkey is a box of toys to tap, swipe and drag on a touch screen, with sounds made right on the device. It is built for small children: no reading needed, big buttons, nothing to buy, nothing to sign up for, no ads and no chat.
What fidgetkey is
fidgetkey is a box of 14 free touch toys for children of about 3 to 10, made for iPads and phones: tap, drag and swipe, no reading needed. There are no ads, no accounts, nothing to buy and no outside links in the toys. Every sound is made on the device when a finger touches something, and nothing a child taps or paints is sent anywhere.
How to play
Tap a card to open a toy. Every toy has the same three big round buttons at the top: the house goes back to the toy box, the round arrow starts the toy again, and the speaker turns the sound off and on. The first time a toy opens, a hand and a few words show where to touch; after that, no words.
A good first go
For a first go with a small child, try the bubble wrap or the drum pads: every touch makes something happen. Older children often go for the finger paint, the slime and the kaleidoscope.
Good to know
These are toys, not lessons or treatments. They need a reasonably recent browser, and sound only starts after the first tap. On an iPhone or iPad in silent mode, use the "silent switch" setting under any toy. A grown-up should set the device volume before handing it over.
How the sounds are made, with the numbers: how the sounds work.
Last updated
Before you hand it over
- Privacy: no accounts, ads or cookies, and nothing a child plays or paints is sent anywhere. What this site collects, and what it never does.
- Sound: turn the device volume down before the first tap, then bring it up to a comfortable level. The round speaker button turns every sound off and on; the volume here starts a little above the middle, and on a phone or tablet speaker every toy sounds about equally loud (headphones bring out more of the deep sounds).
- Settings: volume, less motion, a break reminder and clearing what this site keeps on the device are in the settings just below, and under every toy.
- Leaving the site: the toys have no links to other websites. The only outside links are down here and in the footer, below the toy box.
Settings for grown-ups
Keeping a child in one toy
A web page can't stop a child from swiping home or switching apps, but the device itself can lock to one app:
- iPad and iPhone, Guided Access: in Settings, open Accessibility, then Guided Access, switch it on and set a passcode. Open a toy, triple-click the top button (or the side or Home button) and tap Start. To end it, triple-click again and enter the passcode. (Apple's Guided Access guide)
- Android, app pinning: in Settings, open Security (on some phones Security and privacy, then More security settings), turn on App pinning, and choose to ask for a PIN before unpinning. Open a toy, go to Overview (recent apps), tap the browser's icon at the top of its card and tap Pin. Pinning holds the whole browser, not one toy: the house button and the address bar still work, so stay nearby. (Google's app pinning guide)
- A shortcut on the home screen: in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen; in Chrome on Android, open the menu and choose Add to home screen. It is a quick way back to the toy box. It still needs a connection to open.
Every step, with which buttons of a toy to switch off and how to end a session: lock a tablet to one toy.
Desk toys for grown-ups
The three desk toys need a real keyboard, so they live outside the toy box: a mechanical keyboard simulator, a switch sound test and endless ASMR typing.
How the sounds are made
Every sound is calculated on the device when a finger touches something: short ringing tones and puffs of shaped noise, a little different each time. The recipe behind each toy, with the numbers, the volume rules and the sources, is on the how the sounds work page, along with notes on the keyboard switches used by the desk toys.