Apps Like Pinterest for Kids: Safer Ways to Find Creative Ideas

TL;DR

Pinterest is excellent at one thing: putting interesting ideas in front of you.

But it is not designed for younger children. Pinterest requires users to be at least 13, and for kids below that age, parents may want something that offers creative inspiration inside a more age-appropriate experience.

The best alternative depends on where your child gets inspired.

Some kids need a prompt: What should I make?

Some are inspired by other children: What did someone else do with this idea?

Others already know what they like and want to explore: Show me more drawing ideas, LEGO builds, crafts, or animals.

For kids who need inspiration and somewhere to turn it into something of their own, Taroo is our top pick. Kids can choose from a large library of creative quests across stories, drawing, music, speaking, and observation, take part in weekly challenges inspired by other kids' creations, and use AI as a co-creator to develop and improve their ideas.

Other good options include LEGO Play for kid-safe building inspiration, Scratch for projects made by other young creators, Crayola Create & Play for art-focused prompts, DIY.org for creative challenges, Zigazoo for peer inspiration, and YouTube Kids for exploring specific interests.

Short answer: what should kids use instead of Pinterest?

Start with the kind of inspiration your child needs.

The categories overlap. That is useful.

A child might discover a drawing idea through a Taroo quest, see how other kids approached the weekly challenge, then use AI feedback to take their own version further.

The goal is not simply to give kids more things to scroll through.

It is to shorten the distance between “that's cool” and “I made this.”

Why parents look for Pinterest alternatives for kids

Pinterest can be a wonderful creativity engine.

Search for “cardboard castle,” “dragon drawing,” or “Minecraft house,” and you can find hundreds of possible directions within seconds.

For adults, that freedom works well. We usually know why we opened Pinterest, what we are looking for, and roughly what we plan to do afterward.

Kids often need more structure.

A child can start by looking for a drawing idea and end up browsing bedroom designs, birthday cakes, costumes, crafts, and dozens of unrelated images without ever beginning the original drawing.

That does not make Pinterest bad. Discovery and serendipity are part of its appeal.

But there are two practical problems for younger children.

First, Pinterest is not intended for users under 13.

Second, finding inspiration is not the same as creating.

Children often benefit from a clearer starting point, a bounded set of possibilities, and something that helps them continue once the first idea arrives.

That is what the best Pinterest alternatives for kids should provide.

What to look for in a Pinterest alternative

1. Does it actually spark ideas?

A creative app should expose children to possibilities they may not have thought of themselves.

That could come from a challenge, another child's creation, a themed activity, or a library of interesting content.

2. Is discovery age-appropriate?

A child should not need to navigate an adult social platform just to find an idea for something to draw.

Look for moderated content, parental controls, age-appropriate interaction, and clear limits around social features.

3. Does inspiration lead to action?

This is the biggest one.

After ten minutes, did your child only see ideas?

Or did they begin drawing, building, writing, recording, designing, or experimenting?

4. Does the child still make the creative decisions?

Examples can inspire children, but they can also turn into copying.

The best creative experiences leave enough space for the child to decide:

What would mine look like?

What would I change?

What happens next?

Can I make this funnier, stranger, louder, or more interesting?

Best apps for prompt-led inspiration

These are best for the moment when a child wants to create but has no idea where to begin.

1. Taroo

Best for: Kids who want an idea and somewhere to take it

Taroo starts with a different assumption from Pinterest.

A child should not need to know what to search for before they can be creative.

Instead, kids can choose from a growing library of creative quests across drawing, storytelling, music, speaking, observation, and other forms of making.

One quest might ask them to imagine what is happening in an unusual picture. Another might start a story they need to continue. Another might ask them to create a rhythm, photograph something around them, invent a character, or respond to a drawing challenge.

The quest provides the spark.

The child decides what happens next.

AI then acts as a co-creator. It can react to what the child made, offer feedback, introduce another possibility, or help develop an idea without simply generating the whole finished answer.

That creates a useful loop:

Choose a challenge → make something → get a response → change it → keep creating

Taroo also adds a second source of inspiration through weekly challenges. Kids can work from a shared creative starting point and see the different directions other children take.

Seeing ten polished Pinterest images tells a child what something can look like.

Seeing ten kids respond differently to the same challenge teaches something else:

There is more than one good idea.

Why parents may like it:

• Kids do not need to formulate searches or prompts

• Inspiration covers multiple creative mediums

• The child moves quickly from browsing to making

• Weekly challenges introduce bounded peer inspiration

• AI can help kids iterate rather than simply produce an answer

• The experience is built around creation rather than an endless content feed

Possible downside:

Taroo is not designed for searching a huge visual archive. If your child specifically wants hundreds of reference photos of dinosaurs, hairstyles, bedrooms, or crafts, a discovery platform will provide more breadth.

2. Crayola Create & Play

Best for: Younger kids who want art-focused creative starting points

Crayola Create & Play gives children a broad collection of drawing, coloring, design, and STEAM activities.

Instead of opening an empty canvas and asking the child to invent everything, the app provides themes and activities such as pixel art, coloring pages, rocket crafting, shapes, and other creative tasks. Crayola says new activities and creative quests are added regularly, and the app is designed around age-appropriate creative development.

This makes it especially useful for younger children who enjoy art but often say, “I don't know what to draw.”

Why parents may like it:

• Strong focus on drawing and visual creativity

• Lots of built-in starting points

• Designed specifically for children

• Mixes creativity with simple STEAM activities

Possible downside:

The creative range is narrower than Taroo. It is strongest for visual art and younger children rather than storytelling, speaking, music, or broader creative expression.

3. DIY.org

Best for: Kids who like projects and making things

DIY.org is built around the idea that children learn through making. Its current platform includes creative challenges, tools for making games and digital projects, and a community where children can share what they create. DIY says its experience is designed for ages 5–15, with moderated communities, no ads, and parent controls.

For children who like a clear challenge and a project to complete, that can be much more actionable than scrolling through visual inspiration.

Why parents may like it:

• Project-based rather than purely consumptive

• Challenges provide clear starting points

• Children can make and share finished projects

• Designed around a younger audience

Possible downside:

Its current emphasis increasingly includes digital making and AI-assisted game creation, so it may not suit a child simply looking for casual drawing or craft inspiration.

Best apps for inspiration from other kids

Children do not only get ideas from adults, experts, or polished examples.

Sometimes the most motivating thing is seeing what another child imagined.

Peer inspiration can make creativity feel more attainable: Someone my age made that. What could I make?

It also needs more careful safety design because sharing creations introduces social features.

1. Taroo Weekly Challenges

Taroo's weekly challenges are designed around a bounded version of peer inspiration.

Children begin from the same creative challenge, make their own version, and can discover how differently other kids interpreted it.

The important part is the shared starting point.

If one challenge asks children to invent a strange character, one child might make a nervous alien, another a talking sandwich, and another a superhero pigeon.

The value is not finding the “best” answer.

It is seeing the range of possible answers and getting ideas for your own.

This complements Taroo's quest library well: quests provide prompt-led inspiration, while challenges provide peer-led inspiration.

2. LEGO Play

Best for: Kids inspired by other builders

LEGO Play is unusually close to a kid-friendly Pinterest experience within one specific creative interest.

Children can share photos of their LEGO creations, browse a social feed for inspiration, watch videos, and make digital creations. LEGO says posts, usernames, hashtags, and comments are moderated before appearing, children cannot directly message one another, and human faces are not allowed in shared photos.

For a child who already loves building, that creates a simple loop:

See a build → get an idea → build something → share it

Why parents may like it:

• Inspiration comes from other LEGO creators

• Community is built specifically around kids

• Posts and interactions are moderated

• No direct messaging

• Free to use

Possible downside:

It is obviously LEGO-specific. A child looking for stories, music, drawing, photography, or broader creative ideas will hit the boundaries quickly.

3. Scratch

Best for: Kids inspired by games, animations, and interactive projects

Scratch combines a creation tool with a huge community of projects made by other users.

Children can explore games, animations, stories, and experiments, then make or remix projects of their own. Scratch is primarily designed for ages 8–16 and is maintained by the MIT Media Lab's Lifelong Kindergarten group.

This makes it particularly powerful for kids who learn by seeing something interesting and wondering:

How did they make that?

Why parents may like it:

• Children can move directly from viewing to creating

• Strong for coding, games, and animation

• Projects provide concrete examples of what is possible

• Can grow significantly in complexity with the child

Possible downside:

Scratch is a public online community. Younger children need parent involvement, and its creative scope is primarily interactive digital projects rather than every kind of creative activity.

Best apps for exploring an interest

Sometimes a child does not need help deciding whether to create.

They already know exactly what they are interested in.

They want:

“Dragon drawing ideas.”

“Cool LEGO spaceships.”

“Things I can make with cardboard.”

“Easy piano songs.”

“Minecraft castles.”

That is where Pinterest's model is strongest: start with an interest and explore outward.

For younger kids, these alternatives can provide a more appropriate version of that behavior.

1. YouTube Kids

Best for: Broad interest-led discovery

YouTube Kids gives children access to a much broader range of topics than most dedicated creativity apps.

A child interested in drawing dinosaurs, simple crafts, music, science experiments, building, origami, or animation can find videos around that interest.

Parents can adjust content settings, disable search, block channels, set timers, or use an “Approved content only” mode where children can only access videos and collections chosen by the parent. YouTube itself notes that its filtering systems are not perfect, so parent judgment still matters.

Why parents may like it:

• Extremely broad range of interests

• Easy for kids to follow a curiosity

• Strong parental controls

• Useful for visual inspiration

Possible downside:

It is primarily a viewing platform. A child can easily spend the entire session consuming inspiration without creating anything afterward.

2. LEGO Play

Best for: Kids whose interest is building

LEGO Play also works well here because its discovery feed is focused.

Instead of searching the entire internet for building inspiration, kids explore LEGO creations, videos, and challenges inside an environment designed around one interest. LEGO describes the app as a place where children can explore a moderated social feed specifically to find inspiration for their next creation.

That narrowness is a limitation if your child has many interests.

But if the interest is LEGO, it is also the product's greatest advantage.

3. Crayola Create & Play

Best for: Kids whose interest is drawing, coloring, and visual art

For children who already know they want to make art, Crayola Create & Play provides a more bounded place to explore.

Kids can move between coloring, pixel art, drawing, themed creative activities, design, and simple STEAM experiences without navigating an open web search.

It does not have Pinterest's enormous variety.

For a six-year-old who mainly wants art ideas, that may be a feature rather than a problem.

So, what is the best Pinterest alternative for kids?

It depends on what happens immediately before your child says, “I'm bored.”

If they want to make something but do not know what, try Taroo, Crayola Create & Play, or DIY.org.

If they get excited by seeing what other kids made, try Taroo's Weekly Challenges, LEGO Play, Scratch, or Zigazoo.

If they already have a strong interest and want more ideas around it, YouTube Kids, LEGO Play, or Crayola Create & Play can work well.

But if you want one app that tries to connect the whole creative process — find an idea, make something, see other possibilities, get feedback, and keep improving — Taroo is the strongest fit for kids ages 6–10.

Pinterest is designed to help you discover things worth saving.

Taroo is designed to help a child discover something worth making.

A simple way to stop inspiration from becoming scrolling

Whatever app you choose, one small rule can change the experience:

Pick one idea before finding the next one.

A child does not need to recreate it exactly.

Ask:

• What would you change?

• Can you make your own version?

• What happens next?

• Can you combine this with another idea?

• What would make it sillier?

• Can you turn it into a story?

• Could you build it?

• What would its soundtrack sound like?

The goal is to teach children that inspiration is the beginning of creativity, not the activity itself.

A useful screen-time pattern is:

Discover → choose → create → share

rather than:

Discover → discover → discover → discover.

The takeaway

Pinterest is powerful because it makes possibilities visible.

But younger children do not necessarily need an infinite wall of possibilities.

Sometimes they need one interesting challenge.

Sometimes they need to see another child's idea.

Sometimes they need room to follow an interest they already love.

And once inspiration arrives, they need somewhere to take it.

The best creative apps for kids do not only answer:

“What could I make?”

They help children reach the much more satisfying sentence:

“Look what I made.”

Frequently asked questions

Is Pinterest safe for kids?

Pinterest requires users to be at least 13 years old, with higher minimum ages in some countries. It therefore is not intended as an account-based platform for younger children. Parents can still browse Pinterest themselves and use ideas together with a child.

What is the best Pinterest alternative for a 6-year-old?

For younger kids who need creative starting points, Taroo and Crayola Create & Play are strong choices. LEGO Play can work well for children interested in building. YouTube Kids can also provide interest-led inspiration when parents use its content and search controls.

What is the best Pinterest alternative for an 8-year-old?

Taroo, Scratch, LEGO Play, DIY.org, and YouTube Kids all offer different kinds of inspiration for an 8-year-old. Taroo is strongest for broader guided creativity, Scratch for games and animations, LEGO Play for building, and YouTube Kids for exploring specific interests.

What is the best app for kids to get creative ideas?

Taroo is a strong choice when the child wants ideas they can immediately act on. Its creative quests provide starting points across multiple mediums, while weekly challenges add inspiration from how other kids respond.

Is Taroo like Pinterest?

Not exactly. Pinterest is primarily a discovery platform. Taroo combines inspiration with creation. Children choose creative quests, make their own responses, use AI to develop and iterate on ideas, and can get inspiration from other kids through weekly challenges.

Are there kid-friendly apps where children can see other kids' creations?

Yes. LEGO Play offers a moderated feed of LEGO creations, Scratch lets children explore projects from its programming community, and Zigazoo centers on moderated kid-created video content. Taroo's weekly challenges provide a more bounded version where children see different responses to shared creative prompts.

Is YouTube Kids a good Pinterest alternative?

It can be useful for interest-led inspiration because children can explore drawing, crafts, building, music, and many other interests. It is still primarily a video-viewing platform, so parents may want to pair browsing with a rule that the child chooses something to make afterward. YouTube Kids provides search, content, blocking, and timer controls for parents.

How can I help my child use inspiration without simply copying?

Ask them to change one meaningful thing. Change the character, purpose, material, ending, color, environment, rule, or story behind the idea. The goal is not avoiding influence — all creators use references. The goal is getting the child to make choices of their own.