The Kidster Scholarship: Premium, free, for families who ask

If Premium is out of reach right now, you can have it. There is no means test, no proof to send and no form to fill in — you tell us a little about your family, and access is granted by hand.

What it is

Premium costs $2.99 a month or $17.99 a year. For some families that is a small thing and for others it is not, and which one it is has nothing to do with how much a child would get out of it. The Scholarship exists so that the second family does not have to decide. It is the same Premium — the twenty extra animals, numbers eleven to twenty, the Shape and Number quizzes, and the Realistic and Minimal picture styles — given for free.

How to ask

Four steps, all inside the app, and none of them ask for anything you would not tell a neighbour.

  1. Install Kidster and open it. It is free to download and you do not need an account — there is nothing to sign up for.

  2. Tap any locked card, or open the Parent Zone and choose Premium. You will be asked a small arithmetic question first; that gate is there so a toddler cannot reach a purchase screen on their own.

  3. On the Premium screen, tap “Can’t afford premium?” at the bottom. That link is the whole application process.

  4. Write a few lines about your family and send. The app opens your own email app with the message already started, so nothing is collected by us along the way — it arrives as an ordinary email from you.

What we can and cannot promise

This part matters more than the rest of the page, so it is not in small print.

  • It is granted by a person, not by software. Someone reads your email and turns Premium on. There is no automatic approval and no instant unlock.
  • It is not immediate. Replies take as long as they take, and that is usually days rather than minutes.
  • It depends on availability. Kidster is a small operation, and we would rather say this plainly than let you assume a guarantee that is not there.
  • The free version is yours regardless. Sixty-eight of the ninety-eight cards, both the Animal and Colour quizzes, every language, and the screen-time limit — with no daily cap and no adverts, whether you write to us or not.

Who it is for

Anyone for whom the price is the reason they are not subscribing. We do not ask for payslips, benefit letters or any other paperwork, and we are not going to weigh your circumstances against anyone else’s. If you are reading this and wondering whether your situation counts, it counts — write.

Why you have to ask from inside the app

Kidster has no accounts and no server. There is no profile of yours anywhere for us to attach anything to, which is the same design decision that means nothing your child does leaves their device. Premium is an entitlement on the copy of the app installed on your device, so the request has to start from that copy. This page cannot grant it, and a form here would only be a slower route to the same email.

Start with the free version

Install it, let your child use it, and see whether it earns a place first. The “Can’t afford premium?” link will still be there when you want it.

Get Kidster

If you are already using Kidster and would rather write directly, our support address is on the support page — but the in-app link is quicker, because it fills in the subject line for you. Support and FAQ

Accurate as of September 2026. Prices are billed by the App Store; Kidster is on iPhone and iPad, and the Android build is not yet on Google Play.