Children inspire us, help us grow, and sometimes drive us crazy

. But they can also help us come up with the best ideas for successful mobile apps. If you have children, nieces or nephews, cousins, or other kids in your life, you’ve probably noticed that they are brimming with unique ideas all the time. Some of these can be completely off the wall (“I want an app that will make me a milkshake whenever I want one!”) but with a little fine tuning, their crazy suggestions may actually make a great game or marketing tool.

Next time you’re around younger children, sit down and ask them what the coolest game or app they can think of is. Chances are you’ll start a stream of ideas that will be not only enthusiastic and excited but also very useful. Your young friends will be giving you insight into what children – some of the biggest consumers of iPad and iPhone apps – really want to see on their devices, and you can take their ideas and make them feasible for the real world.

Companies that target children or parents will pay top dollar for an idea that they think will really connect with the youth market. Consider how useful a brand-oriented game that children love would be for a company like Sketchers or Toys ‘R Us! When you’ve got a few big ideas, you’ll need to fine tune and hone them into well-developed pitches that bring value or income to a potential licensee company.

To add value to a children’s app, think of how branding, marketing, or shopping can be incorporated into a fun game or tool. Actually charging money for the app is a possibility, but it may not always be the best idea – after all, companies will want as many children as possible to be using their app, and free apps go viral faster than paid ones. Instead, think about incorporating a company’s products into a fun game to add marketing or consumer awareness value. For example, you could create a sports-based game that uses a famous brand like Nike or Wilson for each of the in-game items.

If you can take the imagination of children and make it realistic, and you’ll find that you have a very strong potential app idea. This holds true for children of all ages – today, kids start using apps at a very young age and continues through adolescence and their teenage years. Just be sure to match the app with the intended customer age level!