If you buy one iPad app for your kids today, make it SquiggleFish. It’s a brilliant, creative idea that its developer Stripey Design should be thoroughly proud of.

It’s the latest example of an app that tries to get kids creating in the real world, not just on-screen. The idea: they draw a fish on a piece of paper using thick black pen for the outline, and then colour it in.

Then, they use the SquiggleFish app to scan the drawing using the iPad’s camera, and watch the fish come to life, swimming around the on-screen fishtank. “Encourage them to create fish of all shapes and sizes. Make them colourful, use different materials and watch in wonder at the results,” suggests its App Store listing.

I’ve been playing with it this morning (see above), and it’s marvellous fun. Stripey Design reckons it’s suitable for 3-7 year olds, and “ideal for collaborating in groups”. File it alongside the equally -excellent Drawnimal and Makego as examples of how real-world play and digital play can combine in creative ways.

SquiggleFish costs £1.49 on the App Store, and is iPad-only. Here’s a little video I shot this morning showing how it works: