A parent's dream come true: Google has released a new app that will entertain the kids for hours.

Kids love telling stories. They make little families. Teach imaginary school classes. Build empires. Rule their world with their imaginary friends. They slay drags. Rescue princesses. Come up with fibs to get their brother into trouble instead of themselves.

Now, they can bring their stories to cartoon-animated life.

A brand new storytelling app from Google, Toontastic 3D, means kids will be able to draw, animate and narrate their own 3D cartoons. And the best part is, it’s free.

It’s available from today, Friday 13 January, and is designed for both classrooms and home.

To create a cartoon, kids draw their characters onscreen. They record their own voice to narrate the story. And they move their characters around onscreen to bring the animation to life.

The end result could be anything, from an interstellar adventure to a breaking news report.

"It’s like a digital puppet theatre… but with enormous interactive 3D worlds, dozens of customisable characters, 3D drawing tools, and an idea lab with sample stories to inspire new creations," a press release said." Toontastic 3D enables kids to build whatever they like—including book or science reports for school, design pitches, short stories and cartoons."

Toontastic 3D is inspired by the creative storytelling tool Toontastic, which was acquired by Google in 2015.

"We hope the app will empower kids to imagine, invent and explore while developing skills for the creative jobs of tomorrow," the press release continued. "Whether they dream of becoming a filmmaker, a teacher, a designer, a cartoonist, or just want to explore the boundaries of their imaginations."

It's available for download on both Android and iOS.