Kids Iphone App Review
Our kids test them, we review them!

Choo Choo Time! is one of those apps your young child will not be able to put down! Simply a train running through the countryside — it captures attention like no other. Check out the video for the gameplay. This is a fun app for the very young to perhaps 5. Kaylin liked watching the train and clicking on the animals to see what they would say. It captures the attention and is somewhat mesmerizing…

Fun – 5
Attention – 5
Learning – 1
Total = 11

I have had the review of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by OneApp Application Studio for sometime. It was one of those apps that I was sure my 3 year old could like if she had enough time to learn about it — I was right! It took some time, but Kaylin really likes the app and sings along. She still cannot follow the keys when the music is playing, but that just gives her some time to spend with the app in a few months or a year.

This app is also nice to place in the room when your child is going to sleep. Just turn it down and let it play!

I give it a 4 for fun, a 3 for Learning, and a 5 for attention for a total of 12. I think the score could go up if she could actually learn to play the song, but as you can see in the video, she is more concerned with signing and banging on the keys.

Intro to Letters is a great app for kids to learn how to pronounce (or is it enunciate?) letters. It also allows them to trace the letters to learn to write them. It features a great voice and very intuitive interface. At times the arrows are hard to follow for my 3 year old when she is tracing, but she usually figures it out. She has spent a lot of time in the app having fun and learning. Kaylin already knows the alphabet, but you can see in the video there is always room for improvement when it comes to saying and writing the letters!

Great app!
Fun – 4
Learning – 5
Attention – 4
Total = 13/15
Ages 3,4,5

My 3 year old really like to spell and letters in general. She has really taken a liking to First Words Animals by Learning Touch. It is a simple game where the scrabble like letters are scrambled at the bottom of the screen and the animal is shown at the top. If you touch the animal a voice tells you what the animal is. You can then grab the letters to match them up to the word – scrabble like.

It may seem simple, but this game is really well done. Not only are there a lot of animals and the potential for many more with updates from the developer, but also the way the letters are pronounced and repeated along with each word is fantastic as a reinforcement for learning.

This game is suited for ages 2- 5. I give it an attention of 4, fun of 4 and learning of 5 for a total of 13.

Picking up this game is a must!

iMoo (itunes link) from Panda Cub Productions is a nice remake of those little sound apps you used to see in the stores like KB Toys. You would pick them up as a kids and tip them over just to hear the sound they made. Well Panda Cub Productions has created a nice app for just that.

You can see in the video that you have the option of a several Cow sounds and you can record your own. You actually do need to tip the app to get the moo to play – just like the real thing.

My 3 year old was disinterested in the app, but my 9 year old thought it was a blast and was rolling on the floor laughing. It is a nice party gag too. Fun in meetings or on a phone call with the boss perhaps?

This is for any age range, educational value is nil and time spent on the app is simply minutes, but it is worth the price in my opinion!

Fun!

Sound Shaker by Tickle Tap Apps is a fun and appealing app for young kids. On the screen your child can choose an instrument then press the screen to make a sound ball of that instrument. Only one instrument at a time. Adding many balls of sound lets the iPhone have something to work with. The balls drop to the “bottom” and the fun begins. You shake the iPhone to get the balls to make noise!

You can fling the balls and press for a longer period of time to make a slightly different sound too, but the fun is in the flinging and shaking.

Did my 2 1/2 year old like it? Yep. It took a bit longer to get the hang of and the interest wasn’t there as quickly as the other app from Tickle Tap Apps that we have reviewed, but this is still a nice addition to their line.

What does she want next? My 8 year old wanted to record her own voice and also enjoyed the app for a while. It is one of those fun apps that adults and kids can enjoy for a period of time.

Here is how I rank it:
Learning: 2/5
Fun: 5/5
Attention Capture: 3/5

Total: 10/15.
**Updated 11/20/2009**
Here is how I rank it:
Learning: 2/5
Fun: 5/5
Attention Capture: 5/5

Total: 12/15.

I had to update the scores since over the past week my daughter has really grown to love this app. She has discovered that if you hold down on the screen the sounds turn to an egg and hatch a bird. She loves it.
** end update **
Age: 5 and under (as recommended by the publisher: 3-5)

Publisher is: Tickle Tap Apps
iTunes Link is here: Sound Shaker

Video:

Count Caddy from Tickle Tap Apps is an app that simply allows your kid to drag items from one side of the device to the other. The counting starts by ones and then progresses through twos etc. It is a visually appealing app with great use of sounds.

Did my 2 1/2 year old like it? Yep! She loved it. She was quick to learn how to swipe her finger — this took a minute to learn. The sounds kept her interested and it was really reinforcing the counting exercises we do outside the application. She wanted to play with it well into the 5+ minute mark and obviously she was having fun (see the video). She was learning hand eye coordination at a really detailed level at least those couple of fingers

It is worth the $? Yes it is. In the app store it is a few bucks and well worth the money.

Here is how I rank it:
Learning: 5/5
Fun: 4/5
Attention Capture: 4/5

Not too bad at 13/15.

Age: 5 and under (as recommended by the publisher: 3-5)

Video: