Bo’s Dinnertime Review

Bo’s Dinnertime in a cute and fun interactive universal app that teaches the sequencing of events that lead up to dinnertime, such as food shopping, putting away groceries, cooking and setting the table, as well as eating dinner and cleaning up afterwards. A simple and sweet song is also included, as is a section dedicated to selecting and eating foods with the tap of a finger. Narration is included, leading children though varied food related exercises, complete with subtle highlighting of new objects to tap or interact with, keeping the flow of this app going nicely.

Recently I found my husband and son lounging with the iPad during a lazy morning this summer. My son was really enjoying Bo’s Dinnertime, an application that he discovered on our iPad himself and drawn to it, I am sure, by the promise of bright colors and a giraffe as seen in this app’s icon image.

My husband was impressed with my son’s ability to open this new app and become instantly engaged, intuitively following along with the narrator who prompts players to help Bo the giraffe with dinner-related chores, such as tilting the iPad to catch falling ingredients that Bo will cook with later.

I should note that until now, my boy has never been very good at tilt games, but the foods fall slowly enough for preschoolers to react, and if a food drops on the floor, children can try again without this error being pointed out with a buzzer of some sort, making this game truly kid-friendly. It is worth noting, however, that children need to wait until after the narrator is finished to start interacting with this app, not an issue for my son, but toddlers and early preschool kids may have trouble waiting until the cues are over for a chance to explore.

Puzzle elements are included as Bo also needs help putting away his groceries in a cupboard that includes many cut-outs of possible ingredients. It is nice that one can tap any of these cut-outs to hear the foods that would fill up these empty spaces, becoming familiar with different foods. Later within this game, one needs to repair the tablecloth in the form of a puzzle, as well as setting the table using a subtle gray outline to lay out the silverware in the correct places.

Possibly my son’s favorite sections are the cooking and eating of the dinner foods as well as serving ice cream, but my boy was disappointed that he was not able to eat the ice cream with taps from a finger the way he was able to with the dinner he had prepared.

There is also a moment reminding children to wash their hands as a sink in the kitchen turns on and running water is seen. I would love a close-up of this detail, allowing children to run their hands under running water, simulating a real washing situation.

It is, however, nice to see that the cleaning up of the table and dishes is also included - chores any parent would like to see their children familiarize themselves with.

Bo’s Dinnertime would be a great app for toddlers and up - brightly colored, simply stylized and including lovely upbeat music.

It is worth noting that one can move puzzle pieces around the area being worked on, be it putting away the groceries or mending the tablecloth without the use of any “grab” from this app, as if the pieces of these puzzles are magnetized to their correct spot - a detail I typically enjoy yet do not miss within these simple puzzles which allow children to problem-solve at their own pace. This app does, however, include a satisfying conclusion to each piece being placed correctly - a very important detail that I am glad is included within this application.

Toddlers will also enjoy the basic use of numbers and colors also touched upon here, adding more educational content to this charming application.

One can also spend time with the other sections of this app, feeding cute characters Tommie or Lulu an assortment of foods that one can simply scroll through, selecting and then eating with a tap and also taking photos of the food combinations that children create.

It may interest readers to know that my son played this app straight through six times in one sitting as well as coming back for more Bo’s Dinnertime later the same day. I am sure that the randomness of the ingredients chosen to cook dinner with as well as ice cream flavors one feeds or simply selects for Bo have a lot to do with my son’s replay of this application - nice touches to be sure. My son would, however, love to also feed Bo the ice cream he has prepared for her - just a thought for a future update.