Dr Seuss’s The Cat and the Hat Color & Create Review

Dr Seuss’s The Cat and the Hat Color & Create is a new creative art app in partnership with the PBS kids' show, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! based on the Dr Seuss series of non-fiction titles from the Dr Seuss The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library.

Included in this application are two “packs” available: coloring books “Getting to Know You,” a collection of eight coloring pages starring the characters found in The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! series (including The Cat in the Hat, Sally and Nick) and “Show Me the Honey,” an eight page coloring book based on the titles of the same name.

A nice selection of colors is included within these coloring books, as is the choice to fill in these pages with either "paint bucket" mode, tapping segments to fill them in completely with color, as well using three paintbrush tips in varied sizes to emulate drawing with a crayon or painting with two sized paint brushes.

I enjoy drawing sound effects here when one draws or paints a line as well as the textures used within, creating a softer edge than one would expect when using a crayon, especially over the textured paper backgrounds - nice choices to be sure, as is the smoothness of the lines drawn, which is not always seen in apps such as this.

Some other functions are also included, such as two sicker packs - one of Dr. Seuss characters and a pack of Seussian animals that one can decorate pages with, shrinking or enlarging these stickers at will - always a welcome inclusion.

A pattern roller is also an option, giving users a chance to draw with a selection of colorful patterns, such as green grass, leopard spots, gears or flowers. It is nice that a tap will create single elements from the roller pattern, but it would also be interesting if this function in “paint bucket” mode, filling in sections with these patterns as well.

An erasure and an “undo“ button are included, as is the ability to save work as well as email to others, as well as saved within this app for later as well.

A “Magic Hat” mode is also available, offering special effects one can draw with which will flicker with animation in the areas one draws.

Another fun choice is the “confetti-majig” where one targets a confetti cannon with the tap or drag of a finger that will be shot with the cannon, decorating this area.

I also enjoy the thoughtful inclusion of how one can get a narrated tour of this app with the tap of a question mark - a nice way to familiarize this app to children, but it would be great to be able to turn off the narration that asks one to “choose a color” or the like if the user pauses for a moment as the chatter may also become a distraction at times for some.

I am not, however, a huge fan of the link to the other coloring and activity packs available, as these extras are within easy access of children, complete with links to in-app purchases.

Although this section does request that children “ask a grownup for help,” I would be more comfortable if the app had a simple “for parents” button to press that would keep these extra coloring books away from the wandering eyes of children.

This is especially the case as I find the current price of this app rather expensive to also include advertising for in-app purchases. It is also worth noting that these packs included within this app are solely coloring books, without the other “activities” one may think of when it comes to activity books such as Connect-the-Dots or hidden-object puzzles, although there are a few coloring modes such as the “confetti-majig” which are interesting and may occupy children quite nicely.

One pack of mazes is included for purchase, so it would helpful nice to include a maze or two to test before one makes a purchase as well as some sort of sneak peak at what the other packs have to offer.

Having said this, children may really enjoy coloring in pages of Seussian illustrations, unique sticker choices and the unique coloring modes are fun. I do wish children were shielded from the in-app purchases, especially in an app which was paid for.