Jellytoons Toddler Skills: Bobo's Birthday Challenge Review

Jellytoons Toddler Skills: Bobo's Birthday Challenge is a really fun app consisting of six mini games designed to develop specific skills among the toddler and preschool age children. I really like the mix of activities that support critical thinking and fine motor skills, as well as working on basic counting, colors, and shapes. A version of this app is also available for iPad as well.

Jellytoons Toddler Skills is an app that my three year old son is asking for a lot these days, calling it his “jelly” game. He really enjoys the fact that this app has a nice mix of narrative as well as multiple activities. As you see, today is Bobo’s birthday. Help his six party guests earn gifts to give Bobo on his special day. Choose one of Bobo’s friends with a tap, and complete his game to choose a prize which is kept in the prize room. My son has quickly learned what friend is associated with each game, and he has a lot of fun telling me their names as he chooses what game to play. Activities include things such as shape-matching as you help blow up balloons, toy sorting by color or shape and a ball and cup / three-card-monty-style game with a good difficulty level for kids is included. It is fun for me to see my son’s face as he tries to focus on the cup with the ball in it as it gets mixed back and forth between two other empty cups. Sometimes he gets it on the first try, sometimes not. It is nice that kids can play these games until they succeed, even if it takes them a few tries to do so.

My son quickly mastered the art of “tap and drag” a long time ago, but his fine motor skills are still being developed. He has some difficulty with game where he needs to drag a character who is balancing on a ball, circus style, down a “S” or similarly shaped path without going off the path. I am glad this game challenges him, as this means he is learning something new in an area in which he could use some help.

My boy really enjoys this app a lot, and I know he has a sense of accomplishment as he navigates through these games on his own, has a lot of fun choosing presents and seeing what is inside, and sometimes goes into the present-room to see all the gifts earned - represented by stickers, as these are saved throughout the different times he has played. He likes to moving these stickers around a bit as well. It is nice that this info is kept from one game to the next, but can be reset easily if one chooses. This app also tracks the child's progress through these games.

The look of this app is quite colorful, and I like how Bobo and his friends are amorphous, colorful blobs, each with his own name and gameplay. The world created here is equally colorful, fun and unique. This app both opens and closes with a short video clip explaining the story, a nice addition, but after my son had completed the six games, it would be good if he could bypass the video clips and continue playing instead of starting from the beginning introduction.

Do look at this developer’s related site as it gives more information on each character, as well enabling access to extras that one can print from their own computer. This is a great game to help with toddler and preschool skills in a way that will keep them engaged for a long time to come.