Zoola Review

Zoola is a lovely and sweet application which teaches about animals, the noises they make and the members of their immediate family. This universal app would make a nice first app for babies, while keeping the interest of toddlers and preschoolers as well.

I like that this app has a lot of animals to choose, the animals being sectioned into four groups such as Farm, Safari, Forest, and Water. Each page consists of 12 animals to choose from, all waiting to be tapped by a finger. After choosing an animal, the player is brought to the next page where extremely well-shot photos of the animal take up most of the page. One can either tap a “dad,” “mom,” or “baby” button at the bottom of the screen or scroll through the pictures to see and hear the various differences between family members, which are sometimes dramatic and a very good learning experience. In the top left, one can also tap to hear the name of the animal narrated, a nice touch. I especially like tapping the “heart” button on the bottom right of the screen. Here, the image is of the family members loving each other, many of the time being the mom and dad animals or a baby with a parent, but sometimes other interactions are included such as a photo of a girl hugging a dog. I really appreciate the music choices that go along with the loving photos, much of them being recognizable songs like the theme from the opera “Carmen” or “Swan Lake.” I would really appreciate the music being given credit here as it did drive me a little crazy not being able to place some of the music off the top of my head and I am a firm believer that music should be given the credit that it is due.

I did have a few confused moments with the grouping of some of the animals. Here, peacocks are considered farm animals, eagles live in the safari, and tigers, flamingoes and pandas live as forest dwellers, much to the confusion of children, I am sure. I really like the addition of these animals but the lack of accuracy in terms of habitats is a little odd. Other than that, this app could be an easy favorite of babies and toddlers as well as enjoyed by older kids.