Category: Matching »

Fruit Memory HD is, in my opinion, one of the nicest Memory-type games available on the app store, and is one that my daughters and I have a ton of fun with on a regular basis.

The thing that first caught my eye with Fruit Memory was its very clean and attractive art style that really stands out on the app store in comparison to other apps of its type. That, plus, it was all of a dollar. And because of the price, I didn't have huge expectations as all I wanted was a simple, attractive memory game. But once I loaded it up and started playing it with my daughters, I realized very quickly that every now and then a dollar provides a lot more than a dollar's worth of fun and entertainment.

When you start up Fruit Memory you're presented with an selection page that contains quite a few options, but is incredibly easy to navigate. The game can start with as few as 12 cards or as many as 40, scaling the cards in size to accommodate.

The next option allows for the selection of players. You can play on your own and keep a local leader board of how long it took to complete as well as how many moves it takes. There are separate entries for 12, 28 and 40 cards, and there are unique fruits to be found even at the 40 card level.

Once you start everything up, you get to pick your character, avatar, however you want to describe it. There are 16 options and, wouldn't you know it my twins always argue about which character they want to pick. The character designs don't seem like they make much of an impact, but they really do. The faces are made up of various internet emoticons (>.<, o.O, ^_^, T_T) and so on. Very, very cute.

The options make it really easy for even younger children who are not able to read to start up the game. The buttons are large, and very clearly marked, making it very easy for even a 2 year old to set up a game.

After you're done and you jump into the game, the layout is, simply, perfect. Each person has a tab at the bottom of the screen showing their avatar and their score. If you get a match in a turn, you can go again, otherwise it moves to the next player. It's designed nicely for a tabletop mode, and when you have 4 players it becomes 2 on 2, just great for families. One thing that I absolutely love is that each time you guess right, your avatar jumps up and down in happiness. Again, it's a simple touch, but it adds to the attractiveness of the app.

The card backs are, as the title suggests, fruits. The shapes are easy to recognize and differentiate and are very colorful. There will be no issues if your child is color-blind, either, as there is no repetition based on fruit color.

I've had my hands on quite a few other memory apps, some that are much more expensive or much fancier, just out of curiosity to see if they improve upon Fruit Memory and, at this point, I've yet to find one that I would pick in its place. The clean, simple and very visually pleasing aesthetic of the app combined with the attractive sound effects and adorable "characters" is something that is a huge hit with my whole family and, without a doubt, will be for yours too. Heck, it's a buck! You can't go wrong!

AnimalBlocks is a very nice letters and spelling app for iPad in which kids copy and drag letters into empty stencil boxes that show the correct letters in question, making up various words. This is a fairly common application design for this type of spelling game, but this app adds a unique physics aspect to the gameplay, making it stand out in the sea of “fill in-the-box” letters, phonics, and spelling applications.

I really like the look of this app, as the player can choose from many backgrounds that range from a blue sky with clouds or a sunset, to many wonderful illustrated choices with whimsical animals illustrated with bold colors and a lovely style all their own. The blocks themselves are either wood tone to better see the letters or animal blocks, which are also illustrated each with a cute and cleverly stylized animal.

It is nice how the player has many options to individualize the game play, as one can start directly dragging and dropping the blocks into the correct boxes or begin the game by selecting blocks from the row of letters choices, increasing the level of letter recognition to this app. There are buttons to scatter the blocks across the screen complete with a very satisfying sound, as well as to remove the blocks altogether, giving the player a chance to collect boxes needed from the row of letters again. Be sure to check your iPad’s settings for further options, including word lengths and US English vs. UK English and the use of magnetic blocks which cling together as if they were drawn to each other. Players also have control over the amount of "table friction" is used here, interesting because too little or too much can make for more challenging gameplay, creating a real workout for fine motor skills. I have not found what the function “Auto create blocks for new words” is, and I hope information about this choice is added soon to the info section of this application.

Although these letters do not fall to the bottom of the screen if one tips the iPad as if gravity were in control, have fun dragging or flicking these blocks into each other. If the magnetism is turned on, you may need two finger to separate blocks stuck together, a nice touch.

Nearly one thousand words are included, with subjects such as sight words, animals, or fruits. Parents will want to work with this app together with their children because these words are not narrated or demonstrated by pictures in any way, so unless the word is read out loud, pre-readers are simply copying letters aimlessly without any understanding of the words presented. This may still be helpful for letter recognition skills, but not at education as it could be if the player does not yet know how to read. It may be helpful if in the future, the letter names or even the phonic sounds could be added and announced when tapped, as well as the word name be narrated when tapped as well. It would also be helpful if there were an option to select a specific theme if one chooses. As of now, these words are random, but simple color words like "red" may be a better match over longer sight words such as “because” for the youngest players. It would also be nice to include a mode where the letter boxes need to be filled in first to last letter the way these words are commonly spelled.

Even with its limitations of no narration, the look of this app will certainly please adults a well as children, with its fun and quirky animal illustrations, as will the great use of physics and magnetic blocks, keeping this game very tactile and great for fine motor skills as well as for basic letter-matching and intro to spelling.

I know, Halli Galli is probably one of the silliest names for a game on the app store, but I urge you to look past that and spend some time with a simple and incredibly fun set-collection card game for the entire family.

I have to say that this is one of the most frequently played and one of our most requested. Its execution, while simple, provides flexibility that will work as a great challenge for adults, but is easily played with children as young as 3 years old.

Halli Galli is broken into 3 modes, and although the goal in each version is to collect all the cards, how you go about it varies. In each game, you have a split set of cards, and each turn one card from every player's deck is placed on the board. When playing against other players, it's a race to ring the bell, and I'll explain further how each mode works below:

Junior mode - Our MOST played mode and the most accessible mode in the game. In this mode, you watch the cards until you see 2 smiling clowns that are of the same color. If you're wrong, you give one card to each other player. If you run out of cards, you're out of the game and the first player to collect all the cards, wins.

For more complex playing and for older kids and adults, the other 2 modes are great.

Classic - In this mode, each card is of a type of fruit and has a specific number of fruits on each card. Once you see a a set of cards that totals exactly 5 fruits of one kind you ring the bell. The same rules for Junior apply for winning.

Extreme - This is where it gets really complex and challenging. The cards deal faster than other modes, and you ring the bell when you see 2 identical cards or when a monkey appears and there are no lemons, an elephant appears and there are no strawberries and when only a pig appears. Another difference is if you're wrong, you "Go to Jail" and your cards get placed under the bell. The next round you win, you only get your jail cards back. Lose a round while in jail you're out. Everything else is the same.

Each version has 3 different modes. Arcade, Single Player and Multiplayer. With Arcade, you're the only player and if you're wrong, you lose 3 cards (there's no Jail in Extreme). Single Player pits you against 4 computer players with 3 difficulty levels and Multiplayer allows you to play with 2 - 4 people.

I have had so much fun playing this with my 6 year old twins. Huddling around the iPad makes you realize just how perfect a platform it is for these types of games. And it's great, you don't have to set up any cards, you don't have to worry about the bell not working, or someone missing hitting it. You just get to really bond as a family and play a unique and fun game.

I also think it's an excellent educational tool that will get your kids (and you!) to really learn to focus your mind to watch for matches, and is a great way to improve your reflexes and hand-eye coordination.

I cannot recommend Halli Galli highly enough, it's a game that will grow with your family no matter how old they are. And most importantly at the time of this writing both the iPhone and iPad version are on sale for $0.99. You can't even buy a plain deck of cards for that price!

Rainforest Survival Challenge is a very interesting and educational iPad game from Ruckus Media Group, geared toward kids ages 8 - 12 and teaches about different the species of plants and animals that live in the Amazon Rainforest. A complex game is included as is an information section about the Rainforest which is well written and very informative, including a map of this area and a larger world map showing the rainforest in proper perspective, a nice touch.

The main section of this app is a game where one plays against the computer, seeing who's animals or plants cards become either predator or prey as they go head-to-head against each other in a game of natural selection, with a tie also being an option.

Both the player and the computer get dealt five cards which are displayed across the screen. The player can see all of his personal cards but only the first three cards of the computer. Now the player lines up his cards so that the animals and plants, sometimes even fungus, have the capacity to eat or not be eaten by the corresponding card of the computer. Sometimes the animal on the card is already "dead," an interesting inclusion. This game has a few nuances of “rock paper scissors” as many of these species have the chance to be both the victor or victim in this game, depending on which animal or plant they are up against. If the player loses a round they lose a life, and after three lost lives, the player or computer who ends up with the most surviving animals wins the game and one can win a bronze, silver, gold or platinum paw as winning species are collected through various games played.

To be successful at this game, do double-click both the player’s and the computer’s cards to read up on these creatures, learning what you need to know to make the best choices possible. The information provided includes What I Eat, Threats to My Survival, and Cool Facts About Me, giving the player a lot of important info necessary to win these rounds. The photos used for these cards all look beautiful and are vivid with detail and I also enjoy the rainforest sounds used throughout this app. The green leafy background used during this card game is nice looking as well.

I enjoy this game a lot, but it did take some work to get me to a place where I find this game really fun and addicting. I find the wording of the instructions somewhat cumbersome as it is described that five “species cards” are dealt, and one must make matches that “create the best chance of surviving.” My mental block about this game early-on was that I thought these species cards represented the animals' species as a whole, not a term simply used to group animals and plants together. I also did not understand what these species were surviving, especially if we are talking about the entire group. The answer to this is each other, and each card represents a plant or animal as an individual, not their specific species as in a group of these same animals.

It is nice that one can see where mistakes are made, being able to read card info after the fact, but I have also lost the game a few times and I don’t know why, such as when my brown-throated sloth lost a round to an anteater, not specifically a predator.

This game can be a bit glitchy at times, as sometimes a card freezes when I am moving it around the screen and the game quit on me a few times as well. Also, when one must line up the cards under the computer’s, one must do so in the center of a very specific box, and it can be hard to get it just right so the game allows you to continue on, issues I hope than can be worked out in a future update.

It is nice that when a card is matched correctly, it turns orange, but It would also be nice if there were an option to let the player see all the cards that the computer has as I would rather spend my time plotting about matches keeping in mind the info I have learned rather than deal with the randomness that the two cards face down deliver in an educational game, although not knowing the last two cards of the computer does add to the strategies one needs to come up with in order to win. I think that players should have a choice of using the face down cards or not for their game play.

With these issues aside, once I was comfortable with game play I am impressed with the amount of info one can read up on to make the best choices for my species cards. Mid-grade school kids will be very drawn into this game, as will their parents and older siblings. This is definitely a game enjoyed alone as well as with a parent as there is a lot to talk about and strategize as players arrange their cards, playing against the computer. I hope in a future update more animals, plants and other choices are included, maybe even “man” being a species as it seems “man” is the biggest threat to many of these animals, but would not do well if already "dead" and played against a vulture or fungus. Although this may work as an idea, I can also see these developers shy away from using “man” as a choice, as it may bring too much morbidity to the game - just something to think about for a future update.

Putting aside the fact that there are many apps and games about farms these days, Kids on the Farm is a cute, fun game for preschoolers to play by themselves with some initial guidance and parents to play together with their toddlers. It combines simple games with such skills as counting, colors, matching, size and sounds. The graphics are very simple, so it is easy for a young child to differentiate elements on the screen. In some cases, the children receive positive reinforcement “Great Job!” when responding correctly and a mild “Try Again” when they do not have the right answer. However, as I will explain, the app needs some revisions.

Each screen has a separate problem to solve with farm animals. In the counting screen, the child has to find the “cows” or “horses,” which are added up as they are found. Unfortunately, there are inconsistencies that need to be revised on the next go around. For example, the counting headline says, “Touch 4 Calves” and the child narrator says, “Touch the calves.” If a child only touches two of the four calves and then hits the arrow to go on to the next page, the narrator does not say, “Touch more calves,” or “You have some calves to find.” This is when it would be good for you to jump in and say, “Whoops. Can you find any more calves before we go on?”

In addition, especially with younger children, parents should also review the different names of each animal. For example, pictures of cows are also called “bulls” and “calves.” Similarly, sine screens ask the child to touch an animal of certain color. Or, a screen may ask the child to touch all the animals that make a certain sound that is made. Once again, the headline and narrator may say, “Which animal makes this sound?” and the animal shown may only be in the same family. The screen always shows baby chicks, for instance. When your child hears a rooster’s crow and is asked “What makes this sound?” it is necessary to equate the baby chick to the grown male hen.

In one of the games, the child has to find the “small” animals. Here, size does not equate to what the animal is in real life, such as a big horse next to a small chick. Rather, size is based on the graphic shown, for example, the horse may be shrunk down in size and the lamb enlarged. Sometimes, the difference in size between the animals is minor, so it may be difficult for a younger child to know which animal is larger. When making the right choice, the child hears that animal’s sound. The matching game consists of pairing up the right mother and baby and the “Which Animal Comes Next,” is a pattern game, such as dog, cow, dog, “what comes next?”

All the games get progressively more difficult, which is good way to continue learning and keeping the child’s attention. Overall, the educational concepts of Kids on the Farm are important for children of this age to learn. With improvements, some noted here, this could be a better learning tool.

Toca Doctor is another wonderful app from the developers at Toca Boca, who also developed personal favorite apps, Helicopter Taxi and Toca Tea Party. Here, 18 fun and age-appropriate mini-games with medical themes are included which will entertain everybody in the family from pre-school on up. Versions of this app are available for both iPhone as well as iPad

I have come to really appreciate the quirky apps that Toca Boca has developed. This app is also great, here bringing medical themes to mini-games. Utterly intuitive, this app opens with a young patient at the doctor's office. Tap a glowing light on the odd little doctor flying in some sort of diagnostic machine, hovering over the patient and adding bulls eyes to body parts that need further examination. Click on these bulls eyes and get taken to various puzzle mazes and other mini-games with a delightful medical theme, such as tapping nits in hair or bacteria found under a microscope or inside the mouth to rid the patient of these maladies. One also has a chance to pull splinters from fingers in the correct direction, clean and bandage a wounded knee and placing important bones or internal organs in their rightful places. Mazes also exist involving the brain, digestive tract and vascular systems. Personally, I really enjoy placing the cochlea and other bones of the ear back where they belong and going from hearing nothing to the sound of fuzzy music that becomes clear- sounding as the ear puzzle is completed.

The artwork is excellent, stylized, and very interesting to look at. I also love music used here, making this app cheerful even with the subject matter sometimes involving blood or ouchies. I also like the various sound effects, especially the room tone used with the beeps and other atmospheric sounds one would find in a hospital is used as the background noises heard between choosing mini-games. The faint sounds of a bike crashing can also be heard momentarily as one cleans up cuts on the patient, presumably obtained in a biking accident. Cute, extra moments are sometimes included after these games have been completed, such as a large pretty ring added onto the hand of a patient one removed splinters from, or a lovely hair bow added to a de-loused head, adding to the fun and richness of this app.

The age level needed to solve these activities is probably for around three and up, but I expect the entire family to get a kick out of this app, as does my family. I appreciate that although my husband and I cruise through these games quickly, there is no need to rush as no time or points are kept and one can take as long as needed to finish, especially helpful on the mazes where one can either navigate with the drag of a finger or the tilting of one's device. There is an impressive physics engine used here, with the majority of elements being affected the way one would expect by gravity and players may sometimes feel the need to stabilize objects with two fingers as they place these pieces where they belong. Staying easy for preschoolers, this app has a nice “grab” to it as this app helpfully pulls the pieces where they belong if the player comes close to the correct positioning, making accuracy less of an issue.

In terms of education, adults can take their time explaining these activities in a way that is age-appropriate for their child such in regards to how these thing relate to their lives. Personally, I have pointed out the nits in the hair as something we try to avoid by not sharing hats or combs, the names of internal organs or specific bones used during certain puzzles, even about how someone in the family needs eye drops occasionally as this is also a mini-game. The mazes and puzzles themselves are also very educational as one needs the small motor skills to drag puzzle pieces and small objects in the mazes where they need to go, one is also able to tilt the device in ways that help these maze pieces navigate, also taking patience and concentration. It also takes fine motor skills to pick up the pieces of these many puzzles, something that is harder here than in most basic puzzle apps, a level kids will find challenging but not to difficult to succeed at.

Being a huge fan of this developer, I have taken a look at the video made for this app found on youtube before this app was released. Here, an introduction involving a child falling from their bike and needing medical help. Just then the doctor shows up, and the scene changes to the patient in the doctor's office where the game begins. Although very short, the intro of the accident and the doctor appearing made for a nice introduction, and I was surprised not to see this intro as part of the app itself. I also would have also liked there to be some kind of conclusion after all 18 games are finished, tying up all that has been accomplished with the patent feeling well after their treatments. Even without an intro and conclusion, this app is undeniably fun for the entire family.

I am eagerly awaiting Toca Boca's next app as I can't wait to see what new ideas will be coming from such a creative group of people. I hope they will be making apps for a very long time to come.

Alphabytes is a fun and educational iPad app that teaches letters with a nice theme of alphabet cereal and milk. There are four sections included, such as an alphabet section where every letter is depicted with a word, illustration and an interactive aspect that kids will enjoy. One can also learn basic spelling of words as a player taps alphabet letters scattered across the screen, with the correct letters will popping into corresponding letter boxes that make up the word in question. Letters not part of this word will be gobbled up by the player when tapped. There is a matching game where one makes pairs of words and their letter partners, and a tracing game is also included.

My son enjoys this app and asks for it by name. He likes the spelling game very much, having fun tapping both the correct letters for these word puzzles as well as eating up random letters also on the screen which are not part of the word, but has had some difficulty finding specific letters in a sea of unneeded ones, something that he now rectifies by tapping and eating the ones that are in the way and not useful.

My boy also spends time going through each interaction in the alphabet section; they have a lot to offer, including some of his favorite things such as taking bites of a doughnut with the tap of a finger, hammering nails into wood or moving gears with the slide of a finger for the letter “G.” I also like the way the main page of this section looks, as one can choose any letter, represented by alphabet cereal letters floating in a bowl of milk.

The tracing section is nice as the letters are big and chunky, ideal for little fingers, and it is nice that one can choose upper or lower case letters. The strokes commonly used to make up these letters are numbered, and an arrow is included pointing in the direction one should be making these strokes, ultimately fully tracing the chosen letter. I like these extra hints which are helpful in explaining the correct way to print these letters, but like many tracing apps, one can “cheat” and just randomly drag a finger over this template until it is filled in enough that it registers as correct. I do wish this app was capable of recognizing correctly printed letters as well, not just congratulating the player for filling in the template any way they see fit.

The matching game is very good as it does something most matching games do not do: it gives one the option of needing to flip over cards in the interest of making pairs - here letter and word combinations, but you also have the option of playing this game face up as well, seeing what there is to be paired without memorizing anything. The best part about this section is that one can let the child see the answer side for a few seconds if you wish and then play the memory game face down, even flipping everything back over again for another when the child is feeling stuck. I really like how this is done here, as my son over the age of three still has a hard time with these memory games. We can play this game without the concentration aspect that he struggles with or play this game the traditional way, also looking at
hints from time to time, making this game much more enjoyable for us to play.

The interface to these games is easy and child-friendly as my son plays with this app both alone as well as with me, and we both think the cereal-in-milk theme is a lot of fun. In each of these games, the letters tapped are narrated by a child and although the voice is cute, I do think some kids may have a hard time understanding these letters being pronounced this way, but aside from that, this is a very nice letters app.

What child would not want to make toys? That’s what I thought when I saw the name of this app. The app, itself, offers a number of different coordination and cognitive skills, but the title is misleading. The author says it was approved by his/her own toddler. Well, that toddler has a lot more ability than mine ever did! I would actually call this “Children’s Toy Factory” app rather than “Toddler” Toy Factory, because it has more abilities at the level of preschool and even kindergarten than toddler. In fact, the memory game in the “hard” mode could even be played by an older child or adult—admittedly, my memory is not the best, but I even had difficulty remembering where everything was in the “hard” mode. Best for a toddler’s age is the counting in the “Ship” room. I like the music that accompanies the app, it’s whimsical, and the sound effects add to the app’s entertainment value.

The Toddler Toy Factory does offer a good selection for long playing and learning time, and I like the fact that the child can advance upward from the “easy” mode as the skill is acquired in two of the rooms. In the first room, “Make,” the child reads the letter on the left hand side of the screen and chooses the correct letter from mixed up letter blocks on the right hand side. Then the letter is dragged over, so both letters match and then dropped into the toy machine. As each letter is dropped, it spells a word and out pops the toy that is spelled. The word is repeated, so the child knows what was made and how it is spelled. This is not an easy concept, either, and parents will need to explain it to the child. As the toys are made and piled on the factory floor, they can be tossed around and then back into the machine, if desired.

The “Find” room is an old-fashioned matching game, which is always fun and great for memory skills. The children will most likely be on the easy mode for some time. As the correct matches are made, the toys are dropped to the floor. Once again, they can be tossed around or put back into the machine’s spout to clean up the room. The toys are added to a number counter up top when the go back in. Adding a voice over counting the toys as they go in would add another counting skill. In the “Ship” room, the children drag and drop toys from the shelves into a barrel for shipping. The numbers are counted out loud until the last one is ready for shipping. The “easy” to “medium” to “hard” mode increases the number of items, so larger numbers are learned.

Goosed Up Rhymes is a wonderfully silly, modern and creative take on classic Mother Goose nursery rhymes. With versions available for both iPad as well as iPhone, this awesome app includes eight traditional stories as well as a few mini-games and many hidden interactive hot-spots to look for and tap.

Although this is an accurate description, it is hard to fully explain why this app stands out in a crowd of other apps that also tell classic stories. This storybook meshes these classic Mother Goose tales with quirky and modern sensibilities in a way I have not seen before, except in the cartoons that I like to watch, even as an adult. These illustrations are wonderfully stylized, bright, fresh and full of whimsy as well as occasional biting wit.

It is nice that the actual telling of these rhymes is not altered, but the style in which they are told reminds me of classic cartoons such as one of my favorites - The Animaniacs - in its use of utterly modern character personalities and dialogue. The illustrations and animations used are simply genius and I like that although the quality of these stories remains consistently high as the style of each story is slightly different, something I appreciate a great deal, especially the robot motif of “The Crooked Man” and the piles of cats under the care of lazy old Mother Hubbard.

This app, although appropriate for kids of all ages, may be appreciated even more by adults who will understand the edge that this app has - possibly more than their children. This app is an acquired taste and not for everyone, as the characters act utterly human in their language and actions, not always in ways that are flattering. Also, there are many added details such as burping frogs that I adore but may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I love the look of these stories and the different characters, both animals and people. It is highly colorful, and the hidden interactive hot spots are numerous and at the same level of animation as the rest of this app - not just random objects that may bounce around or make noise.

It is also nice that an educational aspect is also included. Not only does the reader became familiar with these classic rhymes, following along as the words are highlighted when read, but the text can later be tapped to hear words read out loud as well.

There is so much to find here, one can easily miss some of these wonderful animations since I seem to find something new each time I read these stories. It would be a wonderful extra if a key to what one is looking for could also be added in the future. Three three mini games are included - repairing a broken Humpty Dumpty, a nicely-done matching game which helps Mother Hubbard’s dog get a bone and a wack-a-mole game where you get to wack the farmer's wife for what she did to those poor blind mice, as well as a missing acorn game where you help a witty squirrel find his acorns hidden through out these pages.

I am really glad that the developers at Brain Freeze Entertainment have created this app. Past work of these animators includes Disney, Veggie Tales, and Warner Bothers, which is probably why I think of my beloved Animaniacs each time I watch these rhymes. This app brings the best nuances of wonderful cartoons to iPhone and iPad with a nice educational component. The narration here, by Mother Goose herself, is simply excellent. I would love to see more from these very talented animators, both more Goosed Up Rhymes as well as anything else they may come up with.

It’s always a pleasure to see a children’s app where there are several different games or activities for the player. Otherwise, both parent and child are quickly disappointed. The What Am I? Farm app, another in the series of What Am I? Pets, includes four different activities for your son or daughter. These activities build language skills and dexterity at the same time. The animal sounds provide another learning tool. Plus, it’s fun to play. A leader board is included, so your children can continue to best their scores.

Remember playing those games where you mixed up the different parts of a body and were able to put a head of a mustached man on top of a body of a woman in a bathing suit on top of legs of a cowboy? Well, you get the point. It was always good for a laugh. The “Mixed-Up” activity is the same, except that the child is matching farm animal parts that must answer a question, for example, “What animal is yellow?” Your child needs to match all the body parts that will be the right answer. A right answer brings children’s cheers. This activity gets a high grade for cognitive learning.

In the “Matching” activity, you child will drag the right animal across the screen to the right one of three animal choices. A minute countdown keeps track of how many matches can be made in the time allotted. Then, it’s possible to try again and beat the record. “Sheep Shear” is even a good activity for parents when they want to let off some frustration from a busy day! Using your finger, how fast can you or your child sheer the sheep and let the wool fall to the ground? As soon as one sheered and embarrassed sheep is done, another one appears. You have a minute to see how many you can shave clean. This game would also be fun for some older toddlers. The animal is sheered differently depending on the device used. On the iPod, the shearing occurs with the touch of your finger. On the iPad, the sheep can be sheered by tilting left to right.

The last game, “Peeka,” also combines a number of different cognitive and dexterity skills. Your child will be asked to find an animal and then needs to swipe from page to page to see where it is hiding on the farm. After hearing the question “Where is the ….?” your child will need to have a mental image of the right animal and then go hunting for it. The animal sound and name of the animal appears when finding the right one. For all the games, I suggest an easier-to-read typeface for those children who can read. Also, it would be helpful for those who cannot read to hear the clue again. Perhaps zoo animals will come next?

Bob Books #1 - Reading Magic brings the Bob Books series to life as a fun, engaging and very educational interactive application that helps pre-readers become early readers as they practice letter recognition, phonic sounds and beginner spelling. As with other Learning Touch apps, do check out the options as many thoughtful choices are included, personalizing the experience. Versions for both iPhone and iPad are available.

I really enjoy using this application with my three year old son. In a creative and fun way, this app uses short and simple words as well as sight words that make up easy sentences which become animated scenes acting out what is being described, such as “Mat sat” or “Sam has a cat.”

The various objects or persons used in these sentences also become the focus of a very nice word game where one matches up the letters that make up the spelling of the word in question, dragging and dropping these letters to their rightful places in letter boxes that together make up this specific word.

I think it is especially nice how the illustrations used in these word games are black and white but turn to color when the word puzzle is solved, and I appreciate how an animated scene which follows the puzzle completion also turns from black and white to color, as this scene nicely follows through on what has been learned.

This delivery would make this app not only a nice learning letters-and-phonics exercise, but also an exercise for learning basic vocabulary, object as well as verb comprehension, and as a useful as a tool for kids learning English as a second language, as well as for kids with special needs as it teaches not only the principles of reading and spelling, but also the basics of how to communicate with words.

I am happy that one gets to choose either letters or phonics to be used during these word games, as either the letter names or phonic sounds are spoken when a letter is tapped during these exercises and again when the game is complete to emphasize what has been learned. These options make this app appropriate for kids new to letter recognition as well as for early readers familiar with phonics, and it is great that this app will grow with a child taking them through many levels of literacy development. This app is content-rich, with 12 scenes and 32 words - just the right length for my son who showed signs of not being 100 percent focused only as the last scene was finishing up. Until then, he was very engaged and eager to play this game.

This app includes four levels of difficulty, ranging from being able to copy the letters as one drags and drops letters to their rightful places, as one it able to match the spelling seen in the letter boxes. Later, one can still copy the spelling, but the words must be completed from left to right in correct spelling order. The difficulty progresses to where one cannot copy the spelling, and finally, one must choose the correct letters as well as extra letters that are mixed in, adding difficulty to these puzzles. I also really like that these last two levels use other words from these sentences as puzzle words as well, including the use of sight words. These levels can change automatically, or one can choose a specific level for all 12 scenes, adding many options for game play and much newness each time this app is used.

It is also very nice to see that even when this app was closed, it re-opened to the scene last played, and one can also scroll through a section of this app to choose a specific scene to start from as well.

I am very impressed with this creative learning app, and I am very impressed with Bob Books in general after playing with this application. I will be on the lookout for a set of Bob Books for my son, as I want him to experience these types of educational activities as apps, but in their classic form as well. For more information, please look at bobbooks.com, and iTunes for more info about this app, as well as the other very good learning apps from Learning Touch.

What is my job? is a lovely interactive app for children which explores different occupations. Sections include interactive flash cards and a matching game. A version of this app is available for iPhone as well as iPad.

This is a very sweet app that young kids will enjoy. Adults will appreciate the polish that went into this application, which includes very cute pictures and good music. Two sections are included here: interactive flash cards and a matching game. I have enjoyed swiping through the flash cards with my son, tapping both the sweet children and bright, colorful animal characters who demonstrate different jobs, hearing their occupations when tapped. A related object is paired with the animal or child that corresponds to these various occupations, such as an astronaut and a space shuttle, pianist and piano, or worker and hammer who's names can also be heard when tapped.

Adults will appreciate the quality of the music used during this educational application. The use of an acoustic guitar with a wonderful Spanish sound is an interesting choice that I greatly enjoy listening to. I also appreciate that a series of narrators, both men and women, are used to narrate both the job titles and related objects, all of which brings a richness of sounds to this app.

It is also nice that although a basic premise, this app is very content-rich with lots of jobs introduced, including some interesting choices like "fish monger," "sculptor," and "cobbler."

The matching game is what one may expect, as the player turns over cards looking for pairs. Here, one matches together the character demonstrating a specific job and the related object. I really like that one can control the number of cards used in this game, from four to eight, as it is great that young players can play this game focusing only on four cards. Typically, my son needs me to pair matching apps down to four cards before he is capable of solving the game, and it is nice that he can start this himself and be able to finish on his own. The same style of wonderful music is also used through these matching games, along with the matched job's name narrated when a match is made.

The characters used through this app are also used among the K-Magic apps from these same developers - which my son has enjoyed for a long time. I am grateful that this series of apps has introduced my son to Patrick, a red dog, who wants to be a "good father" when Patrick grows up, something my kind son has taken to heart. In this app, we see that Patrick is now practicing as a baby sitter, a detail that both my son and I enjoy. I also like that the title page has a row of characters that one can be introduced to with a tap, my son was happy to see his old friends from the K-magic series.

What is my job? is a simple, lovely app that babies, toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy. I also highly recommend the other apps by the developers at PAKA, especially their K-Magic series, as well as their Farm Animals app, look for them in iTunes.

MosaicHD is a wonderful and creative app that lets players make patterns out of different colored pins. Extremely intuitive, children of all ages and adults will enjoy both following included patterns as well as designing their own creations as they fit colored pegs into a blank grid filled with holes.

We are fortunate that our local library has not only books and dvds to borrow, but also has a large selection of classic board games available to play with as well. Every time this opportunity arises and the games are brought out, my son, now three, makes a beeline for the game “Mastermind.” He has no interest in the way this game is traditionally played, but he loves to play with the different colored pins, fitting them in their holes, making all kinds of abstract patterns for extended periods of time.

When I first looked at this app, I knew we had a winner on our hands and that my son and I were going to love this. I love how intuitive this game is. My son understood right away how to choose a pattern and figured out with the help of hints where colored pegs need to go in the grid without any help from me. He loves this app, enjoying very much the different boards there are to choose from, including a ladybug, artist's palette or Himalayan Mountain landscape. This app keeps track of what patterns have already been solved and what is still new to explore.

There are two levels of difficulty, small or large pegs. With small pegs, more pegs can fit on a page and lead to more intricate and detailed pictures. A guide of sorts is shown, being a smaller image in the corner of the screen which gives the player an idea of where to add corresponding pegs to complete the chosen pattern. Hints can also be used, where an outline of what peg goes in corresponding holes can be seen, simplifying game play. It is also nice that wrong peg colors flash, letting players see mistakes easily. As helpful as this is, I do wish the flashing could be turned off as an option, as one may want to change a pattern, changing colors or adding details without any distractions.

One can also choose peg size when creating original masterpieces, and I especially like that one does not have to add pegs one at a time but can also drag a finger across the screen to create a row of pegs in various line or wave formations, something I find very satisfying. It is nice that one can save the work in this apps gallery, as well as share via Facebook or email.

I really enjoy the music also included, bringing this game to another level as this music is hypnotic and beautiful to listen to, many times encouraging me to play with this app much longer than I intended. I like the sound effect used when pegs are added, and one is congratulated as well when a pattern is completed. I am glad that the music and the effects volume levels can be set individually, but it would be nice if the effects and the congratulatory sounds could also be separate also, as I would include the sounds of the pegs being added to my gameplay but the celebratory sounds, although very encouraging for kids, interrupt the mood which the wonderful, trance-like music puts me into.

This is a wonderful app for the very young through adulthood. Toddlers and preschoolers can learn a lot about colors and patterns and increase their fine motor skills and memory as well as simply be creative and artistic. I am sure that many adults and older kids will find themselves mesmerized by this app as I have been, making it a wonderful application for the entire family.

CutieMonsters is a really unique, beautiful and creative “mix and match” style app allowing players to create a plethora of different creatures by scrolling through and choosing various head, torso, leg and feet choices. There are versions of this app for iPad, iPhone and Mac.

I remember having a few books with this concept. These books were sectioned horizontally in typically three sections, and one could flip pages back and forth to create imaginative creatures. Children now can experience these kinds of activities in app form, many times with more choices than a classic book would have the space for. We have a few of these apps as my son and I find them to be fun and engaging.

CutieMonsters stands out among crowd because of how wonderful and creative the different characters' elements are. They all have fun monster themes, many of them reminiscent of science fiction creatures as well, with details very unique and intriguing. The choices offered are difficult to explain but include such things as various tentacle and eyeball elements, as well as bug and gorilla choices. I appreciate that although these monsters are full of off-beat details, they are each friendly-looking in their own way and not at all scary, at least to us. The are all bright, colorful, wonderfully stylized, and beautiful to look at.

It is an interesting choice to focus on the creating of new monsters here instead of making complete matches as found in other apps because it is unclear what pieces specifically go together, as various sections look like they might be “correct" creating no right or wrong answers.

I like that one can also change the color of the background which is a bright and vivid element in it of itself, and there is a place to tap which randomizes the creature as well. My son enjoys saving his monster creations and has a few favorite heads that he has named and to which he goes back each time he plays this game. Emailing finished monster is also an option.

Although not specifically educational, this would be a nice cause-and-effect app for the youngest players, teaching how to swipe and tap. It is also nice that a chime are heard for every change that is made, and that these sounds although related, are different for each section. Although the target age of this app may be young, I expect that older children and parents will get lost in this app as well, and will be happy to play with this monster activity with a younger sibling or child.

Anyone interested in this kind of "mix and match" app should check out CutieMonsters. I enjoy this app as much as my son does.

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.