OLIVIA the Great on iPhone Review

OLIVIA the Great on iPhone is a charming application that includes some fun hidden object activities, as well as re-enforcing fine motor skills, making this app a great choice for children - both fans of Olivia the pig and children new to this franchise. A version of this app is also available for iPad.

OLIVIA the Great stars Olivia herself, the pig that many children know from her own TV show as well as the series of books by Ian Falconer.

In this application, help Olivia perform a series of magic tricks, first by looking for the items needed in one of a few messy rooms of Olivia’s house and beyond, such as bedrooms, living room and playground.

Players may need to move other clutter aside to look for items such as a stuffed doll, top hat or robot, making this a nice take on a classic hidden-objects game that kids can relate to, as my son sometimes needs help finding his favorite toys among a sea of others.

It is also fun how the objects one helps Olivia find are relevant in the trick she is about to perform, be it the Floating Hat or Dancing Robot tricks - cute details that adults as well as children will enjoy.

With only the outline of the items in question given, this activity have a nice level of difficulty for preschoolers as it can sometimes be tricky to tell exactly what toy is being asked for by silhouette alone, but if a mistake is made, the incorrect choice is simply removed, making this game light, fun and with many items to tap on.

Once the necessary tools have been found, players are taken to the next scene that is minimally stylized with Olivia nicely dressed as a magician on a darkened stage beside a steamer trunk used for her performance. Olivia will then demonstrate the motions she needs to make with her magic wand, movements which players perform with the drag of a finger, complete with fairy dust and twinkling sound effects that my son really enjoys.

The movements needed to produce magic may include a circle, horizontal line or three-sided, almost square shape. Although not complex, these shapes will be the foundation of letter writing, making this an excellent app to practice fine motor skills.

It is also nice that one can perform these interactions, repeating what Olivia just demonstrated, or wait until her explanation is over, making these magic tricks more difficult as one must remember the shapes or movements just seen, especially when two drags of a finger are necessary.

Once the interaction has been performed, the scene is transformed to a brightly lit stage with friends and family in the audience as the trick is ultimately performed by using the toys once searched for, now having been placed in the steamer trunk on stage next to Olivia.

It is super-cute that other pigs in the audience will ask for specific tricks already in Olivia’s repertoire, or one can tap on the trunk to see the next trick one can learn, as these tricks are unlocked slowly one after the other.

Olivia the Great will greatly appeal to fans of Olivia as the voice of Olivia is used here with great effect, as is the delightful look of these stylized pigs and the fun, jazzy theme song which is used both here as well as on TV. It is also nice that a few tie-ins exist, like familiar areas of Olivia's house or characters including younger brother William, Dad and cat Edwin, each partaking in the magic as well, but children unaware of this series will enjoy this cute and quirky app without feeling as if they are missing anything.

It is also worth noting that this app does not contain any of the sassiness that critics of Olivia sometimes point to in terms of bad behavior.

With 16 magic tricks to participate in, there is a nice amount of content to explore, and I appreciate that although the toys needed to be collected for specific tricks remain the same, the placement of the objects one must weed through is random, creating a new experience each time one of these sections is played - great for replay value.

This is an app that we have had for a long time now, and I am glad to have the chance to share this app with readers. This is an app my son has had a lot of fun with, choosing this to show off his tricks to other adults, as well asking for help as the finger movements required can be challenging for young children and their newly acquired fine motor skills. At four, this is an app that my boy still enjoys and has started to do a lot of these tricks on his own.

I appreciate how although this app is a little forgiving with the dragging movements needed for these tricks, this app does expect some precise lines or shapes to be drawn, and it is great how children cannot cheat their way through this app in the way it is possible if one simply fills in the templates found in letter apps also used to support fine motor skills.

Olivia the Great is a lovely choice for an app that is something fun and a little different. Children will not realize the educational aspects of this cute app, but parents can feel good about their young child spending time with Olivia the Great.