Peekaboo Trick or Treat with Ed Emberley Review

Peekaboo Trick or Treat with Ed Emberley is a charming new app from Night & Day Studio, part of their Peekaboo series of apps - here a lovely Halloween-themed app for babies and toddlers.

Readers may be familiar with these apps, such as the wildly popular Peekaboo Barn or Peekaboo Wild in which players are introduced to animals hidden behind a barn door or tall grass. Here, children will meet 14 different Halloween-themed characters hiding behind a door at which presumably one is trick-or-treating. The door swings open revealing the different characters and then closes and moves on to the next character.

I really appreciate how traditional Halloween characters such as a witch, werewolf, or Frankenstein-like monster are represented, yet the wonderfully stylized and slightly quirky illustrations by children’s author and illustrator Ed Emberely will engage young children without being scary or over the top in any way.

Subtle, yet fun and effective movements are included as are some enjoyable sound effects and musical elements. Each of these details adds nuance and a small amount of wit to this app, keeping in mind the needs of the parents who often share apps with their children, while never cluttering this app with excessive hotspots or loud noises.

Like other apps within this series, parents can choose to have these meet-and-greets looped, allowing children to see an unlimited number of different creatures found within, or have this app end after everyone has been introduced, complete with an animated musical dancing sequence when everybody is found behind the door, complete with cute, upbeat music to create a scene reminiscent of “Monster Mash” as well as a follow-up page to sleeping monsters.

Although this app does not seem to me quite as perfect an app to lull a child to sleep (the way I used Peekaboo Barn with my son when he was younger), this is a lovely choice to introduce children to iconic Halloween figures, as their names are nicely narrated by a four-year old child or iconic Author and illustrator Ed Emberley himself.

This is a wonderful touch that adults may enjoy even more than their children as Emberley says these single words in a way that expresses his passion for what he does in a way that makes me smile.

Young children either new to this series or those already fans will enjoy this app very much. The fun palette of purples and greens is festive and interesting to look at, as are all illustrations perfectly realized by Ed Emberely. I hope to continue to see more collaborations between Night and Day Studio and Ed Emberely in the future.