Five bite-sized games feature a chatty, quirky little monkey, who serves as the coach and instruction giver. Content includes concentration, color matching (touch all the green fruit), jigsaw puzzles (drag-and-drop puzzles), odd one out (which fruit is not the same), find the fruit that starts with the letter B. Every three activities earns you a sticker,which can be saved on a flannel board. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Duck Duck Moose’s fourth app contains two nursery rhymes woven into one app: Baa Baa Black Sheep and Row Your Boat. There are three ways your child can navigate from scene to scene: manually, by swiping or touching; using an arrow button; or selecting autoplay in the preferences to automatically change the scenes. As children explore, they can hunt for four hidden outlines in the pictures. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
How many times can you touch a target in 60 seconds? That’s the challenge of this fast-paced matching game for one to four players, that runs on the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. First you are shown something to pick, such as a colorful tomato or a potato. Next you see your item, mixed in with two other choices. The goal is to touch it as quickly as possible. Wrong answers result in a buzz — correct answers bring up a slightly larger, harder set of items, one of which is yours. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Featuring good music and bad design, this preschool app starts with a view of a farm that was modeled after the original Little People farm toy set. Various items launch short animated routines or games.
For example, touching a large turtle (hey, what’s a dog-sized turtle doing on a farm?) starts a multiple-choice matching game where you “touch two turtles that look the same.” The idea is valid, but the game starts too hard for the intended age range and has no contextual value. Inside the barn, children can play the haystack game, a memory puzzle where they track a moving haystack with their eyes. Two other activities include wiping mud off the screen, which is fun, despite frequent prompts to “move your finger back and forth to clean it all up.” Finally, there are two twitching children near the barnyard. When they’re touched, children hear a nice rendition of “Turkey and the Straw.” As they listen they can make the children move to the music by touching them. Created by IDEO LLC for Fisher-Price. Teaches: classification, fine motor skills, memory. Fisher-Price, Inc.. www.fisher-price.com, $1.99. Best for ages 3-5.
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Strikingly beautiful graphics, a fun format, but limited game play and content are the hallmarks of the iPad version of Disney Fairies Fly (called just “Fairies Fly” in Apple’s App Store). Note that limited versions were previously released for iPhone and iPod Touch. The beauty comes with a price. This is a large (458 MB) download. To fly, you simply tilt the screen to control your fairy as you progress through a side scrolling maze, moving up or down to collect items such as flowers or orbs, while avoiding hazards like stinging bees and thunder clouds. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
In the story, you help Sylvie Leroux, a young archaeologist, as she travels to Malta at the request of her uncle, a world renowned historian. When she arrives, she discovers he is missing and it is now up to you to help her save the professor and decipher the clues to the secrets of the Knights Hospitaller order. Content includes 50 locations, 14 minigames, and a special game mode called Hidden World, that allows you to play classic hidden object levels. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This collection of 25 minigames is organized into six happy themes, all available through six numbered tabs on the top of the touch screen.
In the Invitation Game, children play a spin on whack-a-mole that requires some fast decisions. In Button Factory, they sort the buttons on a moving conveyer belt, in order to create outfits for the party. On the last tab, you can paste together a simple outfit and take a picture. Each game is timed, and you are given instant feedback about your choices. Created by Barnstorm for Majesco Entertainment. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Are you hungry for more virtual cooking? This third Cooking Mama game for the DS includes new recipes, the ability to shop, dish combinations and multiplayer cooking challenges. Using your DS stylus, you will chop, grate, catch falling marshmallows and much more — in over 200 minigames. You can create 80 new recipes including chili con carne or mushroom quiche, and the recipes progress from simple to complex, from small to large dishes. Based on the quality of your cooking, you can earn bronze, silver and gold medals from Mama, while impressing your friends with your dishes. Developed by Cooking Mama Limited. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
This collection of ten games, for 1 or 2 players, is a mixed bag. The main thing to note is that while the game plays like the other Nick Jr. inspired titles from 2K Play, where you simply tilt the Wii remote like handlebars to move, this is not a side-scrolling platformer. This is more of an activity pack, and the games vary in quality.
After you select the number of players, you choose a Ni Hao, Kai-Lan character to serve as your avatar. There are both male or female options. Next, you see a game-board-like menu representing the games. Prices are $40 for the Wii and $20 for the PS2 version. Developed by High Voltage Software for 2K Play. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Looking for a baby or toddler’s ideal first computer experience? Available as a $20 download from www.giggles.net (think of it as an App for your computer), for Macintosh or Windows, Giggle’s: Computer Funtime for Baby My Musical World expands on Leveractive’s library of baby/toddler selections. This title, with a musical focus, succeeds in letting your busy child freely explore a standard mouse/keyboard interface, sans worry. Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Unlike the three DS versions of CGC (Charm Girls Club) this is a party game, specifically designed for one to eight girls, with about every imaginable stereotype, from hair dressing to pillow fights. Content includes 27 minigames that vary in quality and difficulty. As a result, there’s something for everyone. Games include Speed Hair Teasing (shake the Wii Remote as fast as you can to see how big you can make a hairstyle) and Water Balloon Fight (target your friends to see how you can earn the most points). There are several DDR style rhythm games, where you compete to earn points by following moving commands. Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This toy laptop comes with a small, extremely low resolution color touch screen, a membrane alphabetical keyboard and 35 reading and matching games. Content is based on PBS Kids Super Why characters (Super Why, Wonder Red, Princess Presto, and Alpha Pig). Each character comes with a set of noisy activities that vary in quality. For example, in Why Flyer you are aske
d to find the word “soup” (presented verbally) and then are asked to touch the screen when that word is shown. In the Emperor’s New Clothes, you spell out short words on the alphabetical keyboard, one letter at a time. Children used to the keys in QWERTY order will be confused, because the keys are presented in alphabetical keyboard style. In addition, there are some buttons on the side of the screen that have no function, which confused our testers at first.
Other features include built-in speakers, two levels of volume control and a tethered question-mark stylus for the touch screen. The device is powered by 3AA batteries and there is an auto sleep function if the toy isn’t used for a few minutes. Learning Curve Brands, Inc.. www.learningcurve.com, $35. Best for ages 3-up. Please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.