PBS Kids Video

Both of my kids love the PBS Kids Video app because it turns the iPad into a television.  More and more lately, I find myself answering the question of, “Can I use the iPad?” with “Yes, so long as you’re not going to watch TV.” And that is mostly because of this app.

My kids’ behavior with this app takes the term “digital natives” to a whole new level… the two-year-old now liberates my phone from my pocket, slides to unlock it, identifies the PBS Kids app, and is watching TV before I even know she’s got the phone. My five-year-old pointed out features I had no idea were there. For example, she showed me how swiping to the right while in a show reveals a table of contents with thumbnails, titles and running times for all of the clips available for that show.

Of course, there is an upside to watching television this way—there are no commercials (no whining that she wants me to buy her Stompeez or sugar cereals) and the only programming available is the good stuff from PBS. Okay, I could do without Arthur, and Caillou might be the whiniest kid on the planet, but at least it’s not My Little Pony.

In general, the app works really well.  Even though the clips are short (most are around 2 minutes), there are lots available—I counted over a hundred of one of my daughters' favorite shows, Wild Kratts. The saving grace to this app is that it needs an internet connection to operate. And our iPads are wifi only. Right now, I’m relieved not to have to fight about it in the car… Though I might feel differently this summer, if I try to take them on a long car ride somewhere. And there’s always my phone to fight about. Oh, and did I mention that the app is free?

Super Why!

 

           

           My two-year-old has recently started singing the alphabet song. She sings, “A, B, C, W, X, Y, Z, NOW I KNOW MY ABCs! NEXT TIME WON’T YOU SING WITH ME…!!” Whoops. Beginning reading—specifically phonics—is my professional specialty, so I may take these things a little too personally…  That said, I was amenable, but not expecting much, when she wanted to play her older sister’s Super Why! game on the iPad.

            Super Why! is a PBS Kids show, but we don’t watch it at home; I’ve seen it a few times, and vaguely think of it as the show where those cartoon kids jump into a book. But Autumn clearly knew the show: she recognized the icon and chose the app herself. They must watch it at her babysitter’s house.

            At any rate, she opened the app and chose to play Princess Presto’s Wands Up Writing game. When the game opens, you see a four-letter array and three lines for letters. Princess Presto explains that you need to listen as she says the letter sounds so that you can choose the correct letter to spell the word. For Autumn, the first sound was /m/. Then you are supposed to choose the M from the array. So Princess Presto asked, “What letter makes the sound /m/?”, and Autumn turns around to me and asks, "Mom, which one is the M?" At that point, I stopped what I was doing and started paying more attention. Since when does my toddler know her letter sounds?! But she does—she got the next few right as well. I don’t know if this phonological knowledge is a product of watching Super Why! with the babysitter or what, but we’ve been playing with the Super Why! app all week now.

            In addition to Princess Presto’s Wands Up Writing game (which is called that because you are asked to trace the letter with your finger after identifying it by sound), there are three other interactive games in the app. You can practice rhyming with Wonder Red; go on a letter hunt with Alpha Pig; or finish sentences to save stories with Super Why. Each one is visually appealing to match the PBS show. More importantly, the designers got the educational aspects just right: the sounds are crisp and clear, everything is spelled correctly, and the games move at a pace controlled by the app user. Believe it or not, this is not the standard in every app. I have reviewed many a free phonics app available for the iPad, and it is often the case that there are small errors in the apps: In the really pretty and innovative Endless Alphabet app by Callaway Digital Arts, for example, the vowels make their short sound as you drag them into the word, but that is often not the sound they make within the word being spelled (the o’s in “kazoo” sound nothing like the short o sound). And Super Why! does more than just practice phonics: in other games, children practice reading words, comprehending stories, and recognizing letters, among other beginning literacy skills.

             In sum, if you are looking for a solid app for practicing beginning reading in a game-like atmosphere, this is $2.99 well spent. Both of my kids like it, and I like what they are learning from it.

The Land of Me—Storytime

 
 

The Land of Me—Story Time is neither an ebook nor a game. It’s an interactive storytelling app. When the app launches, you are immediately transported into the cave of an ancient tortoise storyteller named Granny Olive. There are no menus or setting to navigate. Just Granny asking who you would like the hero of the story to be. You tap on one of the three characters listening to make them volunteer. Next you are asked what you would like the story to be about. Again, you chose between three icons. Finally, you decide if you want the story to be happy, sad, or funny, by choosing an appropriate mask. Granny Olive then tells a 60-second story with the elements you chose, accompanied by animations that appear as chalk drawings on the cave wall. 

A small return arrow takes you back to Granny’s cave once her story has played out, where the process begins all over as she asks, “Right my dear, who’s our hero this time?” Although this can get repetitive for adults, there are, in fact, 27 different story combinations possible. And I love the way the interaction with the characters teaches about story elements. My five-year-old can—and does—experiment by changing the outcome of the story while holding the other elements constant, or chooses a new character just to see if they each behave exactly the same way in the same situations.

          The magic in this app is in its lushness. The app fills the full screen at all times, with no menus or buttons.  The text is incorporated into the setting. Sound effects like water dripping in the back of the cave add to the atmosphere. Best of all, as short as the stories are, they are complete stories, with a conflict, climax and resolution. And the funny stories are funny; the sad stories are sad; the happy stories happy.

          Land of Me makes two other apps: The Land of Me—Making Things, and The Land of Me—Songs and Rhymes. All three apps feature the same characters and the same sort of interactivity.  Choose a song, style, and tempo for your band (Songs and Rhymes) or a machine and materials for your machine’s body and base (Making Things) for lessons in music and physics. Despite the similar appearance and characters though, neither Making Things nor Songs and Rhymes has the same appeal as Story Time.

Toca Boca

          By far the most popular app designer in our house is the Swedish company Toca Boca.  The girls love the stylish and silly characters in all of the games. They also enjoy how simple all of the games are—there are no menus or rules or settings to fix. Kids of all ages can just open the app and play. Somehow we have acquired the following 8-10 different Toca Boca apps over the years on our various iOS devices (Toca Boca is generous about periodically releasing a specific app for free, or gifting a holiday version of an app—over time, they collect on the machine): 

Toca Tailor and Toca Tailor Fairy Tales

Toca Band

Toca Hair Salon and Toca Hair Salon Christmas Gift

Toca Tea Party

Toca Monsters

Toca Doctor

Toca Store

Toca House

           I am honestly such a fan of all of these games that I am having a hard time deciding which to write about, but in the interest of being specific, I will just choose two to describe. 

Toca Tailor

           Toca Tailor is the sort of thing the iPad was made for. It is a design tool I can imagine being useful in real life, as well as to a 5-year-old’s imagination. Open the app, choose a model to dress, then change everything about the outfits with a swipe of the finger. Shorten and lengthen hems and sleeves, choose styles and patterns… you can even use the iPad camera to add to the selection of patterns. For example, check out this sweet dress I made with a photo of my cat:

              Unlike other dress-up apps, there are no short skirts or exposed belly buttons in Toca Tailor. The focus is squarely on the clothes—the patterns, textures, and outfits—rather than the sex appeal. And because of that, the app feels like it is appropriate for boys and girls of all ages. In fact, although other reviewers have said this is an app for little girls, I know more than one dad who has spent more than his fair share of time playing Toca Tailor.
 

Toca Tea Party

            Yes, she could just have a tea party on the floor with her stuffed animals. And she does do that. But one tea party does not preclude the other. This app can be used in conjunction with the blanket and the stuffed animals. It just adds a bit of color and flair. It also had the advantage of being portable: tea parties are now something that happen on long car rides or in doctor’s waiting rooms as well as on my living room floor. 
            Set the scene by choosing the tableware and refreshments, lighting the candles, and tuning the radio. Then eat and drink from all three settings until someone spills and needs a clean up. Practice saying things like, “Excuse me!” and “Please pass the delicious carrot cake,” and “Could you turn the radio down, please? I can’t hear what Pooh Bear is saying.” Surprisingly, it isn’t my youngest who likes this app the most. As simple as it is, my five-year-old is charmed by it. 

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Most of the Toca Boca apps call for creativity. In Toca Hair Salon she can cut, style, color, and grow people and monsters’ hair. Toca Band allows her to combine cartoon characters who are playing different parts in a band: percussion, vocals, or bass, to name a few. The result is surprisingly catchy and not at all irritating. When she rearranges the characters, the music changes to reflect the emphasis she chose.

Another bonus to the Toca Boca apps are the social skills learned. As mentioned previously, there is no way to play Toca Tea Party without practicing social niceties like “Please,” and “Thank you,” and, “Could I try some more?” (In fact, this app is often mentioned as a favorite amongst parents of children with autism, due to the fact that many children with autism love electronics and also need encouragement to communicate verbally.) When my 5-year-old plays Toca Store she flips through the catalogs looking for things to “buy” for each of her friends and family members: “Ooooh, Mommy loves carrots. And Daddy just said he needs new shirts! Zoe’s always wanted a cat…” Then she practices her math and counting skills by paying for each item individually.

The Toca Boca website lists six philosophies that guide the development of their products. Number 6 is “You will like our products, but your kids will love them.” They may have missed the mark with that one—I love these apps at least as much as my kids do!