| Toddler Teasers (all apps) |
| Toddler Teasers Shapes (Age 2+) | |||||||||||
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“Toddler Teasers Shapes” is an app to teach your child names of different shapes. Toddler Teasers have a range of good looking apps I plan to try out in the future. The quiz app is the most popular (its 4 separate apps joined together at a discounted price). The shapes app is available for free, I assume so you can see the quality of the apps Toddler Teasers have developed before buying their other apps. Works for me!
One thing of note about the app is the reward system – stickers you can place on a stickers page. When I first got the app, the sticker part of the app had a somewhat complex interface. You only saw a few images on the screen at once and had to scroll through them. It was a bit tricky to do. A later update however changed this to show a smaller number of stickers without need to scroll. I suspect the interface was changed as the result of user feedback. In my case, I would say Big-T preferred the older sticker interface. Big-T used to love shopping through the sticker catalog and then picking the sticker he wanted. He spent more time there than doing the puzzles. The new sticker interface is easier to use, but as a result makes it less fun for him. I note that other reviews on the iTunes site have applauded the change as it makes it easier for most children. If you had not seen the older version of course you simply would never have known how it used to behave.
The Application
Shows several shapes on the screen then asks “touch the triangle” etc. If correct, you get a verbal and visual success confirmation. If wrong you get another try. After you get several correct answers you get to pick a sticker and place it on a sticker page.
The Good
- Clean, intuitive user interface for the quiz section.
- Teaches shape names.
- Encourages listening comprehension.
- If you get a wrong answer, that choice disappears from the available choices.
- Correct answers get a few different sounds (cheers, clapping, etc) – a bit of variety.
- The stickers concept is great. Big-T (my 3yo boy) used to play the previous version of the app just for the stickers. (He does not play the app much now because he has moved on to other apps.)
- Once a sticker is placed, you are pushed on to do more quizes promptly. This keeps things moving along. Big-T used to sit for ages in the previous version scrolling through all the stickers looking at each carefully.
- Some of the stickers also had sound effects when placed on the stickers page.
The Bad
- Asks the question only once. If you aren’t paying attention you can miss the question. Big-T found this really annoying at times. His little brother would distract him at just the wrong moment and he missed the question. Big-T hates getting things wrong, so would refuse to touch a possibly incorrect shape. (Having the question repeat periodically would be one way for the app designers to overcome this problem.)
- The shape names are shown as text as well as being spoken aloud (which is good). However, the the shape names are shown in CAPITAL LETTERS. I MEAN EVERYONE ALWAYS WRITES IN CAPITAL LETTERS, DON’T THEY? This is a personal opinion of course (as is the whole review!), but I prefer teaching kids the real world, not a made up world because it seems simpler. Mixed or lower seems like the right choice to me. To be fair, the app does show some text in lower case (“touch the TRIANGLE”). So while a negative in my books, its not a big deal.
- Big-T preferred the older more complex sticker selection interface as it was more engaging. I think this is a matter of personal opinion – overall I think the change is probably a positive one for young children.
Educational Value
Teaches young children (2 to 4) shapes and makes it fun to do. The sticker reward system works great with Big-T. He knew all the shapes, but kept playing for ages afterwards just to be able to pick more stickers.
My Score
4 stars. Good quality with good educational value. It only teaches one concept, but I don’t consider that a negative. The sticker reward system is a great idea. Making learning activities fun gets a thumbs up from me!
Get it in iTunes
More information, screen shots, and user reviews can be found in the iTunes store.
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