The Free App Conundrum: Shape Builder - Lite Version

So i take a rather loose interpretation of iTunes App store lists of the top Free or Paid Apps. I'm sure the algorithm that determines what ends up in the "Top" lists is so complicated that they have an army of mathlete optical laser engineers who work on it. However - I hope that a good dose of fun gets worked into the equation somehow. Wormie and I try to tease out the fun strings from the messy App Store algorithm when we are testing applications. I mix up the free and paid applications we review, but given this is cyberweek i'm going to try and do a free app a day during down time at work. Here's the catch...i'm going to do a "Lite" review.

In general a lot of the free applications that are appropriate for kids are limited in functionality and are designed as free trials with the goal of upselling you to their paid version. Shape Builder Lite is a puzzle application that was high up in the Free Education Apps section of the iPhone App store. This fit my criteria of peceived value and the right price.

The premise is simple - you get an outline of a puzzle and the missing pieces. You then drag pieces into the corresponding spot on the outlined shape and build your object. Once it is complete the object forms into a picture and makes a sound. I make a puzzle guitar, the puzzle turns into a guitar, the guitar then plays a little ditty.

Wormie grasped the basics right out of the gate. She could start the app on her own and quickly started trying to drop the pieces into the relevant spots. The challenge, and my only complaint about this application, is that the game play of dragging pieces was a little off. Wormie and her four year old fingers wanted to direct the puzzle piecec by holding it right in the middle. It was much more effective by dragging the lower right corner of each piece and dropping that slighly past where the puzzle ended. That was an impossible concept to explain, but after a few frustrating tries she seemed to get it down well enough to complete a puzzle with limited cries for "Daddy." After several days she had the game play down cold and did not need any help.

Wormie likes it. I don't think there is any educational value to forming the letters or objects but she likes it and i think is a fun brain teaser. I am tempted to get the full paid version since she cycles through all the free puzzles (5-10) quickly.

Age Range: 3.5+
Difficulty: 3/5 (5 being easy)
Look & Feel : 25 (5 being cool)
Parent Helper: 3/5 (5 being helpful)

Price:Free

ABC Tracer: First Step in Making My Girl a Genius

As previously mentioned Wormie has become extremely interested in reading her books. So much so that she will pass watching TV or a movie after dinner so she can pour over her library books. After the success of the iPhone kid book app i figured i would try something more educational. My first experiment with educational flash cards didn't go so well. I'm giving that app some time before writing the review but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

My method for picking my apps for review is not very complex. I usually use the app store on the phone and will try a mix of paid and free versions to keep it balanced. I found the ABC Tracer in the Education channel in the iPhone store. My assumption there is that the best selling or most popular will be the versions that Apple puts at the top of the list. It's not a complex equation but I figure its worthwhile to work through the top apps first before digging down into the weeds.

So... i found ABC Tracer to figure out the basics before handing over to Wormie. This apps got everything for type A parents.

• Flashcards? CHECK!
• Phonics? CHECK?
• Freestyle drawing to express your innner Picasso? DOUBLE CHECK!

The basic gist is that you can trace letters (upper case/lower case) and numbers in order to practice you writing skills. There are other little features like you can change the color of your ink and sound features (phonics i guess) like touching an object associated with your letter, which will then make the appropriate sound. Trace an A, touch the alligator, alligator roars... Wormie nailed it.

Like i said last week the iPhone book was in Wormies top spot, until she found ABC Tracer. I showed her how to start the app and she started cranking away on the tracings. I thought that i would have to show her how to work the menu but she was comfortable navigating all on her own. She even discovered some features i had missed, like a free drawing component that was probably designed for letters, but she used for pictures. Wormie went through each letter and number all on her own and would then go back to the beginning to start over.

The look and feel reminded me of a Fisher Price toy a la 1983, but the functionality is so strong, and Wormie was so engaged that I can forgive the lack luster aesthetics. Aside from dated artwork the only other criticism i have is that the app is trying to teach a "right" and "wrong" way to write a letter. I'm sure there is some theory and method behind this but for hte life of me i couldn't figure it out or see a way to explain the "correct" way to write a letter to Wormie. Perhaps I am just a roadblock on her way to a James Joycean understanding of the printed word, but I think she will be just as smart if i don't let her know that the red lines in her tracing means she did something wrong. Regardless this was not a blocker for using the application and Wormie has continued to bang the heck out of the ABC Tracer. I would highly recommend this to parents whose children are just getting into reading and letters.

Age Range: 4.5+
Difficulty: 4/5 (5 being easy)
Look & Feel :1/5 (5 being cool)
Parent Helper: 5/5 (5 being helpful)

Price:$1.99

iStoryTime: The Brave Monkey Pirate - Quirky, Quick - PERFECT!

I saw a post not long ago on Twitter from App Develop @iStorytime promoting their kids story application. I thought it was a great idea and posted something about it to @gabbaphone twitter account. @iStoryTime wrote me back and gave me a free promo code to check out one of their story apps. I felt a little weird reviewing a free game, i'm all about the journalistic impartiality don't you know, so I went ahead and bought one for $1.99. I went for 'The Brave Monkey Pirate" based on the funny title and cute art.

I checked it out myself before handing it over to Wormie and there were some controls for audio (ie. do you want a childs voice or adult voice) and some other basic set up controls. It was nothing you need to do before using the App with your child but i was curious at how robust the reader controls were - the answer is, not very. I went through the story myself and found it a quirky and cute. Its about a little monkey who takes a magical (read trippy) journeym and along the way he finds a way to make trips to the doctor visit less scary. The minimalist art is cute and cool, and the little parable going on about being brave when you go to the doctor is light enough that it does not come off as a "Oh my go could Berenstein Bears be less subtle" life lesson. A subsequent search turned the book up on Scribd and the Robert Hayes, the authors, site http://www.bluebison.net/. My only complaint about the application was that i wish the page turning functioned more like the Kindle application - but this item really had no impact on the 20 something page iBook.

I gave the App to Wormie thinking it would be a short trial. For what ever reason i figured she would get bored quickly and ask for a different game. I was SO wrong. Wormie is just starting to get into writing letters and has been pouring over books from the library. I can only assume that this new found interest in the written word helped spur her obsession with "The Brave Monkey Pirate." When I handed Wormie the App she figured out the page scrolling right away. She also liked the audio feature, which i know because when i turned it off after another viewing, she complained how the App was broken. When she got to the end of the story, she rewound all the pages and started over. She read and re-read the story for a full 10-20 minutes, which must have been about 10 reads of the story. The "pirate story" as she called it, has became the top requested app on my phone until I downloaded some letter tracing apps.

Overall - i was surprised, and pleased, at how much she really liked it. I believe the combination of quality art, cute story, professional audio, and her new found interest in "reading" sealed the deal. My only complaint is that at $1.99, for what is a considerably short story, this is an expensive proposition. However, if I broke down how much i've paid on a per viewing basis, I'm sure its beat most of the childrens books we buy at our LBS, Kepplers, at about $.10 a view and going down! I have been meaning to buy another story for some time to see how much is the form vs. content but until then Wormie still likes to log a few reads of "The Brave Monkey Pirate" while we wait for our breakfast every Sunday.


Age Range: 3-5
Difficulty: 3/5 (5 being easy)
Look & Feel :4/5 (5 being cool)
Parent Helper: 5/5 (5 being helpful)