O was 16 months when she first learned how to slide the virtual slide lock on the iPhone, open and scroll to her page of apps. Jake started doing that around the same age. This only happened cause I’m a tech gadget geek and happen to have owned an iPhone for the last two years. As soon as O was born I began shopping on the app store for kid friendly apps. I’ve downloaded thousands of apps (all kinds) and had a good grasp for what apps were ones worthy of downloading and which ones weren’t.
The greatest thing about reviewing kid-friendly apps is having the best testers right in house. O has her own page dedicated to apps that are for her which makes it easy when I hand her my phone. She’s got a few “game” apps that are geared towards the two year old age group but most of them are educational in part or in whole. Whether it’s spelling, drawing, or apps that identify animal sounds she’s played with it.
Recently I was presented with an opportunity to review a cool new app called, Hooray My Name Objects. One key factor in any app, especially one desigend for toddlers, is how well the graphics and sounds are. They don’t have to be extremely complex but they have to be clear and vibrant as children identify well with those. This app is no expection to that rule as the animation is clean, crisp, and very bright. There are good music effects and sounds, which you can turn off. What makes this app so unique is it’s ability to customize the sounds to your childs name. There are over 1,300 names to choose from in the app so you shouldn’t have a problem finding your child’s name. Once you’ve picked your child’s name (which you can later change for siblings) you’re taken to a screen where you can choose between two scene modes; the Park or the Beach. Kids love both places so they should be fun places for kids to experience the app with.
The app takes kids through either the park or the beach where they can identify objects. What’s cool is they can scroll around the screen to see the whole picture. Tapping almost anywhere on the screen lands you on an object which the app visually displays the name for as well as audibly identifies. The objects are common things you’d find in either of those settings and then also some fun not so common objects (like a dinosaur skeleton). Throughout the app the little character, Jack, (who is static on the lower right side of the screen) asks your child (by name) to find an object. They’re free to search the screen and tap any object they like as well as try and follow instruction to identify one. The music is cheerful and cute and not annoying, which can be for some kids apps. One thing I also really like about the app is you can actually display it in both landscape and portrait mode. So the child can hold the phone however, they like and still play.
Overall, I think this is a fun and educational app for kids in the 1 to 3 year old range. By nature the app isn’t very complex as once all the objects are identified there’s not much else to do. However, at this age children tend to do a lot of repetitive tasks and actually that’s a good thing from a learning perspective. Hopefully, the developer will put more scenes in the app other than just the two that are there. Short of some of these things which can easily be addressed in future upgrades I think it’s a fun, educational, and really unique app that your child will like.
You can find Hooray My Name Objects in the iTunes store for download. For the price of a grande coffee at Starbucks or $1.99, the app will run on either your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. As far as educational and interactive apps for your 1 to 3 year old I’d recommend this one for your little future iPhoner.
I’m giving away a FREE promo code to 3 lucky winners over at my other site www.LateNightParents.com. The contest will run this week and the winners will be announced on our show next Monday, March 7th as well as on our blog. Good luck to all of you and even if you don’t win you can quickly pick up the app through the app store!
Disclosure: I was provided with a promo code to download the app for this review. I was not compensated in any way to review this app. With that said, my opinions expressed in this review are my own and can’t be bought for any money let alone $1.99.
I don’t know if this is the norm or not but O has always liked looking at herself. She’s 28 months so I don’t mean in the vain kind of way, of course. Rather she’s been fascinated with how the world sees her. She’s always checking herself out in the mirror and just loves to watch videos of herself on my iPhone. I think the idea that she actually has a reflection and being able to see what others see, intrigues her.
What’s great about this app and others like is that it is interactive. It’s something you can do with your children. The end result? You actually get a picture you can keep and send to friends and family as well. Having your phone with you wherever you go makes it great to just pull out and use when you’re waiting in long lines or even as a distraction when they’re about to have that melt down!
The makers of the app say if you’re child is old enough to ask for your phone they’re old enough to play. I suppose that’s mostly true and really there’s no harm in having them play short of them busting the crap out of your phone which is a totally different problem. The app is $1.99 in the app store and as of this writing received 4 out of 5 stars from 209 Reviewers.
