On the day before I knew that my husband was going to surprise our family with an iPad, I was invited to test out a new iPad app by the SUPER WHY folks from PBS. Because I (wrongfully) assumed it would also work on the iPhone, I agreed to take it for a spin. Lucky for all of us, we did get an iPad, but that’s a story for another day. Today was the first day that Holden and I got enough alone-together time to test it out.
Description:
Choose from one of four thematic reading or spelling games with the Super Why characters. Alternatively, kids can do free sticker play using various storybook backgrounds. Designed for early readers and pre-readers with parents willing to share their new toy, the iPad.
What we liked:
- Stickers for right answers. Fun tracking system based on cute stickers is appealing for a four-and-three-quarters kid.
- Spelling. When asked what his favorite part of the game was, Holden said “the spelling,” when asked why, he said “I don’t know” — and that’s the word from the four-year old reviewer.
- Wrong answers are better. At first I was frustrated that yet another interactive game for children makes the wrong answer more appealing than the right answer (with a funny sound or explosion). Then I realized that his gaming of the system meant that he was working harder to read. In order to see a pig then a monkey then a spider in the Miss Muffet story took some effort.
What we didn’t like:
- Blammo. The game crashed out four times in ten minutes.
- Dupes. The game asked us duplicate questions in our ten minute game. Maybe one thing has to do with the other; but I’d assume because it was tracking our progress with stickers, it wouldn’t ask the same questions again so soon.
What else we’d like to see:
The iPad format lends itself very well to more interactivity. One idea I had (as we were breezing through single panels of stories Holden doesn’t know) was to tell the story and interrupt it with real-time interactive games just like the show. I might even pay a little more than $3 for that. Maybe.
Bottom line:
If you’re willing to share the iPad with your preschooler, this game is well done. I’m confident that the periodic app updates will correct for the instability and crashing. Maybe, just maybe, some of my fantastic ideas will be added too.
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Disclosure: I was given a code to try out the SUPER WHY app for free. It costs $2.99.
