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Having a two year old who is completely proficient at using the Apple iPad and iPhone has its advantages sometimes, especially when iPad apps are developed to aid in my day to day parenting.What parent wouldn't want a little help reenforcing the everyday mundane tasks through play? I know I appreciate the help! When I heard about the iTouchiLearn Musical Morning Routines for Toddler and Preschool Kids by Staytooned, I was very curious as to whether or not it would help my very rambunctious two year old remember the tasks he was supposed to do complete each morning. So when I was offered a free promo code to download this app, I figured I'd give it a try.
This is how the app is described on the Apple App website:
★Featured on TV News Report: Using iPads to Teach Kids Life Skills★
3-year-old Julia refused to brush her teeth until she played iTouchiLearn Morning Routines, the FIRST and ONLY iPad app that teaches toddler, preschool and special needs kids morning routine life skills through music, animation and engaging interactive activities.
Morning routines come to life as players progress through each routine and receive virtual rewards for completing a task. Kids interact with the catchy "Ready for School" song sung to the tune of "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush".
iTouchiLearn Morning Routines includes 3 modes of early learning: Game, Music and Activity. Players first pick the character they would like to be in the game. By incorporating creative play, kids are treated to a whole new level of learning. Morning routines come to life as players progress through each routine and receive virtual rewards for completing a task.
iTouchiLearn Morning Routines helps build early learning literacy, and life skills.
★Colorful animation, interaction and virtual rewards to motivate children and focus their attention.
★Games use multiple learning modes to teach concepts.
★Patterned activity sequences provide structural framework for children with learning disabilities and special needs.
★Verbal directions and modeling aid students with speech difficulties.
★Perfect for toddler, preschool or special needs kids life skills training.
Within a couple minutes of allowing him to play on my iPad, my son found the new backpack icon and opened up the app. Together we (meaning me watching over his shoulder) worked through the morning routine sequences. He enjoyed the "Ready for School" song and the characters doing the routines on the screen. In addition to the main routine, he really enjoyed the puzzles that are offered as extras. He was easily able to figure out the key strokes needed for each part of the game. It kept his attention for a good 15-20 minutes, which is a lot for a 2 year old!
I watched him play the app, on and off, for about a week, then I noticed that he would ask to brush his teeth on his own, he suddenly knew how to put his shoes on(even if he still needed help) and wanted to help get breakfast each morning. All in all, I'd call that a success for just over a weeks worth of practice with no additional new input other than this app.
- It seems to work! (Well at least with my 2.5 year old.)
- Perfect ratio of activity to teaching for my son.
- Nice animation, basic enough to focus the attention to the morning routine tasks, however interesting enough to keep the attention to the app.
- The app is really designed to be simple enough for toddlers to play on their own.
- The concept is simple, and the song is repetitive, so it doesn't take long before your child is singing along.
- Its nice that the routine sequences are broken up with puzzles and games to keep the attention of the child while playing.
- The "choose your musical track" was a nice way to be able to tailor the pre-set morning routine to something a little closer to our families normal routine.
- As a parent, the song is very repetitive and gets stuck in your head, it would have been nice to change it up a little bit for each part of the routine.
- The puzzle piece game was tough because the pieces had to be perfectly aligned in order for the program to recognize that it was the right piece.
- The memory game was the only significant problem in this whole app. It would allow more then two cards facing up at a time, and would not flip cards back if it was an incorrect match. If there were more then two cards showing, then the program didn't recognize when there were matched pictures that showed up. My son got very frustrated trying to get this to work and eventually gave up.
- The song is geared for getting kids ready for school. While morning routine is very important for school age kids, it would be nice to have other options for the kids that don't yet attend school or day care since this is billed as a toddler app in addition to a young school age children's app.
In conclusion, I think this is a pretty good quality toddler education app. I think it is a good teaching aid when you, as a parent are having little luck communicating to your child, or if you were a therapist trying to work with a child that does not communicate well.
I would like to thank StayTooned for the preview copy of this app.
iTouchiLearn Musical Morning Routines for Toddler and Preschool Kids is currently $1.99 on iTunes.
