Review – I Am a Bunny, Caution with iphone Apps & iWriteWords

Kid’s  Book and Kid’s iPhone App reviews continue. For my “reasons” behind “Why Apps?!” look here. Type “Kids” or “children” or “educational” into the Apple iStore and you get bombarded with Apps. Which to get?! Look no further… As well as our usual Monday Morning Book Club review!

All previously reviewed books can be found on my Amazon store:

Red Ted Arts Book Recommendations on Amazon

Book Review – I Am a Bunny

I Am a Bunny (Golden Sturdy Book) By Ole Risom, Richard Scarry.

iPhone Apps – A Warning!

I thought I would pass on this warning that I saw on a UK “Watchdog programme”, especially since I believe, we ALMOST fell into this trap:

Some iphone Apps targeting children (or adults for that matter), have features that allow you to buy “extras”. These are often disguised as “shells” or “pearls” or whatever other iphone app currency. Many young children do not understand the value of money and they can easily rack up a bill. They may “buy these extras” not understanding it is expensive/ waste or money or they may buy them, as they cannot read the “pop ups” saying “buy now” and just click to see what may happen. On the Watchdog progamme, the child was charged almost £60 (!!!) each time they bought.

So. Please do TEST all of your Apps (I do) and if you spot anything that suggests you should buy extras, delete that App, or at the very least, make sure you haven’t recently entered your password into the Apple Store. I only download Apps for Red Ted in the evening, so that by the time he place with the phone, he would have to re-enter any passwords.

I bought, a quite fun “Pet Fish App”, which we liked, until they “updated” it to include the option to buy pearls. These extra pearls allowed you to buy extra pets and tricks etc. Though Red Ted never got the chance to misuse it, I have deleted it, as I object to being tempted by extra products. Of course this is annoying, as  paid for the App in the first place, but it is just one of those things. The info on that App did actually mention the “pearl shop”, so I could have avoided wasting all of 59p (99c).

I am not talking about the “Lite” Apps, where you have options to buy the “Full version” - I think that those are fair enough and the full versions usually are not expensive (even if it is annoying that your child bought it “by accident”).

iPhone App Review – iWriteWords

  I can’t remember how I came across this one. I don’t actively seek out spelling games, as I feel that our babies are still babies and should enjoy childhood whilst they can! No need to learn TOO much grown up stuff when they don’t have to! (am I contracting myself? mmh not sure). Back to my “learning through play” – basically, I DO believe that if they are learning something which they are enjoying learning, then it is ok, no? Having fun. Learning. Good. Which is why I decided to “keep this App”, if Red Ted likes it great, if not, I can delete it, as once again, I only got the “Lite” version (plenty for a 2.5yrs old!).

What is it? And what does it do? Well… it is a letter and number writing game. Basically, you tap on “numbers or letters” and it leads you to write a B or a C. It is done with a little monster thing that guides you along numbers, which you have to follow (am I making sense?). Red Ted didn’t get it AT ALL at first. One day however, I heard lots of clapping and cheering coming from the iPhone. Curious as to what he was playing, I saw that he had finally figured it out AND enjoyed playing it! I love the simple graphics. I love how they use children’s drawings and how your “own” “B” or “C” is added to the graphic. Get the Lite version. Try it out. And if you like it, keep it!