Toddler iPhone App Review: Preschool Adventure

Creator: 3DAL, LLC
Price: $0.99
Pop Culture Mom Rating: 5 out of 5

This is one of the great bargains as far as iPhone apps for toddlers goes. You get eight games in one. Each game involves a different skill: colors, numbers, shapes, parts of the body, matching, “art” (which is actually coloring), sounds (animal sounds) and typing.




Colors



This game is often my daughter's favorite. Pop Culture Toddler is really into sea creatures right now, so this game is right up her alley. When your toddler touches on the colored splotches above, they temporarily transform into the following:

Yellow - fish
Blue - whale
Purple - octopus
Orange - starfish
Green - sea turtle
Red - sea horse
Pink - sea anemone

A child's voice announces the name of the color and the name of the creature. Although I know my daughter only truly knows a few colors, if you ask her to find the proper color/creature combo, she gets it right every time.

One frustrating part of the game is that toddlers will have trouble with accuracy, especially at the beginning. PCT often tries to click on something such as the seahorse, but gets the sea anemone instead. In fact, the errors almost always result in the sea anemone.

Numbers




"Numbers" is your classic connect-the-dots game. This game is still a little too advanced for Pop Culture Toddler (which is why, I guess, this iPhone app is called "preschool" adventure rather than "toddler" adventure). We try to play it every now and then, but I don't think she'll fully appreciate it for a number of months.

Shapes



Honestly, this is really similar to "Colors," only instead of sea creatures, you get shapes with googly eyes which disappear when they jump out of their respective craters. But since toddlers are apparently impervious to boredom via repetition, PCT loves this game.

Artist



In this game, there are four pictures to "paint" any way you choose. Pop Culture Toddler only plays with this when she is absolutely bored with the other games. I, however, think it's fun. If only there were more colors!

Body



This game teaches your little one the parts of the body by saying the name and putting them on the correct spot on the monkey when clicked. PCT already knew her body parts when we got Preschool Adventure, so this isn't really a teaching tool. She just likes the monkey.

Matching




This game looks like it should be boring at all get out, but Pop Culture Toddler giggles every time she plays with it. There are three sliding parts, and you have to click to change each one out until you filly form one of a bear, a pig, an alligator, or a caterpillar (which then turns into a butterfly). Very cute.

Sounds



Honestly, we rarely play this game, because we have another farm animal game Pop Culture Toddler enjoys more. She doesn't mind this game, however. It's just not at the top of her to-play list.

Typing



Pop Culture Toddler occasionally likes to play with the typing game, which involves pressing a letter on an on-screen keyboard, then seeing a large block version of the letter (you can shift between caps and lower case), followed by an animal whose name starts with that letter.


I think some of the animals chosen for the letters are a bit random [for instance, would you automatically think “giraffe” or “gorilla” would be the “G” animal? I would. It’s a gazelle. And the "N" animal is a newt. Really?!]; but my daughter seems to enjoy it anyway. She gets to "type" and keep her grubby little hands off my computer. Everybody wins.

Overall Impression
Certainly, not every game is a clear hit, and some children are going to prefer certain games to others. As far as value for the money and educational value, however, it's pretty hard to argue with paying less than a dollar (before tax) for eight games. Even if your child only likes one, you've gotten your money's worth.
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Toddler iPhone App Review: Elmo's Monster Maker

Creator: Sesame Street
Price: $3.99
Pop Culture Mom Rating: 4.5 out of 5

I will be the first to admit, despite my daughter's Elmo obsession, I resisted purchasing this toddler iPhone app for a really long time. iTunes even recommended it to me several times before I finally broke down a couple weeks ago and purchased it.

The concept seemed incredibly stupid: help Elmo design monster friends. Seriously? How could that be remotely fun for a toddler? For one, her obsession is with Elmo, not other monsters. Additionally, designing a monster seems like too difficult (and boring) of a task for a toddler to perform. And for four dollars?? Thanks, but no thanks App Genius.

Well, I stand corrected. The game is easy enough for my 21-month old to play, and she absolutely loves it.

Here's how it works: Elmo asks you to click on a monster so you can create a new friend. And out parade a bunch of faceless monsters saying "Hello" in different cutesy monster voices. Your child clicks on a monster, and then the fun begins.

Elmo walks your child through creating a monster face by adding eyes, a nose, and (if desired). If your child randomly touches the iPhone screen anywhere, chances are s/he will end up choosing a set of eyes, a nose or a hat. Besides, let's face it, your toddler really doesn't care what the monster looks like in the end.

After the monster is created, your child can then take a picture of the monster with a randomly selected background, have the monster interact with Elmo, or watch the monster dance. Pop Culture Toddler loves all of the activities, but it appears her favorite is the dancing. There are three different styles of music with matching backgrounds, but her favorite is the country western-style music with the western background. When the music starts going, her little fists start pumping, and she starts getting down with the monster.

This toddler iPhone app has been a joy for my daughter, and I'm sorry I resisted it for so long. Better late than never, though, right?

Here's one of the pictures Pop Culture Toddler saved to my camera roll of one of her monsters:




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Hello Kiddie!

I love Hello Kitty almost to the point of a sick obsession. When I was pregnant, I found out that Build-a-Bear was featuring a limited edition Hawaiian Hello Kitty. I promptly bought one. When the purrfect Kitty arrived, a co-worker asked if she was any indication of my baby's gender (unknown to the outside world). You should have seen her face when I announced no, the Hello Kitty was mine, and "I don't share."

Despite my husband's jokes that, boy or girl, we would have a Hello Kitty nursery, I restrained myself. Hello Kitty is my love, not necessarily my child's. And, again, I don't share. I wasn't even the person who bought my daughter her first Hello Kitty wares; but after it became apparent that my daughter, too, loved Hello Kitty, I bought her each subsequent one.

My baby girl can pick Hello Kitty out of a five cat lineup, easily. She is such a fan -- not as big a fan as me, but I have [cough cough cough] years on her. She could catch up. Someday.

Right now, one of her prized possessions is a Hello Kitty towel, with Kitty's head on the hood, bearing a HUGE three-dimensional bow. Tonight after her bath, my daughter wanted to wear the towel after her pajamas were on. Then she wanted to wear it to bed. Once in bed, she took Hello Kitty off... For about five minutes.

Out of nowhere, this girl starts having a temper tantrum over her Hello Kitty-deficient head. I know her pain. So... I let her wear it to sleep. No joke.

Sanrio Dreams, my sweetheart!


Posted from my iPhone, so please forgive any ducking typos.
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Non-parents Shouldn't Try to "Educate" Parents

We interrupt this pop culture parenting update to bring you this public service announcement...

So you've never raised kids of your own and never even been or gotten someone pregnant, but you've got a lot of time on your hands? How about you fill that gap with coming up with creative ways to unleash parent anger -- like by trying to educate parents (you know, real parents, not wannabe parents or dog parents) on how to raise their kids?

Actually, DON'T. As annoying as it is when someone with actual experience gives unsolicited advice and/or suggests their way of doing something personal and subjective (such as.... whether to formula feed or breastfeed, maybe?), there is nothing worse than someone with no practical hands-on experience trying to "educate" parents with things they learned by reading some parenting book.

Oh... How cute! You know how to read! Chances are, so do the people you are trying to "educate." It is quite arrogant to assume that just because someone reaches a different conclusion from you - whether out of a conscious and calculated effort or out of necessity - that their decision was ill-formed or made based on no research. Most efforts to "educate" parents, particularly those who come from non-parents, are just offensive.

I realize that everyone makes this mistake at some point. I'm sure before I was a mom, I made some ignorant suggestion to a friend or family member based on something I've read or heard. And I'll be the first to admit that sometimes, some person's well-researched tip comes in handy. This blog post is not aimed at those sort of blips. This advisory is for those repeat offenders -- those smart cookies who think that just because they know how to read several books and process information, they know what is best in most, if not all, situations, and for all people.

Reading parenting books and medical articles alone does not make one qualified to educate parents with their medical "knowledge" or "well-researched" parenting advice any more than reading the Constitution makes me a Founding Father. People make these mistakes in all walks of life. There is nothing funnier and more aggravating to us lawyers than when some yahoo spends time "researching" on Findlaw.com and then walks into a courtroom, thinking he now knows how to actually be a lawyer. Ever heard "the man who represents himself has a fool for a client"? There's a reason for that statement. It's true.

The steep learning curve attached to being a lawyer is nothing compared to that of being a parent. There is more on-the-job training for parenting than one could ever imagine -- I know I certainly didn't. Most parents find that sometimes even their past experiences can't prepare them for their next. It's all trial and error, and most of us are doing the best we can.

People should read parenting books and parenting blogs... for useful tips and to figure out the type of parent they want to be. But no source(s) should ever be taken as gospel. And under NO circumstances should research uncoupled with field experience ever be deemed as proper credentials entitling you to educate parents.


Posted from my iPhone, so please forgive any ducking typos.
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Dear Amazon.com

Dear Amazon.com:


I love you, you know I do. The three deliveries I get every week proves how much I love you. But, my dear, we need to talk. You see, you have one little quirk that is irking me. As you probably guessed, I am referring to the "Recommended for You" page.

Is it really possible with all the technological advances that have been made, you can't figure out a way to separate what's recommended for me versus what's recommended for my kid? It is really a shame that now virtually all of my DVD and book recommendations involve Elmo or Princess Presto. Do you truly think I have no other interests?

Yes, I realize I could mark all of the purchases for my toddler as gifts or click "do not use for recommendations"; but here's the problem: I still want her recommendations, too. I just don't want them overtaking my entire recommendations page.

I'm not going to create a separate account for a one-year old. I'm just not going to do it. Netflix has figured out how to separate ratings for separate members of the family on one account. Are you seriously telling me Netflix has better tech guys than you?

I would really appreciate if you could fix this minor bug. Until then, I remain hopefully devoted to you like ONJ, but a little disappointed.

XOXO,

Pop Culture Mom
Posted from my iPhone, so please forgive any ducking typos.
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My Current Top Two ABC Songs for Toddlers

If you haven’t had a child yet or haven’t worked in the childcare industry, the idea of “ABC songs for toddlers” (yes, songs, plural) probably seems foreign.  After all, isn’t there just that one ABC song that everyone learns in school, with maybe slight variations for “now I’ve learned my ABCs” versus “now I’ve said my ABCs”? No. Not quite. Yes, the alphabet never changes, but the way it can be sung varies widely. After listening to a variety of ABC songs for toddlers, from the painfully excruciating to the so-fun-I-listen-without-my-kids varieties, I give you my top two:
Best ABC Songs for Toddlers #1 – “Elmo’s Alphabet Rap
Number One does not mean that this is the best song, just that I am mentioning it first. This race is a true tie. I know, I know, I know. Most toddlers would consider it a sin to put Elmo as anything except “number one”; but hear me out.
“Elmo’s Alphabet Rap” is without a doubt one of the best ABC songs for toddlers out there, and probably one of the best toddler songs period. Like all things Elmo, the song is just as cute as it could possibly be. Elmo raps one verse, and then asks you to “Come along and rap with me. Doot. Doot. Doot. Doo Doo Doo Doo..” and then raps again at a much slower pace, breaking the alphabet, “A.. B.. C… … D… E… F… G…,” but the real beauty comes with the “Q. R. S… doot doot. Doot doot do-doot. T. U. V. Ha ha! Yeah! W… X. Y. Zeeeeeeeeeeee!” before Elmo breaks into another fast rap. I know, sounds silly to go on and on about an ABC song for toddlers, but this little ditty is super catchy. I’ve caught myself continuing to listen to it after I’ve already dropped my daughter off at school. <head hangs in shame>.
So why, if Elmo is so darn catchy, does he only manage a tie? Well, as cute as Elmo is, he just can’t absolutely beat out Alpha Pig.
Best ABC Songs for Toddlers #1 (TIE) - Alpha Pig’s “Amazing Alphabet Song
For those who are unfamiliar with Alpha Pig, are you parents?? Just kidding (sort of). Alpha Pig is one of the Super Readers on PBS’s “Super Why!”. Alpha Pig often sings his “Amazing Alphabet Song” while hammering. The sounds of his hammer hitting metal as the letters of the alphabet fly out make up part of the background music for his song.
Alpha Pig’s “Amazing Alphabet Song” is so different from any alphabet song I’ve heard before. Yes, Elmo’s rap is different, but other than the second verse where Elmo changes up the tempo, it’s still your regular alphabet song in rap format. The “Amazing Alphabet Song,” which ends “W, X, Y and Z. Sing with me.” is just unique. Maybe it’s the background music, or maybe I’m just in love with that little pig, but this song gets my blue ribbon (tie).
We don’t have the song in MP3 format, so I haven’t found myself listening to it without my daughter present [okay, okay, maybe I watched the You Tube video a couple of times at work. Like you haven’t done something similar!], but it has frequently been stuck in my head during the day to the point of someone asking me what I am humming under my breath [Busted!].
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