Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
The cow says mooooo! Zoowawa, an app for toddlers and their parents
Zoowawa [US$0.99, iTunes Link] is a cute app targeted for toddlers between the ages of two and three. Your child is presented with a split screen displaying two animals. Tapping on one of the animals plays the sound that the animal makes. Each half of the screen can be swiped individually to reveal 14 animal pictures per half, or 24 animal pictures in all. The pictures are brightly colored and the app has a very clean look to it. Zoowawa runs on any iPhone or iPod touch using OS 3.1.2 or better.
My daughter is finishing a masters in education and has familiarity with very small children, so I asked her about the appropriateness of this app. My first impression was that along with the sound, the printed name of the animal should be shown. My daughter told me that for most kids in the targeted age range, adding the text would be too complex since reading often doesn't start until a child is three years old or older.
She did have few problems with the size of the pictures, saying that they may not hold a child's interest for very long. Kids like big things and dividing the screen to make each animal half of the screen size was probably not the best idea. Even at full size, a picture may not attract the attention of a toddler for too long.
I also had a bit of a problem with the quality of the animal sounds. Most are not digitized animal sounds, but rather a recording of someone making the sound with his voice. Since for many kids this app might be their first introduction to animals, I think that sound accuracy should be important.
Parents shouldn't buy a toddler app like this thinking that they can just hand the child the iPhone and get some respite while the toddler plays with the animals. The reality check my daughter gave me is that the most likely course of events is that the iPhone will be dropped, tossed, or put into the child's mouth in a minute or less. We all know that the iPhone and iPod touch have moisture sensors which, if triggered, invalidate a warranty faster than you can say Moo.
The best way to use this app is to sit with your child and make sure your device is safe, while little fingers tap the buttons to hear the sounds or swipe to see all of the animals. Parents need to teach their children about the animals and talk to their children about them.
I can see this being a wonderful opportunity to help you occupy your child when you're stuck in an airport or in some situation where you forgot to bring along others toys and coloring books. Zoowawa is always in your pocket. I recommend this app to parents who will use it as an educational and interactive experience they can enjoy with their child. I liked Zoowawa, and it wouldn't take much for the developers to make it even better.
I'm sure there are some parents of toddlers out there reading this -- what other apps do you recommend for keeping the little ones entertained? Leave your feedback in the comments.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rhsteinmetz said 7:41PM on 11-22-2009
DOGCOW says MOOF
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Zach said 7:53PM on 11-22-2009
My 2-year old loves the First Words series of apps.
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Konstantin G. said 8:24PM on 11-22-2009
Oh... it's not localized!
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ryan said 6:47PM on 11-24-2009
nothing beats "peek-a-boo" barn and "peek-a-boo" wild. except for maybe "itsy bitsy spider." all three apps have my 11month old hooked and smiling and experiencing for the first time the true genius of mr. jobs.
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Dorothee said 2:47AM on 11-23-2009
My kid really likes this app! it's simple, but that's it's strong point!
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bug said 4:41AM on 11-23-2009
My first thought:
The cow goes "shaa-zoooooooooo"
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marq said 6:23AM on 11-23-2009
Very good observations here. Simplicity is a forte when it comes to toddler apps, but don't underestimate the size issue. My 17-month old loves playing with Old Macdonald by Duck Duck Moose, which has small squirrels and monkeys popping up all over the place. They have a very keen eye for details. The other excellent app is Peekaboo Barn which is simple for them to do with tapping on a barn door to reveal a new animal every time. Here the illustrations are simple but beautiful, and the sounds are all real animals. It also has a cute girl's voice saying the name of the animal when the word appears. He's starting to repeat them. At the end the sky turns to night and we see all the animals snoozing in the barn, when the little girl whispers "shhh, they're sleeping". excellent! Also try Wee Giggle (which is a bit more difficult for the toddler as it needs navigating around the environment.
My biggest problem is that he always presses the home button at some point and then can't get back to the app again. It would be good to have a disable home button option. Also developers need to account for multiple fingers on the screen as they hold the iPhone/iPod. When he holds it with his left hand the thumb might be touching the screen, and his right hand index finger then doesn't have any effect.
Looking forward to more parents' suggestions for toddler apps!
twit: @marqriley
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Jan Rychter said 7:54AM on 11-23-2009
The problem with most of these apps is that children are not very good at precise touching. What is meant to be a tap ends up being a swipe or a multi-touch. That's why, as an example, "I Hear Ewe" is too complex for my 9-month old daughter. She can never get the touch just right.
I haven't found a really simple app for kids yet -- one that has NO SWIPING ACTION and that can be touched without perfect precision.
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Branson said 9:01PM on 11-25-2009
Tantrum Apps (www.tantrumapps.com) has a great set of toddler apps without swipes. Beautifully designed too.
LisaK said 3:00PM on 11-23-2009
My daughter (20 months) likes the Toddler Teasers Whatchamacallit game (http://www.toddlerteasers.com/).
Four or five objects are shown and a voice announces the object she is supposed to select. She doesn't completely understand the touch action, so sometimes she has to poke at the object a few times before it recognizes her finger touch. And it does occasionally register a stray finger and selects that object instead, but she doesn't mind. If she gets it wrong, the voice says what she selected, and then asks her to select the target object again (with the incorrect object being removed from the screen). When she gets it right, there is clapping or cheering. After 4 or 5 matches, she picks a sticker and puts it on her sticker collection screen.
If you are somewhere where it's not ideal to have the sound on, there is also a sign somewhere on the screen with the target object, so that you can announce the target object.
Occasionally there is a race condition where she has selected the target object and it is still registering an incorrect match. Then you hear both the "try again" audio and the cheering audio.
My pet peeve about the application is it asks to find a "macaw" rather than "parrot".
A couple of other apps my daughter likes are BubbleWrap and Bubbles. In BubbleWrap you pop the bubble wrap. In Bubbles, you drag your finger along the screen to create bubbles which float down the screen. You can also tap them to pop them.
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Erich said 1:12AM on 11-25-2009
Simple user interfaces that don't have alerts and stuff flying all over is key for toddlers. My kids love the paint apps, but end up hitting the tiny little buttons by mistake and everything gets messed up.
TowerSmash is basically just a simulator of wood blocks. Tap above the table to place blocks, and tap on the side to throw a ball at the tower you made to knock it down. It seems simple, maybe even too simple, but put it in front of a kid and they'll be entranced by it... No scores, no timers to worry about - it's just a toy that kids love :-)
http://brattonbrothers.com/towersmash/
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