iPad App Reviews: My Numbers, ABC Numbers, and Baby Explorer

GIVEAWAY DETAILS BELOW!

I am proud to share reviews of three more fun and educational children's apps from Punflay.  This time Tink and I tested iPad apps.  The larger screen of the iPad really lends itself well to games for little ones.  Thankfully my parents don't mind the kiddo playing with their rather expensive toy. 

First up is ABC Numbers.  This new app incorporates the previously released My Numbers app along with a really well done game for teaching letters.  Below is the first screen and the large buttons make it easy for little ones to choose a game.

Here are a couple of screens from the ABC portion of the game.  You run your finger along the letter wheel to select a letter.  If you touch within the oval containing the letter and picture, it says "La, L, Ladybug" in this case.  In the white box toward the bottom of the screen, the child can practice writing the letter by tracing within the outline.  The color of the "ink" can be changed by touching the blue, green, or red dots below the writing box.  My 16 month-old daughter's favorite part was the star on the right.  If you pull down on the ring, the star sings the ABC song.  It's really cute and just like a real pull-string toy, if you pull the string halfway, it only sings half of the song.   

For the numbers portion of the app, here is the screen you'll see.  The color of the buttons can be changed using the wheel in the upper right and the item to be counted is selected along the bottom of the screen.  Touching the musical note allows the user to choose one of three songs or to have no music at all.  The game itself is a pretty simple counting game.  In this case, the 8 button was pushed.  Eight flowers light up.  If you touch an unlit flower, it will count 9 in a pleasant child's voice.  If you choose a lit flower, it will say 7 and the flower you touched will no longer be highlighted.  It's a good game for practicing counting to ten.  I like that it also counts backward as this allows you to work on basic addition and subtraction with your child as well.

This is the intro screen for the independent My Numbers app if you choose to buy (or win!) it separately.

Tink loved Baby Explorer!  Here's the start screen.

This game is like a high-tech version of one of the many plastic toys you have, without the "cluttering the floor" aspect.  Starting from the left, the butterfly can be pulled down and it bounces back with a cool springy noise.  The wheel on the bottom spins and the 4 colorful rings slide back and forth.  Moving to the top right, the child can push the four buttons to get a corresponding noise.  Tink really liked this. 

The coolest part of this game is the center of the screen, which contains 5 games.  The wheel at the bottom right changes the game.  For the egg game, you touch the egg repeatedly, cracking it a little more each time.  Eventually a new friend pops out.  Pictured here is the duck but this one contains some surprises.  The bubbles and flowers games are similar.  The child can pop the falling bubbles or flowers.  Tink particularly liked the flower version and the notes played when the petals fell.  Another game lets the child help a frog jump from lillypad to lillypad and the final game moves three jumping fish. 

Again, Punflay has designed apps for children that are both educational and fun.  They've provided enough variety in each app to allow it to appeal to children for months or years to come.  We've really enjoyed playing with these apps.  In particular, Baby Explorer held my 16 month-old's attention for a long period of time and at that age, that's an accomplishment.  She'll get to play with these apps again at 18 months of age when we see my parents at Walt Disney World.  I look forward to seeing how her interaction with the games improves.

Click here for my review of two children's iPhone/iPod apps from Punflay.

Punflay has their educational apps (iPhone/iPod/iPad) on sale this week.  One of them is even free.  Check out their site soon.  The sale ends September 16.

------------------------------------------------------- 

Ready to enter to win My Numbers for iPad? You get one entry for each of the following. Please note each as a separate entry in the comments section below so I know what you have done.  Don't have an iPad?  Feel free to enter and gift the code to a friend who does.

Mandatory Entry: Briefly tell me why you think your child (or grandchild or you) will enjoy My Numbers.  No other entries will count if you don't do this one.

Extra Entries: (If you are already following me through any of these channels, just note that. Hey, free entry!)

• Become a fan of Growing Up Disney blog on Facebook.
• Follow Disney4Babies on Twitter.
• Follow Growing Up Disney publicly on Google Friend Connect (see widget at right.)
• Subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog.
• Send a tweet about this giveaway (one per day). Feel free to copy and send this: "RT @Disney4Babies Visit http://www.growingupdisney.com/ for a #giveaway of a great children's app from Punflay, My Numbers #Disney #iPad"
• Blog about this giveaway.
• Add Growing Up Disney to your blogroll.

This contest ends at midnight Central time on Monday, September 20. The winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries.  You'll be notified via email and have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  Good luck!

 

Disclosure: I received apps from Punflay for reviewing purposes. No monetary compensation was received or offered. All opinions expressed are my honest thoughts on these products.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And the winner is comment #3, Bill.  Congrats!  I'll be contacting you shortly.