Heather Camlot

When SweetMama editor Nadine Silverthorne suggested my kids test some new applications from Tickle Tap Apps I was a little hesistant; we had just run an article about mobile phone apps and while it was well-received it seemed too soon to write another. Then she reminded me of my six-hour drive to Montreal for the holidays with a three and five year old and it all became clear – entertainment is necessary. It’s like she knew our portable DVD player would mysteriously start skipping and meltdowns would ensue....hmmm.

 So at the first opportunity, I pulled out the iPod Touch TTA parent-company zinc Roe lent me and handed it to Juliana while Alexandre played with his DS. She tried all four of the apps on the Touch and the results were as follows:

Sound shaker: Once Juliana selected one of the sounds offered, she tapped the screen and the sound played. The more she tapped, the more sounds there were. Juliana liked the barnyard sounds best and understood she had to tilt the iPod to see the representational dots move around and make more noise.

Count caddy: The game counted along as Juliana moved balls of yarn into a circle. She had a hard time moving the balls at first, but we think it may have been a battery issue because she found it easier on the drive home. The game is supposed to move on to counting by twos and threes, but Juliana didn’t last that long with this one.

Sort slider: Here, a colour image hovers in the middle of the screen and must be moved over the matching blue silhouette. Juliana requested this one a couple of times.

Field flier: This was the hands-down favourite. Juliana tapped and swiped the screen to move a bird to various blue dots, where it then performed a named action like singing, dancing, swinging and pecking. At one point I turned around to the catch her kissing the bird on the screen. I’m not kidding.

Zinc Roe suggests the apps are appropriate for ages three to five, but I would say three to four; Juliana played for about 20 minutes at a time, but Alexandre was done with them in about 10 minutes and had no real interest in playing a second time. That said, two newer apps that weren’t available on the Touch – Color Collector and Pattern Painter – may have held his attention longer as they involve  using the iPhone's camera, drawing and logical thinking.

Although the apps won’t replace the portable DVD player on long journeys, they’d definitely hold a preschooler’s interest on short car trips and shopping excursions – enough time to buy those groceries, pay and go. Plus, the characters are pretty darn cute and the price is right at $1.99 each. The hard part will be convincing parents to hand over their precious iPod or iPhone.