The iPhone Mom

Confession time again. I don’t like taking my kids to the zoo. No matter whether we spend two hours or the entire day at the zoo I come home feeling dirty and tired and ornery. My kids are generally feeling that way too. It’s a fun outing but one we only do about every 18 months. Am I the only mom out there who can call herself a zoo scrooge??

So when I received an email about Pocket Zoo with Live Animal Cams I thought that I just might have discovered a way to give my kids a zoo experience without having to visit the actual zoo. Now that I’ve tried the app out I can say it’s pretty darn nifty. The app contains information and photos about animals from all over the world but it also connects to live zoo webcams located in zoos across the world. You can peek in on the zoo animals whenever you like. I watched penguins waddle around for about ten minutes today.

Pocket Zoo is divided into three main screen sections – Zoo Map, Animals and Live Cams. The Zoo Map is a graphic map of the Pocket Zoo and it shows all of the animals that are featured in the app. You can scroll around the map and zoom in and out. When you tap on a graphic for an animal you’re taken to an information screen about it. You can see the animal’s picture, hear a recording of the noises it makes and read some information. The Animals screen shows you an alphabetical list of the animals that you saw on the Zoo Map. Finally the Live Cams will show you a list of all the animals that can be seen on zoo webcams. Tap on the one you’d like to watch and you’ll be connected to the webcam. Whatever is going in on at the zoo will show up on your screen. You can also get to the Live Cam views from the animal information screens. If the animal that you’re reading about has a Live Cam then a button will appear at the top right of the screen. Tapping on that button will take you directly to the web cam view.

Pocket Zoo with Live Animal Cams is a fantastic app for children. It contains great educational information about the animals and the web cams are a treat. If you have children who enjoy animals and/or the zoo they will get a kick out of this one.

Pocket Zoo is compatible with an iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. I tried it out on my iPhone.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Tiny Hearts

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Pocket Zoo™ with Live Animal Cams from tiny hearts on Vimeo.

Piffle’s ABC Book is an unusual ABC app with a very different, almost vintage feel to it’s illustrations. The app is broken down into two versions- automatic and interactive. When you view the automatic version each page in the ABC book is played one after another. Each page features a letter, an illustration about an animal and a rhyme that goes with that illustration. The rhymes are set to music and sung out loud. The interactive version has two parts to it – Play Animal Alphabet or Play Find the Animal.  These sections have you tapping on letters and animals, matching pictures and animal names. At the end of each round you’ll see the illustration and rhyme from the ABC book.

Piffle’s ABC Book of Funny Animals is definitely one of the more unusual ABC book apps that I’ve seen. Personally, I like the look of the illustrations but if you’re looking for a bright and cartoony app this isn’t the one for you. This app has a subtleness about it and the humor comes from taking a closer look at the drawings and the words in the rhymes.

*Piffle’s ABC Book of Funny Animals is designed to work on the iPhone and iPad. I tested it out on my iPhone.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Once Upon an App

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Amazing Animals: Savanna takes you on a tour of an African Savanna. Twelve animals live in this app and you can see them by swiping your finger across the screen and exploring the plain. When an animal appears on your screen you’ll want to tap on it to hear it’s name and the sounds it makes. Then swipe the screen again to discover a new animal.

The animals are beautifully drawn and this is a very nice looking app. The sound effects work with the concept and the animal sounds are realistic. Older children will probably want more from an app than tapping and animal sounds but Amazing Animals: Savanna will appeal to younger children, I’d say toddlers and young preschoolers.

A coloring book you can print out is also available at the developers website.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Tapitu

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

When I first heard about the app, Can You Find It?, I assumed it would be a typical seek and find game. Turns out it’s more like riddles wrapped up into a game of I Spy.

The app works like this. You are given a picture and a clue. When  you’ve figured out the clue you’ll know what to tap on in the picture. If you get it right then you’ll move on to the next picture. If you get it wrong then you’ve got to begin again. The app has fifty different levels to pass and there are three levels of difficulty. The level of difficulty determines how many guesses you get per riddle. The concept behind the app is simple but the game itself becomes more challenging as you advance through the levels. At one point my three kids and I had joined forces and were searching pictures trying to solve riddles.

Can You Find It? is a great app for kids and adults, one that lets them practice their skills in analyzing, reasoning and deducing. Big words but for this app they stand for challenging fun.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: ConsumerSoft

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Meet Ranger Nora, your guide to the world of animals in the app, Guess This Animal. Ranger Nora wants to teach you about animal facts and she’ll do this by teaching you the facts and then playing a quizzing game with you.

In “Learn” Ranger Nora explains facts about different animals. She goes through thirty-two animals, showing you their picture and telling you things like “ Cat -is a mammal, drinks milk, chases mice, loves to play with yarn.” Ranger Nora goes over domestic and wild animals. The animal’s pictures are cute, but a little cartoony. My only problem with this part of the app was that Ranger Nora’s mouth movements didn’t always match up with what she was saying. My son didn’t care about this one bit but it bugged me. Then again, by the end of the day when I’m tired and have talked everyone to death my mouth probably doesn’t move in sync with my words either.

In “Guess” Ranger Nora shows you a habitat and several different animals.  She then gives you clues and you’ve got to figure out which animal she’s talking about. When you tap on the right one it’s off to another habitat. Of the two sections in the app, this was my favorite.

I have one promo code left to give away for Guess This Animal. Leave me a comment and I’ll randomly select a winner at the end of Tuesday.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Sprite Labs

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

Animal Magic has three different animal themed games. First there is a traditional memory game where you’ve got to match animal cards. Next is a barn game. You start with a peek into the barn to see what animals are hiding in there. Then the barn doors shut and you’ll be asked to test your memory by tapping on the door they are hiding behind. Finally, there is a game called “Follow the Lion”. Here you’re shown a lion card and then it’s mixed up with two other cards. Your job is to watch the lion and tap on the spot where he ends up after the cards have been moved around.

The game progresses from easy to difficult or you can choose to only play the easy, medium or hard levels. You also have the choice of listening to the animal’s noise or hearing it’s name spoken aloud when you tap it. Animal Magic is aimed at children ages two to five. It can help the toddlers learn the names of animals and the preschoolers with their memory skills.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Mobigames UK

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.

TickleMe Animals was developed by SID On, the developers who also created ShowMe Stories. In that app you would swipe your finger across the screen to reveal scenes from stories. TickleMe Animals works the same way except this time your finger swipes will clear the screen to reveal different animals. The pictures are of real animals. When the entire picture is shown the name of the animal appears and you’ll hear it read out loud.

TickleMe Animals is a variation on animal flashcards that will be easy for toddlers to use.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: SID On

iCanMoo takes the idea of using an app to teach animal noises and gives it a twist – real live animals! No cartoons here, this app features actual factual animals. It’s divided into four different games:

Tap & Learn – Nine animal pictures are shown on the screen. Tap on one to hear the animal’s name and see a video of the animal in action.

I Can Moo  - This is similar to Tap & Learn except after the video you’re asked to “cock-a-doodle-do” or “moooo”. Make the noise into your phone’s microphone and you’ll be rewarded with more video.

What’s That Sound? – You’ll hear an animal noise and have to tap the animal’s picture that matches the sound.

Find My Match – A memory game featuring the animal pictures. When you make a match you see a video for the animal.

I really like how iCanMoo uses real animal footage. I’ve got to keep this one away from my older girls though. After watching the video showing what a real turkey (not a cute, happy hanging out with the Pilgrims & Indians turkey) looks like they’d probably never eat a turkey sandwich again. I’m not sure I will!

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: iCanMoo

My seven year old daughter uses the word “stinking” when she wants to give a phrase some extra oomph. It might be “stinking mad” or “stinking funny” or “stinking cute”. The last one makes no sense (because can something be stinking and cute?) but when it comes from her you know exactly what she means and that it’s the highest of praise. Now that I’ve explained let me tell you that “stinking cute” is the phrase that came to mind when I saw the animals in Jumble Zoo. I promise, it’s a good thing!

Jumble Zoo features flashcards of zoo animals. Each one is divided up into three body parts – head, middle and bottom. You can swipe your finger across the screen to change the different parts and make some pretty silly animals. When you’ve matched up the correct parts the animal is shown in it’s “habitat”. Now you can tap on the pull string (that doesn’t sound right but I can’t think of a better word) at the top left of the screen to see the animal on a plain white flashcard background. Here you’ll also see a microphone icon on the bottom right. If you tap that you can record yourself saying the animal’s name. From then on you’ll hear the animals name when you match up the body parts.

Right now Jumble Zoo features 9 different flashcards,  7 animals, 1 zoo keeper and 1 zoo visitor. I absolutely adored the graphics in this app. The app costs $1.99 and I’m hoping more animals are added in future updates. Because the world could always use more stinking cute zoo animals.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Seller: Stuart Eaton

Shake the animals will help your child learn animal names in three different languages: English, Spanish and German. Begin by selecting a language. Next a cute illustration of an animal appears on your screen. Shake your iPhone and you’ll hear a rattle noise and then the name of the animal. Shake the phone again to see a new animal.

I think that it would be helpful to see the animal names written on the screen as well in addition to hearing them spoken. I also think it would be nice if there were a way to see the animal and then choose which language you’d like to hear so you could compare the three languages. The illustrations in Shake the Animals are charming and the animal names are pronounced by native speakers, which is a big help if you’re trying to learn the language.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Rosa Barranco de Helfrich

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.