The iPhone Mom

In July I reviewed the app Kezza bee Farm Adventures and now just about a month later the adorable bee is back with a brand new game. This time the app is called Kezza bee PeekaBoo 3D and unlike the first app this one isn’t presented as a story. This is a game and it’s very well suited for young children. In this app your child can play a game (or two, or three) of Peekaboo with Kezza bee. There are three different scenes to choose from, a farm, an island and a winter scene. Once your child has selected a scene they can choose a level- easy, medium or hard. Once they’ve done that they’ll be shown the scene and Kezza bee will begin buzzing around, hiding everywhere she can. Your child must tap on Kezza bee when she peeks out. The game keeps track of how many times Kezza has been caught and when your child reaches twenty the game will move on to a new scene. The different levels determine how quickly Kezza bee flies and hides. Her speed increases with each level of difficulty.

Once again this is an app with a cute concept and a cute bee. The graphics here are terrific and this app is sure to engage toddlers.

I have a promo code to give away for the Kezza bee Peekaboo iPhone app. If you have a toddler who’d enjoy this app leave me a comment and I’ll choose a winner tonight. Promo codes only valid in the US App Store.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

See the app in iTunes

Seller: KEZDAM PTY LTD

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

I’m all for educational apps for my children but I like to keep things fun by having games available too. Each of my children like different types of games. I have a daughter who loves word games, another who is addicted to the Dash type apps (Diner Dash, Wedding Dash). My son likes games that involve action. He wants to tilt the phone and tap and swipe the screen to make things happen. He was in luck when I put Chuck Gnome on my iPhone because that’s just the kind of game it is. Even better, it’s got a healthy dose of silly thrown in too.

In Chuck Gnome you must send gnomes flying from a slingshot type machine. Your goal is to hit as many targets as possible to earn points. The targets move in the background and you can tilt the phone to reveal those that have passed out of your line of vision. To launch a gnome you “pull back” the rubber band with your finger, aim and then lift your finger and watch your gnome go. If you’re lucky he’ll hit the moving target. If you’re like me he’ll either overshoot into the sky or crash into the mountain. My son has enjoyed shooting the gnomes and he’s much better at hitting targets than I am. I like the look and feel of the game. The graphics are layered so you get an almost 3D experience. The soundtrack is catchy and perfectly fitting for the mood of the game. The game comes with OpenFeint which gives you access to leader boards, achievements, forums, chats and more. Chuck Gnome has six different levels plus mini games. It’s a perfect silly game for entertaining the five year old son or killing some time in the car.

*Update 8/31- Chuck Gnome just got an update – new episode and mini game.

Chuck Gnome Lite is available if you want to try out the game for free.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

See the app in iTunes

Seller: Movable Sprites, LLC

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

Jumbled is a new app from Drew, a fourteen year old app developer who is behind several other iPhone apps. Drew has created a word game that’s definitely unique and unlike any other I’ve seen. To solve a Jumbled puzzle you must do two things. The first is to unscramble a string of letters, forming a word. Once you’ve figured that out you must choose one of four words that best matches/relates to the unscrambled word. It sounds easy but Drew has added in a timer and the scrambled words increase in length. No pressure! In the settings you can choose between easy, medium and hard difficulty. There is also a hint option which can be turned on and off. OpenFeint is included with the game so you may unlock acheivments for different accomplishments. There are also online leader boards for the different levels of difficulty.

I found Jumbled to be a catchy game. It would be a good one for older children and parents. I certainly had much greater success with the word matching than I did with the unscrambling!

Price when Reivewed: $.99

See the app in iTunes

Seller: Drewse

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

Highlights recently released a “junior” version of their Hidden Pictures app. The concept of the new app is the same – find hidden pictures in puzzles taken from the Highlights magazine – but the pictures have been tailored to younger players. When I say younger I mean older preschoolers, not toddlers. The puzzles are easier than the original Highlights app but they are still tricky. The list of objects that you must find appear in a row at the top of the screen.   The puzzles are in color and feature silly scenes with bright colors and characters. Using your finger you can zoom in and out on the picture. When you have found a hidden object tap on it and it will turn to black and white. This makes it easy to see where you have looked and what you have found. Hints are available and you can also increase the puzzle’s difficulty by hiding the list of objects. The app has fun catchy music and sound effects but they can easily be turned off. Always a nice feature!

Highlights My First Hidden Pictures comes with eight puzzles and additional puzzle packs are available for download. This is a terrific new hidden picture app and the developers have done another fantastic job of taking a childhood classic and bringing it onto the iPhone.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

See the app in iTunes

Seller: Mobad Games

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

Mother Earth’s Preschool: Learning Birds combines poetry with bird names and sounds. The app presents twelve different birds. Your child will choose a bird and will then hear three different bird calls. They must listen to the sounds and then select the call that goes with the bird. If they are correct they will be rewarded with a bird poem and an illustration showing a child dressed up as the bird. The illustrations come from the book “Bird Children” by Elizabeth Gordon. After the poem and illustration your child will see a real photograph of the bird and they’ll hear several facts about it. The app plays nature sounds in the background and they are very relaxing but at times those sounds made it difficult to hear the bird calls. Other than that it was an easy app to learn about and play with. I found Learning Birds to be a unique app and I enjoyed learning about the birds and their sounds.

Learning Birds is a universal app, developed for all devices. I tested it out on my iPhone.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

See the app in iTunes

Seller: Once Upon an App

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

HexaLex is a Scrabble like word game that is played out on a hexagon shaped board with hexagon tiles. You are given seven letter tiles and asked to make a word. Given the shape of the board it’s possible to end up with more than one word per play. Points are tabulated for the different words and medals are unlocked for different achievements. When it is your turn there is a dictionary button that will allow you to type in a word and check to see if it is valid or not. I appreciated this feature because I’m often spelling out words only to discover that they’re only real words in my Heather language. Basically they are words that no one else would ever think to use. Anytime or anywhere.

HexaLex allows you to play a game against up to four computer opponents or you can set up an account to play online with friends. This is one of my favorite features. My other favorite feature is that you do not have to drag tiles to the spot where you’d like them on the board. Instead you tap on a space and then tap on the tile that you want in that space. The app will arrange it for you without the dragging. Since my dragging always ended up in the wrong spot this is a big improvement for me.

The entire game play experience for HexaLex is very smooth. The graphics are perfectly suited and it’s a fantastic and challenging word game. If you like Scrabble and Words with Friends you’ll want to give HexaLex a try.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99 – on sale now

See the app in iTunes

Seller: Nathan Gray

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

A quick note about an app called CityStory. It’s described as something between Farmville and SimCity. The app is free and you can read about it in iTunes here. If anyone has tried the game please let us know your thoughts.

Match aPhoto is a memory game that is played with real photographs. The photographs are very sharp and clear and it’s nice to see real objects in a memory game. The app provides you with several different photograph albums and you choose the albums you’d like to play memory with. Choices include space, animals, cats, flowers and more. When you select your album you will see photographs from that theme on your memory cards. There is also a random choice that will mix everything together. Match aPhoto also allows you to add your own photos and create personalized memory cards. A nice feature is the ability to manage photos. You can go through each album and easily delete the photographs you don’t want appearing on your cards. This works with both the photographs you’ve added and the ones that come with the game.

Playing Match aPhoto is like playing the classic Memory game. You tap a card, it flips over to reveal a picture and then you tap on another card to look for a match. One of the nice things about this version is that you can enable a “peek” feature. If you tap on the eye icon that appears at the top of your screen all of the cards will briefly be revealed. In the options section you can set the game’s difficulty level. Difficulty can range from baby to einstein. This means you can choose from a grid of cards that is 2×4 all the way up to a grid of 5×8. By changing the difficulty level you can use this app with children (and adults) of all ages. The app is well put together and I appreciate the extra features that have been included. Plus, the graphics look fantastic on both the iPad and iPhone.

**I have three promo codes to give away for Match aPhoto. Leave a comment if you’d like one. I’ll select three random winners tonight. Promo codes only work in the US App Store.**

Match aPhoto is a universal app that will work on all your devices.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

See the app in iTunes

Seller: Evan Beland

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

Match 10 is a matching game that features sharp, crisp photographs on the game cards. The cards are sorted into different categories: flowers, fruit, insects, roadwork, sports, veggies and zoo. You can also create your own matching game by adding in ten photos of your own. The app allows you to zoom and get the photo just right before it turns it into a card. I especially enjoyed Match 10’s clean design and photographs. Being able to create personalized card sets is a great feature for preschoolers.

Match 10 is a universal app – designed to work on both the iPhone and iPad. I’ve tried it out on both and the graphics look great on each device.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

See the app in iTunes

Seller: Sawmill Code, LLC

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

Crazy Shapes is a bit of a twist on a labyrinth game. In a labyrinth app you would tilt your iPhone to make a ball roll around the screen into a hole. When you play Crazy Shapes you use your finger to tap and drag a shape around the screen into a hole. So I guess all they actually have in common are that you’re moving things around trying to get them into holes. Crazy Shapes uses different shapes and the holes must match up to the shapes. You cannot put a diamond into a hole that is shaped like a circle. As you drag the shapes into the correct holes you will earn points. The fancier the moves you use to make it to the hole the more points you will earn. Along the way you will be given “items” to help you, for example a magnifying glass will shrink the shapes and make them easy to put into holes.

As you move through the game the shapes become crazier, the speed picks up and the holes begin to move around the screen. The app will record your top scores and they can be viewed on a separate screen. I found that after I quit playing I would have to start at the beginning level when I wanted to play again. Perhaps there is a checkpoint that I failed to reach. I hope so because it became frustrating having to start over and over. The graphics in Crazy Shape are fun and whimsical and it is a fast paced game. It’s one of those games that’s easy to learn but becomes difficult to master as the levels progress. I wouldn’t recommend this game for young children but I think that those beyond elementary school would enjoy playing it.

Crazy Shapes is a universal app and will run on all of your devices. I tested it out on my iPhone.

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

See the app in iTunes

Seller: Grumpy Dodo

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