TimeZup – The ‘Outloud’ Timer for Preschool Parents

I have four kids which means that this time of year I am running to and fro almost constantly. From the dance recital to the end of the year award ceremonies to the soccer parties to the orchestra recital to the school’s field day and then to my padded room. Our evenings have been filled with “Hurry up! Shoes on now, I mean now! Get in the car, let’s go! You forgot what???” May is the month that exposes all of the time management flaws we’ve managed to gloss over throughout the school year. One of the things I’ve with my kids since they were little is countdowns. When we’re switching gears and trying to get out the door I usually give them a ten minute warning and then a five minute warning, etc. Don’t tell my kids but it’s usually more than ten minutes, I pad the time to give us a better chance of getting out the door on time.

Last week I was sent an app that operates on the idea of using a countdown to help your children mange their time and smoothly transition from one activity to the next. TimeZup features four different characters – Mr. Count (think game show host), Operator (as in telephone), B.W. (Boy Wonder maybe?) and Pirate. Each character has a different voice and catch phrases. The first thing you’ll do with the app is select a character. The next thing you do is select a time to countdown from. The app goes as high as 10 minutes and 59 seconds. Once you’ve set your countdown time press the start button and the character will take care of counting down that time in their unique way. When the countdown reaches zero your phone will vibrate and a buzzer will sound.

TimeZup is a unique way to deal with the old problem of helping kids move from one thing to another on time. My only suggestion is to take the voice’s wacky levels up a notch.

Price when Reviewed: $.99

Seller: Chicago Software Ventures, Inc.

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