Five Little Monkeys

$0.99, iPhone

Teaches: counting, math

CTR Rating: 80%

CTR Review

Based on the song "five little monkeys", this iPhone/iPod application starts by letting you choose from three spirited styles of the song -- rock, country and pop. As the song plays, children see a set of monkeys jumping on a bed. They can tap a stop/go sign to freeze the jumping, or touch under the bed to see a cat. Touching a monkey or shaking the screen causes one of the monkeys to jump off the bed, and the "doctor" (a wise owl) scolds "no more monkeys jumping on the bed." Weaknesses include an inability to control the pace of the song or the monkey jumping, other than a stop light that lets you stop or start the action. So the monkeys jump until the song reaches the scolding point, making children wait. In addition, there's no way to get back to the main menu in case a child changes his or her mind. There are a few other hot spots to explore -- a cat under the bed, a barking dog in the window, a lamp, but there's very little variety and these don't have much to do with the song, which minimizes engagement beyond a few plays.