Fish School
© 2010 Duck Duck Moose Inc.
Children explore with their fingertips, in this colorful underwater playground, where a school of quick swimming fish illustrate numerals (up to 20), the alphabet song, and a set of shapes. At any point, a child can tap a bubble in the corner to jump to a new game, which makes the chances good that he or she will encounter something interesting to explore. In the alphabet song, children can swipe forward or backward, hearing the alphabet backwards if they like. If they stop at a letter, such as U, they hear "U is for Umbrella." The number line works the same way, only the quantity is presented along with the numeral, in the form of a line of small eggs on the bottom of the screen. Tapping an egg releases a tiny fish; a game in itself. The "Playtime" activity fills the screen with dozens of differently colored fish, of every shape, size and pattern. Children can rearrange the fish, tap to make them swim faster, or hold their finger over a fish to make it get bigger. Other more structured activities include a game of concentration, and a discrimination game, that asks children to find the fish that doesn't belong. Flaws include music that can be overbearing at times, especially if your child falls asleep or leaves the room. The song will loop, and loop -- forever. It would be nice to have a "mute" option. In addition, some children wanted more of a story theme to tie the six activities together. As an alphabet book, this nicely crafted App is an excellent touch-and-explore experience.
iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Teaches: logic, math (counting, numeral recognition) the alphabet, letter recognition, shapes, memory
CTR Rating: 96%