Trucks by Duck Duck Moose
© 2012 Duck Duck Moose Inc.
Playful yet powerful, here's another easy, solid app from Duck Duck Moose. Weaknesses to note include a confusing first screen that shows you a parade of the interesting trucks in the app, but doesn't let you play with them right away, and the choice of a Christmas song (Jingle Bells) which seems strange in July. All the music is excellent. These are minor issues: children quickly learn to follow a large arrow to get to the main menu, and it is easy to mute the music. The five activities give you plenty to do. You can wash a car after a trip through some mud, sort trash with the recycling truck, make a car have a flat tire by placing items in the road (our favorite), followed by a tow ride to the garage to put on a new tire. All in all, this is another very solid app that children will want return to. Each activity pulls you into the activity by letting you spray the hose in the car wash, or operate the lift in the garage. The final activity, the Car Parade is interesting -- children use a stop light to adjust the speed of traffic -- a nice prop for bringing up a very important topic (how traffic lights work). All in all, this is another solid app from Duck Duck Moose that nicely capitalizes on a common play pattern.
iPhone, iPad
Teaches: vehicles, transportation, recycling, ecology, sorting, science, traffic lights
CTR Rating: 96%