Dr. Panda's Supermarket

$1.99, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Teaches: logic, math, shopping

CTR Rating: 92%

CTR Review

One of a series of now over ten apps (see also Dr. Panda's Daycare and Dr. Panda's Beauty Salon) this app lets children manage their own supermarket, with ten mini-games that pop up at random. There's a bit of a diner-dash gameplay to the way the jobs appear, which keeps children busy. There's plenty to do, and the games are fun, with large animated animal characters that need to be assisted and rung up. As a result, there's a lot of sorting (e.g., a recycling machine asks you to sort three types of trash). You find items on a shopping list, weigh fruits and vegetables with a digital scale, scoop up colorful candy, mop up spills, collect carts in the parking lot, run a coffee machine (for mom or dad), and help customers load their groceries into waiting cab or car. There is no text, the only advertising is for other Dr. Panda apps on the main menu. This can be turned off in the parents section, which has a special locking mechanism ("tap the lock four times to continue"). In addition, all links to the web are only available in this parents section. Testers liked how the animal's eyes follow your finger -- a nice touch. This app is well worth the download.