Jim Henson's Chatter Zoo
© 2013 Mindshapes Limited
Nice simple 3D graphics meet too much narration and a scripted design in this app designed for younger children (ages 2 to 4); based on the Jim Henson animated series called Chatter Zoo. There are four baby animals: Franny the cheetah, Bailey the elephant, Pip the wallaby and Lulu the panda. Children feed the babies their favorite foods, or give them a bath based on colors and shapes. Other content includes two stories about a day in the life of the Chatter Zoo babies. Designed to support "vocabulary acquisition and early language building", the app also lets children teach the baby animals how to talk. Each part of the app focuses on a few key words that the characters use in every story and then repeat in a simple song at the end. This is a well intentioned app, but the design is too didactic. All external links are locked behind a parent menu.
$1.99, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch (iOS 5.0 or later)
Teaches: causality, colors, shapes sounds
CTR Rating: 60%