Hat Monkey

$2.99, iPad

Teaches: reading, language, cause/effect, art

CTR Rating: 77.5%

CTR Review

Nine scenes contain 50 animated gags featuring a curious monkey, creating no-fail cause/effect types of interactions. The uniquely bright orange/pink/purple hue graphics just may make you want to find a pair of sunglasses. Playing with Hat Monkey is easy -- you can either flip through the pages, ebook style, or jump directly to a scene from the main menu. Each scene starts with a written, non-narrated sentence such as "Can you give Monkey a high five?" or "Can you feed Monkey a banana?" The next page lets you find out. If you tap a bowl of bananas, you'll trigger a random animated sequence. Some scenes are better than others. The hide-and-seek game is way too obvious, but the texting activity, where you can send the monkey one of four emoticon messages, is unique and has potential. The Hawaiian-style music on the main menu is playful and interesting at first, but grows repetitive. The interactivity is limited, and not as responsive or "finger driven" as we'd like, given the intended audience. When talking on the phone, you see your voice move a meter, but your call is interrupted and you can't hear your voice. The dance moves are interesting (especially the jellyfish) but the music doesn't change with the motion. Half of the first menu is used to advertise other Fox & Sheep apps, although all external links are properly age-gated. The text in the app comes in a wide assortment of languages. This is the first app from children's author Chris Haughton.