Labo Dancing Kids

$1.99, iPad

Teaches: rhythm, dancing, matching a beat

CTR Rating: 96%

CTR Review

First you decorate a doll-like figure, using traditional color tools (12 colors, adjustable brush size and eraser). You can also customize the face. As you draw your doll, you see a real-time preview, which is a nice touch. Next, you see your doll in dancing mode, where you try match a beat, by typing along on the screen (Dance Dance Revolution style). There are several other dance modes, which is nice in case you just want to play with your puppet. One of the modes is a memory game, where your doll will do a step, and you need to copy by following a set of ghost arrows on the screen. Need to know -- if you don't want to go through the added steps of creating a character, you can jump right to the dancing using the icon in the upper right hand part of the first screen. Note that you are scored in units of 100s in the dancing game, a metric that is likely to mean little to the intended audience. Content includes both girls and boys plus a set of pirates, ninjas and zombies. Other features include: import the character's face from camera and album; 8 pairs blinking eyes; and ten classic songs like Bingo, Farmer in the Dell, Wheels on the Bus and so on. In English, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese, although minimal language is used.