Mickey's Magical Arts World
Mickey's Magical Arts World gallery
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Mickey's Magical Arts World is part of the Imagicademy, which offers parents and young kids a suite of products, tips, and ideas for encouraging imagination and learning. Parents can create accounts for themselves and their kids to receive Pinterest-style daily inspirational thoughts, on and offline activity ideas, and updates on kids' accomplishments. They can also set controls like time limits for individual kids and more. In the app, kids interact with classic Disney characters as they experiment with a variety of artistic techniques including visual arts and music. Both kids and parents can use the app and many of the Imagicademy resources without signing up and without purchasing anything. However, the free trial options within the app are limited. Parents can add options one-by-one or in bundles, but because the sheer volume of content might be overwhelming for some kids, it might be best to buy one at a time. Sometimes relatively long load times and occasional issues with the audio track may frustrate some kids.What kids can learn
Kids who know and love Disney might be particularly interested, but familiarity is not necessary to enjoy. There are plenty of activities to keep kids busy, especially if you unlock all the options.
Kids express themselves and tap into their creative side as they experiment with different art forms. They'll feel empowered to see their creations featured alongside the Disney characters.
The parents' section has great supports for extending learning and encouraging creativity and exploration. In-game explanations could be better. Kids see their finished work fully integrated into the virtual art world.
What's it about?
Kids explore aspects of visual art, theater, music, and design/materials as they build their own virtual world with classic Disney characters in MICKEY'S MAGICAL ARTS WORLD. Five areas target different artistic genres: music; texture and materials; sketching and drawing; architectural design; and theater production. There are multiple ways to explore each area such as costume design and storytelling in theater, or rhythm, tempo, pattern, and melody in music. Each area has a limited number of free trial options; the rest can be unlocked through in-app purchases.
Is it any good?
Mickey's Magical Arts World has a wonderful variety of creative outlets, such as recording music with varying tempos, free sketching, or learning how to make simple line drawings, and experimenting (virtually) with texture and materials. The costume play stands out in particular. Kids choose a character, dress it, give it a silly hairstyle, set it on a stage, and watch it perform in a short animation. Creations continue to wander around the art world with the other Disney icons, empowering kids to take an active role in creating this magical virtual world. Take advantage of the great inspirational ideas for both on and off screen activities, experiments, and parental thought provokers. Watch out, though, for pretty consistent pushes to purchase more art options; parents can easily get roped in to spending $20 or more on what was originally a free app. Whether or not you love Disney characters, this app offers a lot of artistic opportunities.
Families can talk about...
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Families can talk about what kids make. A parent can say, "Tell me about what you're making" so the kids doesn't feel the need to make a recognizable object.
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Read the inspirational posts and activity ideas. Try the suggested activities.
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Have kids experiment with real-life versions of their digital explorations: Bring out music makers, dress up clothes, and art supplies. Ask them how the digital experiences are different from real-life ones.
App details
| Devices: | iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad |
| Pricing structure: | Free to Try |
| Release date: | March 2, 2015 |
| Category: | Education |
| Topics: | Arts and dance, Music and sing-along |
| Size: | 553.00 MB |
| Publisher: | Disney |
| Version: | 1.0.2 |
| Minimum software requirements: | iOS 7.0 or later |
