Arthur's Big App
Arthur's Big App gallery
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Arthur's Big App features the setting (Lakewood Elementary) and characters (Arthur and friends) from Marc Brown's classic books and the popular PBS show. In four activities, kids match colors and smoothie ingredients, play tunes, and tap freeze-tag players to unlock more Arthur characters. Activities are randomly and automatically presented, so you can't choose which game to play, which may be frustrating for some kids. With up to 50 characters to unlock, it also will take kids a while to run through the whole game. As kids progress, tasks get more challenging. However, there's no option to create multiple user accounts, so if more than one kid wants to play, there's no way to separate each one's progress.What kids can learn
Kids who know and love Arthur will enjoy exploring Elwood City and collecting characters. The games are simple and repetitive but continue to level up, which provides a challenge that may hold kids' interest.
Gameplay requires concentration, following directions, and good reaction times as kids match and tap in a race against the clock. Tasks get harder as kids complete them correctly in the allotted time and they level up.
There are good how-to instructions, and play is easily accessible. Learning-extension support and individual accounts would strengthen learning potential and make it easier for more than one kid to play.
What's it about?
Kids cycle through four games: matching colors to shelve and distribute library books; matching smoothie-ingredient requests to mix smoothies for waiting customers; tapping characters on the target team to freeze them in a game of freeze tag; and tapping keys when a note falls over the keyboard to play a tune. Kids must finish each task before the clock runs out; if they're successful, they get a star; if they're not, they lose a pencil. The eventual goal is to collect five stars before losing five pencils, unlocking 50 Arthur characters one at a time, then reading short tidbits about them.
Is it any good?
Kids who know and love Arthur will particularly enjoy entering his world, aka Elwood City, and revealing new and/or familiar characters, but those who aren't Arthur fans can still enjoy playing the games and meeting Arthur's interesting group of friends. There's a nice leveling system; although the four activities are repetitive, they continue to challenge as kids progress (however, without multiple accounts, this can present a problem if more than one kid wants to play).
Although Arthur's world is always fun to explore, the actual content of the games is surprisingly bland and would greatly benefit from more inspiration, creativity, and sophistication. The strongest game empowers kids with a keyboard. guiding them through tapping out a simple melody, but the others involve very basic matching or speed techniques with little need for much thinking, especially considering the target age group. It would be nice to see Arthur's great pro-social messages explored in an interactive experience, but unfortunately, these games do not deliver.
Families can talk about...
-
Families can talk about the things that your kids like to do after school. How are they the same or different from what Arthur and his friends do?
-
Expand on the library game by talking about book subjects and book titles and by visiting your local library.
-
Find the songs that kids play in the music game; how do the versions you find compare to what kids play in the game? Or, try out some real instruments!
App details
| Devices: | iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad |
| Price: | $2.99 |
| Pricing structure: | Paid |
| Release date: | October 8, 2014 |
| Category: | Education |
| Size: | 30.00 MB |
| Publisher: | PBS KIDS |
| Version: | 1.01 |
| Minimum software requirements: | iOS 6.0 or later |
