Smithsonian Prehistoric Pals Collection App Review
App Info
Price: $9.99
Overview
Don’t hesitate to add Smithsonian’s Prehistoric Pals Collection to your app list. With engaging stories and highly educational content, this is one collection your children (and even you) will truly enjoy.
Features include:
- educational
- interesting
- high quality
- scaffolded reading
Quality
From the first moment of interaction with this app, it’s clear that the developers clearly understand their target market – children. The illustrations and sound effects draw the reader into the story, and the story lines are appealing and interesting. The voice-overs for the “read to me” portion are done by a male with a deep voice — perfect for the content of the app. Pages are turned by a finger sweep, and zoom effects are used to give the illusion of movement as the user progresses through the story.
Education
While there are many dinosaur apps on the market, few present the often bland educational material as dynamically as this Prehistoric Pals collection. Facts are woven into the story as it naturally unfolds, making them more likely to be noticed and remembered by the user.
Entertainment
Kids who are into dinosaurs will love this app, but it’s not only for those who are bit more prehistoric-minded. The interesting stories and engaging illustrations make this app a hit even among those who don’t count dinosaurs among their most favorite of animals.
Value
While the price point seems steep at $14.99, it bears remembering that this app combines 10 individual dinosaur books. This breaks out to be only about $1.50 per book, which is a fantastic value for the content and quality received.
Child Friendliness
The main page of the app (where the book’s cover is displayed) does provide a link to other storybook apps. However, these are stories appropriately targeted to the user’s age (for example, Green Eggs and Ham). While these are available for the user to touch, a popup screen appears when each title is touched. The screen says “Parents Only” in large letters and includes directions to parents on how to access the story app on the App store.
I’m a mom to three dinosaur loving boys, and all three of them give this app 5 stars. While many of the facts are things they’ve already learned through reading various nonfiction books on the topic, the unique presentation (presenting the facts through a story) kept them engaged and interested. This app is one they’ve returned to again and again.