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Alien Buddies is currently one of THE hottest apps for young kids in the app store. It is a universal app that works well on either device; contains a variety of activities and is reasonably priced; especially considering your child will be learning about shapes, colors, numbers, letters and more as they play.
Parents Section
In this section, you will find information about the app, instructions on how to play, and settings for music and sound, buttons for resetting the games and stickers, reviewing the app and providing feedback.
Matching
Aliens will be your child’s companions as they embark on an adventure to improve their skills at recognizing colors, shapes, numbers, and upper and lower case letters. Within each of the areas there are two ways to learn; visual and audio. The child, in the visual mode, will be asked to drag the alien with the matching color, for example, to the pod. In the audio mode, the child touches the sound icon on the space ship to hear which item they are expected to find.
In the corner of each screen a help (?) button is available to repeat the instructions for the child.
Puzzle
You can choose from 4, 6, or 8 pieces for the jigsaw puzzles. While completing the puzzles, the child will learn shape recognition and manipulation while using their reasoning and problem solving skills.
Dot to Dot
Using their finger the child will connect the numbers to complete the puzzle. Before choosing a puzzle you can choose to “please help” or “I can do it myself”. The “please help” provides visual clues for which number is next. This section reinforces sequential counting and helps improve fine motor skills.
Stickers
Children are rewarded with stickers after completing the games. The stickers can then be used to create alien worlds. Games can be played over and over again to earn additional stickers. Snapshots of their worlds can be taken, which will be saved to your device Photos.
Overall Design
The overall design of the app is fabulous. I’m in love with the aliens! They are so cute and adorable; with their colors and sounds your child will love them, too. There is background music, but you don’t really notice it. If you tire of it, it can be turned off. Alien Buddies has such a delightful learning environment that your child will be engrossed in no time and they will not realize they are learning.
One suggestion for the developers is to remove the Artgig button in the lower right corner of the main screen. This button takes the child out of the app; that same button is also available under the parents section.
Bottom line
If you have children who are learning, or need to work on, their shapes, colors, numbers and letters, this app is a must-have. It’s reasonably priced and contains many fun and educational games.
The Alien Buddies iPhone/iPad app is designed with a variety of games and play modes to suit a range of ages from Preschool to Kindergarten. The games include:
Matching: color, shape, letter and number recognition (audio and visual modes)
Dot to Dot: sequential counting, fine motor skills
Stickers: creative free play, fine motor skills (over 40 stickers and 8 landscapes)