4
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Mack the Dog Early Language Development 2

App Info

Price: $0.99

Overview

The down-eared dog called Mack is looking for his teddy bear. He looks in the sink, in the laundry, in the playroom, and all over the house. In every room, Mack becomes covered with something else. When he finally finds his teddy bear, Mack is a mess. This app combines the delightful story of the down-eared dog with focused noun acquisition activities for kids. Unfortunately, its quality and design make it difficult for it to really accomplish its mission.

Features include:

  • Read to Me option
  • Read to Myself option
  • Animated illustrations
  • Cheery background music
  • Seven learning activities

Quality

When kids first open the app, they’ll find a bright and engaging main screen. Icons invite them to choose between “play story” and “learn”. In the play story mode, kids can opt to “play with audio” or “play with text”. In the learn mode, they can choose from seven levels of basic learning activities. While the app is inviting and appears to offer a lot of value, once kids get into it, they will find it lacks a bit of quality. Inside the story, the narration is dull and is accompanied by a bit of an echo and the animated illustrations are sporadic and not good enough to really capture kids’ interest.

Education

The app has two main features designed to help kids learn – the story itself and the seven levels of language activities. The story itself is cute and kids who read it will enjoy it. However, the narration and text on the screen is a bit hard to follow. It could be improved by adding text highlighting (particularly for the target nouns the developer wishes to emphasize), breaking up the text into smaller chunks, and choosing a slightly larger font size. The learning activities do have some learning potential. Kids will learn high-frequency nouns and how to group words by functions, categories, and parts. However, a few of the activities could use some improvement. For example, the “Identifying Nouns” activity asks kids to name an object, but just assumes that what they said was correct and does not track their scores. Playing with an adult can remedy this solution, but does not make the app ideal for children who wish to play on their own.

Entertainment

While the story is cute and may capture kids’ attention, the narration and illustrations won’t help. They’re both a bit lackluster and may keep kids from reading through the entire thing. The activities, while created with good intentions, are also a bit lackluster. Kids simply listen to the instructions and tap on the correct image, which can get a bit boring after a few rounds.

Value

The app is priced comparably to other interactive eBooks. It also offers seven focused learning activities which help add to its value. However, parents should consider the quality of the app and the usefulness of the activities before downloading.

Child Friendliness

Aside from the ability to turn off the sound, kids are focused completely on the story and learning activities. The developer has not included any parent area or additional apps.

  • NO external links
  • NO social media
  • NO 3rd party ads
  • NO in-app purchase
Mack the Dog Early Language Development 2
Mack the Dog Early Language Development 2
Follow the down-eared dog called Mack while he searches for his teddy bear and discover 65+ developing nouns for beginning readers at the same time.
Quality
Education
Entertainment
Value
Child Friendly
4
Where to Buy