4.7
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123 Star Gurus App Review

App Info

Price: $0.99

Overview

Star Gurus is designed to help young children master rote counting from one to twenty, number sequence, count odd and even numbers, and skip count by tens to ninety. Players touch stars in sequence to connect them with lines in similar fashion to other dot-to-dot games, and create simple constellation pictures.

Features include:

  • Designed for young children to play independently
  • Optimized for visually impaired players
  • 30 unique constellation pictures
  • Correct pronunciation of numbers and picture names in ten different languages
  • Helps children master important early math skills

Quality

Star Gurus is a high quality app that will appeal to children who are learning to recognize numbers and count. The dot-to-dot format is a perennial favorite of children, and the interface is intuitive. The simple illustrations are bright and easy to see, and the app responds quickly when stars are touched. It is possible to touch the stars a bit faster than the narration, however. This results in the voice saying “eight,” for example, when the user has touched the ten.

Education

Star Gurus offers a great opportunity to play with numbers in a relaxed atmosphere with guaranteed success. Parents or other adults can adjust settings to control the difficulty of the task, ranging from counting from 1 to 10 all the way to counting odd or even numbers only or skip counting by tens to ninety. The star patterns, like real constellations, are somewhat vague, so young children will often be surprised by the picture they have made. The pictures are intriguing, as well, including a brontosaurus, a sugar-glider, and a snail among other things. The narration is clear and crisp, and easy to understand, which will help children name the numbers. It’s very cool that the app can be used in any of ten different languages; with young children’s ability to pick up words in foreign tongues, this is a great opportunity to learn a few new words.

The developers did a good job of making the game failure-proof. The next star in the sequence begins to pulsate after a few seconds, and parents can control the timing of this hint system in the settings. If a child taps an incorrect number, the line appears briefly, then disappears immediately. Every user is nearly guaranteed success.

Entertainment

Dot-to-dot pictures fascinate most young children, so this app will quickly become a favorite. Currently, there are thirty different “constellations” so even though the pictures seem to stay in the same order, there are enough of them that youngsters are not likely to be able to predict which will be coming next even if they’ve cycled through several times.

The app’s illustrations are simple, yet detailed enough to be interesting, and the range of things depicted is wonderful. In addition to real world, common animals such as dog and cat, children are also treated to unicorns, octopuses, centaurs, and mermaids. The app will expand most children’s vocabulary!

Value

This app is a great value at ninety-nine cents. It covers a range of skills that most children learn between the ages of 3 and 7 years. In addition, kids have the opportunity to learn to count and say a few words in many other languages. Developers also indicate that they are adding more pictures with the updates, so it will be interesting to see what comes next.

Child Friendliness

Star Gurus is very child friendly with one glaring exception. The app presents a ratings pop-up after a few uses that is unprotected and takes the user straight to the App Store rating system. This really should be in the protected area to prevent young users from accessing it.

  • Protected parent area (can contain external links and social media)
  • NO external links
  • NO social media
  • NO in-app purchase
  • NO 3rd party ads
  • YES “rate app” pop-up (unprotected)
  • YES “more apps” (unprotected and visible by default, can be hidden in device settings)
Star Gurus
Star Gurus
Star Gurus is a great app for young children that will help them practice important counting skills which are foundational to learning math in early elementary school. The dot-to-dot game is rewarding in its own right, and the teaching is so gentle and unobtrusive that kids will not even know they are practicing important skills.
Quality
Education
Entertainment
Value
Child Friendly
4.7
Where to Buy