Review: A Present For Milo iPad app

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Scenes from A Present for Milo; lots to explore!

Picky Kid Rating: 3.6

A Present for Milo is a book app with an adorable story, great design and a ton of interactivity… maybe even too much. The picky kids LOVE the illustrations, animations and sound effects, in particular the giggly mice, baby bird and flying saucer. The story culminates in a toddler’s favorite event [spoiler alert!] a birthday party with cupcakes!

This app could score nearly perfect if it weren’t for this laundry list of interface and experience issues:

• Page turning action is a swipe (with no visual cue), and it is much too easy to swipe backwards, frustrating kids who are trying to progress in the story.
• The “home” icon takes you back to the beginning of the story. We’ve never wanted or needed to do this, and only ever accidentally tapped it.
• There is not a way to turn off the narration (which can be a bit annoying) but keep the sound effects (which are great).
• You must wait for the narration to end before you can interact with most items on screen. This frustrates impatient picky kids.
• Some interactive elements have a set of random actions… Rather than prompting discovery, this irritates the picky kid — she attempts to touch the element in precisely the right way to get the action she wants… and is never satisfied because it just doesn’t work that way!

On the positive side, the amount of interactivity, bold graphics and cute story have kept A Present for Milo in popular rotation since we’ve had it (eight months), even though it’s only essentially only fifteen scenes.

Tagged as: fine motor skills, reading