Review: Nursery Rhymes with StoryTime iPad app

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Scenes from Nursery Rhymes. Uh-oh, that's a big knife!

Picky Kid Rating: 3.9

This well-designed book app offers eight interactive nursery rhymes for kids to explore and parents to admire. It also offers a technology called StoryTime, which allows you to remotely read the book to your child. We’ve never used that feature, so this review does not take StoryTime into consideration.

Here’s what we like: Victorian-style illustration and attention to type layout is refreshing. The game physics are sophisticated and well-executed. (Try comparing weights of items on the scale in Baa Baa Black Sheep.) The app makes use of the accelerometer — which is difficult for young players to manage, but adds interest for adults. The natural sounds in the background (birds or crickets) make the overall experience relaxing. Voiceover (British woman) can be turned on or off. The forward and back navigation is simple for kids to manage themselves.

Overall, Nursery Rhymes with StoryTime is a beautiful and well-executed app. What keeps it from getting top marks from the Picky Kids are: A giant knife that we’re supposed to play with; the vertical format, which is difficult for smaller children to manage in their laps; and the fact that it’s only eight rhymes. Ten or twelve would probably be perfect!

Tagged as: fine motor skills, physics