Review: Toddler Counting iPad app

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Scenes from Toddler Counting. (ho hum...)

Picky Kid Rating: 2.4

Toddler Counting is a simple game where children tap on objects to count them. It is very easy to use; once a level (“easier” counts up to 10, “harder” up to 20) is selected, a voiceover prompts the child with “Count the motorcycles” or “How many tables?”. Objects are counted as the child taps on them and a large digit is displayed at the same time. When all the items are counted there is audio payoff, (“Yay!”, “You did it”, “There are three sandwiches.”) which changes from screen to screen. The game automatically progresses from screen to screen.

I have no doubt that this game helps children learn to count. And it held the attention of a 20-month old picky kid for 10 minutes at a time — much to her parents’ chagrin… because this game is not great to look at, and even worse to listen to. The voiceover quickly become monotonous and feels disjointed from game play because it doesn’t respond to the scene in a natural way. It could be significantly improved by changing inflection on the number for the last item: “one… two… three… four!” and repeating the quantity with the object “Four motorcycles, yay!”. There is not a way to turn the voiceover off, other than the mute key. Doing this frustrates kids because the counting action doesn’t start until the voiceover has completed the instructions, creating an uncomfortable delay.

Other disappointments: Some non-toddler-friendly objects (I don’t want to teach my 2-year old to touch knives); Some objects are not in the voiceover database, leaving uncomfortable gaps; there are no “pauses” built into the game to give kids a chance to stop playing.

If you are considering this app, get the free version first to see if you can put up with it!

Tagged as: counting, fine motor skills, number recognition, vocabulary