A fun game and great way to teach sequencing in an engaging app.

More a game than a book, this app has a simple interface that pleases young children. Little kids love to help their parents (an eagerness that wears off as they get older, unfortunately), so this app about a child who is helping his/her mother shop, really hits the mark for keeping its audience happy. Kids will love the jazzy music and fun 'gamification' of the simulated tasks, but parents will love how deeply engaged children are with this app, providing a good value for entertainment and learning.

"Three fun games to help your mom!" begins this app, showing through a text story (non-narrated), the steps for the child to be a 'helper' by 1) shopping, 2) heading home and 3) cooking. The child can choose initially from 3 boy or 3 girl cartoon avatars with diverse characteristics. The story is in speech bubbles that appear above the heads of the child and mother. Three colored bags (red, green & yellow) appear as the mom asks the child, "Can you do the shopping for me?"

Items in the 1st game reinforce color matching, not really foods. Correct matches to the right colored bag gain points, eventually enough to move to the new activity. Next the 'helper' child gets to try to head home, switching lanes on their scooter to hit the right items pictured. The final activity is cooking. The reader gets to add items based on recipes listed at the top of the page, like pizza. Drag the right ingredients into the pot to move to the next food.

Overall, this is a very fun app for children 2-6. It has lots of great games and a nice variety of text in speech bubbles. Young readers, like my Kindergartner, will be inspired by the fun apects of this app to read the dialogue and directions themselves. The app also has great reinforcement for teaching sequencing, basic aspects of recipes, naming of food-related nouns/verbs and more! Recommended.

All reviews are of the app, not the platform/device. Based originally on iPad versions. Minor technical details may vary.