App Review: Lola's ABC Party

By Amy My daughter is a big fan of games we play on the iPad and over the years I've found a few really great ones, but as she grows I'm always looking for new apps to help her learn and have fun.

Watching the video introducing Lola's ABC Party I noticed right away that the skills the app is teaching are skills we have been working on (letter sounds, drawing letters, etc) and that it has a format that she has liked in the past, of several mini-games inside the game, and when you're done a set of mini-games you get to build yourself a party – a bowl of ice cream, balloons, hats and cake.

The game is bright and colourful, and the kid liked Lola. The mini-games were similar to ones she had played before, but the first game where you find letters based on their sound was a bit tough with letters like 'I' – even I thought they were making the 'E' sound. Overall I could see what they were teaching, and she enjoying the rewards she got after each level. She did tell me one or two things was too hard for her, but with a bit of help and encouragement she kept going.

She really liked being told she was smart as a panda, and she loved getting to add toppings to the ice cream, blow up balloons, and decorate a cake.

Before I even got to show her the app she found it for herself and Daddy reported that she was giggling away. When I asked her if she like it she said yes, which is enough for her to keep trying and learning more about phonics and that's good enough for me.

Amy is mom to three year old The Kid and a 7 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind. She was compensated for this review but the views are her own.