I had the opportunity to check out the latest Daniel Tiger educational title, Daniel Tiger’s Grr-ific Feelings published by PBS Kids for the Apple iPad. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Daniel Tiger, he’s the star of the animated PBS show, Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood, produced by the Fred Rogers Company. The app, which was released in August, is geared towards kids aged 2-5 and is designed to empower kids to identify and express their wide and complex range of emotions.
My daughter Natalia will be two this Christmas, and the app’s Sing-Along portion, with it’s 18 songs did very well to entertain her. Each of the songs addresses a different feeling and while I doubt Natalia understood what was really going on, the music and the animation got her seal of approval. If you have children within the target age group, the app aims to please with three other sections, namely the Trolley Game, the Drawing Easel, and the Feelings Photo Booth.
I found the Trolley Game to be pretty immersive and it could have been a standalone game in its own right. Players help Daniel Tiger to guide his trolley through a track (not unlike some of the railroad games we’ve reviewed on this site), and at the same time discover more than a dozen mini-games about feelings. Daniel Tiger doesn’t shy away from his feelings and players could learn a thing or two when it comes to managing anger the way he does.
The Drawing Easel lets children come up with pictures using paints, crayons, stickers and more. The app allows kids to save their creations and share them with friends and family. Like the Trolley Game, I felt that this part of the app had the strength to standalone as an independent app. Why I keep noting this will be explained in a short while. Finally, the Feelings Photo Booth lets kids strike a pose based on different feelings and Daniel Tiger will help them with the pose!
The major concern that I had when I gotten my review copy was on the download size. Daniel Tiger’s Grr-ific Feelings weighs in at nearly 1 GB. That’s a lot even for a game application, and this is why I thought the four main modules of the app could have been split into individual app, but then there’s that overarching theme (emotion) which ties these modules together.
In any case, do not let the download size scare you that much. Daniel Tiger’s Grr-ific Feelings is a well-polished children’s app with nice graphics and even more impressive voice work. The focus on feelings lends a unique subject matter not touched by many apps on the App Store, and it doesn’t disappoint. We rate Daniel Tiger’s Grr-ific Feelings at a 4.5 out of 5! The app is now available on the App Store for USD 2.99 (click here). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
A review code was provided to Nineoverten.com for the purpose of this review.
