If you've ever travelled on a long journey with young kids, you'll know all the old favourite travel games like I Spy and "first person to see ..." to stop them getting bored and grumpy. Well, the I Spy for Kids app is basically a hi tech version of these old classics, so when we were given the opportunity of receiving a code to try it out, we jumped at the chance.
The game has certainly been designed with parents in mind. In one-player mode, you choose your location, which includes numerous tantrum-hotspots such as "in the airport", "at the train station" or "at the shops", then you receive a whole list of items to spot and tick off by tapping on them. It's a great boredom-buster which will buy parents a precious few minutes when the kids are about to kick off !
Some of the other I Spy object lists are better for car journeys, such as "in the country" or "in the town" where you can look out for common sights along the way, such as post boxes and farm animals.
As we were at home, Juliette and Sophie picked the "in the house" list and had great fun running around (ahem - no running around with the new iPad please !) finding all the objects. You can also choose a 2-player challenge or a beat-the-clock timer mode.
My one criticism is that there aren't enough objects. You only have one page for each location, whereas I would have preferred a random selection of objects each time so that you wouldn't know in advance what you'd get. Once you've played the game several times, I think you'd get a bit bored of constantly having to find the same objects.
The idea is sound though and if you're off on a long journey, especially one which may involve a lot of waiting around at airports, ports or train stations, it is just what you need to help your kids wait patiently rather than getting bored and being naughty !
star rating : 4/5
RRP : £2.39
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Great review! This app does sound very useful for long journeys or long waiting times at the airport. However, I can't help feeling a little sad for the good old fashioned 'Eye Spy' that I remember playing with my family as a child - I wonder if this game really needs modernising?!?! "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" as they say :-)
ReplyDeleteHaving said that - I'll def download this app when my little one is a bit older and give it a whirl! Your comments have changed my way of thinking a little and I am beginning to understand how useful this could be...
@hannahmdy