Saturday 17 September 2011

Kids' iPad app review : My 1st JCB


We've only had an iPad for a few months but even in that short time, I've come to learn that as soon as you see an app created by P2 Games, you know you're on to a winner. As well as having the rights to a large number of well-loved kids' characters (Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, Humf, Postman Pat, Guess With Jess, Tinga Tinga Tales, Tracy Beaker, My 1st JCB and JCB Boys), they also always come up with a great value app comprising a large number of mini games. The latest app that they sent us a review code for was My 1st JCB.


Although 2-year-old Pierre does have a play on the iPad every now and then, the main testers for all the new apps are the girls, 10-year-old Sophie and 6-year-old Juliette. Well, rather predictably, when they spotted the little JCB icon and saw that it involved diggers and trucks, they wrinkled up their noses and declared that it was a game for boys.


Then they actually started playing and discovered a whole host of mini-games that are appealing to kids of both sexes. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a few of the games even held the attention of Sophie, who is well beyond the target age range of 1-5.


The app contains an amazing nine mini-games :

Painting: Get creative and colour-in the My 1st JCB characters!

Memory: Find the matching characters in this pair’s memory game.

Matching: Match the JCB character to the right silhouette.

Sorting: Help tidy up all the vehicle parts and clean up the mess!

Dot to Dot: Join the dots to find your favourite characters!

Jigsaws: Help to fix the jigsaw puzzles.

Racing: Avoid obstacles and opponents to win the race! Choose from Joey JCB, Marty Mixer and Doug Dumptruck to be your racing partner.

Create: Choose different vehicle parts to build a My 1st JCB character or create a totally new one!

Action: Choose the right character with the correct set of skills to finish the jobs!

I love the way that each of the Madhouse mini-testers found a game that was perfect for their level. Pierre loves the painting and create games, because random clicks are all you need. Juliette loves the simple dot-to-dot because she has to think about the sequence of numbers (great bit of learning through play there), as well as the sorting and matching games, because she likes the confidence boost of getting it all right. And Sophie enjoys the action and racing games, which need a bit more thought and skill.
 
We didn't actually know My 1st JCB before we downloaded the app, but any fans will be pleased to find all ten characters, including Joey JCB, Marty Mixer and Doug Dumptruck. The games are all very simple and I didn't need to explain anything at all for the kids to jump straight in and start playing. If they do get stuck, Joey is on hand to help guide younger players though, which is great news if you need to keep the kids occupied while you make an important phone call or sort out dinner !
 
Once again, this comes in at the bargain price of £1.99 for 9 games so it works out better value than a kids magazine that will only get used once and thrown away.
 
star rating : 5/5
 
RRP : £1.99
 
 
Other reviews you may be interested in :
 

5 comments:

  1. great review thanks :D

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  2. Thsi looks fab,my 4 year old Lily loves her apps on my ipad,shes app crazy at the moment,may have to check this one out x @v82chris x

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  3. really want to get an ipad - the apps for kids look great!

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  4. Very nice posting. I really appriciate it.

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  5. i want an ipad, but is no way id let my daughter near it yet lol

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