Seasons by Cleverkiddo

Seasons by Cleverkiddo is designed for children ages 4 and up. This app gives a simple introduction to the four seasons: summer, autumn, winter and spring. Each season contains four seasonspecific activities, including a puzzle, dress up, build with shapes, and a counting activity.

The puzzle is simplified, and thus breaks down the activity in to smaller tasks by only giving three pieces at a time. We had my two year old playing with it. It took two or three demonstrations before she got the knack of it and started building her own puzzles.

The dress up activity was by far her favourite activity and she especially enjoyed “Spring” because of all the different layers she could put on. She really wanted to put on two or more layers while playing the winter dress up app- so maybe clever kiddo can add some winter layers in their next addition? The purpose of the app however was achieved in the sense that she understood what was expected of her, she practised fine motor skills and learned about what happened during the four seasons. As we drove in the car she also asked- “Mommy, does the leaves fall off in winter?” I replied “Yes” and she corrected me, “No mom, it falls in autumn.” At some stage one of the girls got a bit exited with the dress up and one of the shirts disappeared, but it was back after we restarted the game.

We tested the Afrikaans version of the app on apple, and found that the word for “half circle” was pronounced in English with a “c” sound i.s.o. the “s”. The boat shape challenged them a little in the sense that it does not just fit in between the lines but you actually have to build a triangular sail using the triangles provided. We loved the fact that it was animated and gave a sense of accomplishment as you complete the activity.

A counting activity is the final activity in each season, the consistent factor being the tree that changes slightly every season. In spring, different shapes and sizes flowers grow on the tree (kids loved the variety), fruit grow in the summer, leaves come off in autumn, and owls are on the tree in winter. I loved the fact that there is a slight delay in the audio as you click and that they can count at random (not necessarily from left to right, top to bottom), this gives the child a chance to test themselves instead of repeating after the “teacher”.

So the questions we ask for educational apps are:

• Were instructions clear and easy to understand for kids? YES
• Was the information correct? - YES
• Graphics? - Excellent
• Did learning take place? - Most definitely!
• Age appropriate? – Yes,
• and you can try it on younger kids also! Variety? - Good (We would love to see even more!!)
• Android? - Yes
• Apple? – Yes

The music is calming and the narrator varies her tone, in our house screen time was over before we had the urge to switch the sound off. Well done Cleverkiddo and thank you for putting such a great standard out there! To buy the app go to http://www.thingstodowithkids.co.za/blog/ollie-onthou-deur-cleverkiddos for more information.