As a parent, I’ve already blown it. I can never use my iPhone around my toddler without her wanting to smear Cheerios-dusted fingertips all over the screen. I’ve resigned myself to this fate, and now keep an eye out for age-appropriate apps. Monkey Preschool Lunchbox makes the cut.
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox features five educational mini games: Identify the Color, Memory, Count the Fruit, Identify the Letter, and Puzzle. Of course, these games are going to appear way too simplistic for adults or older kids, but they’re good for teaching tots such concepts as colors, counting, shapes, matching, and letters.
Except for Matching, each of the games take about three or four seconds to play. Matching can last up to a minute or more depending on memory skills of the player. My 2 year old wasn’t quite ready for Matching. She became frustrated easily and needed help.
If your little person performs a task correctly, the monkey jumps around and generally goes bananas, which is great fun. Unfortunately, the animation never changes, so Junior might start picking wrong answers on purpose to watch the tiny simian do something else.
While preschoolers seem to dig the app, Mom and Dad might have some reservations. The games get old quick, and the audio has little variety. If you’re trying to occupy a 3 year old in a restaurant booth, car seat, or some other confined place, you’ll be part of the limited experience, like it or not.
If you can power through the repetition, though, you might just find a few extra minutes to focus on some grown-up tasks. For 99 cents, I’d say that’s worth it.
