What it is: 5 interactive play scenes with various vehicles (car wash, tow truck, garbage and recycling, bulldozer and dump truck, car parade.

What you do with it: play around with the vehicles: e.g. in the car wash scene drive the car through a mud puddle, then clean it, rinse and dry it off in the car wash; in the tow truck scene tow the car to the tire shop, raise the car and change the tires.

What we liked: the concept, very easy operation (the app can be played even by younger kids), spoken instructions, sound effects.

What we didn't like: the educational value could be higher. The choice of music backgrounds. We wish there were more scenes (the 'car parade' scene is very simple compared to the other 4 scenes).

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What it is: Phonics and spelling practice (consonants, short vowels and long vowels).

What you do with it: 9 different activities, e.g: point to the objects with names beginning with a certain sound, point to the letters making certain sounds, point to the words beginning with certain sounds, create new words by replacing one letter in a given word etc. There is a simple scoring/motivation system (correct answers earn stickers for the 'sticker zoo').

What we really liked: the concept, easy operation, voice clues, good educational value, multiple user accounts with detailed progress stats, overall quality of the app.

What we didn't like: the activities get repetitive after some time. Navigation could be better (e.g. we couldn't find a way to return to the main menu, no option to choose specific letters/sounds to practice manually etc). The reward system may not offer enough incentive for the target age group. For use in schools 3 user accounts may not be enough.

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What it is: interactive play with 18+1 animals.

What you do with it: tap the dancing and walking animals and they will introduce themselves (e.g. 'Hi!, I'm Wally the Walrus', 'I'm Grayson the Giraffe').

Identify an animal ('Who is Charlie the Chicken') or point to the animal with a certain feature or performing a certain action (e.g. 'Who is cross-eyed', 'Who is trying to hide').

What we liked: the concept, simple kid-friendly illustrations, easy operation, fun factor, sounds and sound backgrounds, spoken instructions, overall 'look and feel' of the app.

What we didn't like: prominent link to a page with other apps by the publisher visible on the play screen. May quickly get boring (especially for older kids). No 'back' button in the 'point to the animal' activity.

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What it is: a pack of 7 activities for development and strengthening early math skills (counting, addition, comparisons, subtraction, patterns, sorting). 3 levels of difficulty (preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade).

What you do with it: count by feeding a hippo or by swinging a bunny on a swing, add ducks, subrtact apples, complete patterns, balance mice on the see-saw, sort numbered dogs.

What we liked: simple tasks, good quality graphics, easy operation, voice clues, additional interactive elements, overall 'look and feel' and quality of the app.

What we didn't like: the difficulty range is too broad for younger kids (kids who start to count will have problems with addition/subtraction), on the other hand the activities will be too boring for older kids (who can count well and want to learn more complex subjects). Even the 'levels' system does not change much here (it simply changes the numerical range within the tasks). The activities may become boring once you go through all of them.

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What it is:'Old Macdonald had a farm' song with lots of interactive elements.

What you do with it:go through the screens and touch the objects to see animations and hear extra sounds

What we liked: the concept, overall quality, very easy operation even for the smallest kids, simple illustrations, various audio options .

What we didn't like:ads on the first screen and the placement of the sound options button.

Appysmarts

What it is:'Old Macdonald had a farm' song with lots of interactive elements.

What you do with it:go through the screens and touch the objects to see animations and hear extra sounds

What we liked: the concept, overall quality, very easy operation even for smallest kids, simple illustrations, various audio options. .

What we didn't like:ads on the first screen and the placement of the sound options button.

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What it is: an engaging interactive toy based on the classic song.

What you do with it: touch objects and see them 'respond' while listening to the Wheels On The Bus song.

What we liked: concept, overall quality, very easy operation even for the smallest kids, simple illustrations, various audio options.

What we didn't like:ads on the first screen and placement of the sound options button (may be pressed by a kid by mistake).

Appysmarts