Sunday, December 18, 2011

Review of Pet Pals: Dog Show Detectives Ultra eBook Adventure Builder


Recommended age : 4 - 7 years 

This is one of the 3 Ultra eBooks currently available in the South African App Center. It costs 20 LF dollars.  (Download-cards-mystery-solved
(R172 if you buy your download cards from takealot.com)
Sounds like a lot for an eBook but this is not just any eBook this really lives up to the name, "Ultra" !


Teaches: 
  • Phonics
  • Word recognition
  • Listening 
  • Reading
  • Comprehension  
  • Vocabulary
3 reading levels  


Level 2 : Buddy was happy. There was a dog show today. 
Level 3 : Buddy was excited. The big dog show was at three o’clock today. 
Level 4 : Buddy was excited. Today was the day of the big dog show. It was starting at three o’clock.

3 reading modes 


1 : Read the entire book to me 
2 : Read each page of the book to me
3 : Read on my own

Page search - you can select to start the story from any page.


Mini Games 


Follow the sparkles - Use the D pad to help Buddy and Bella avoid the obstacles and collect the sparkles. 


Dress up - Dress up either Buddy or Bella for the dog show


Get to the dog show on time - Tap the screen to make Jake jump over the obstacles while collecting bones and staying ahead of the angry rooster.


Become the narrator - Record yourself  reading the story and play it back instead of the eBook's existing narrator .


There is a word recognition game, a glossary and a dictionary for the words used in the story  


Basic plot

You have to help Buddy and Bella solve "The case of the missing bowl" by finding clues, playing mini games and choosing where to go in the story. 


Each time you make a choice you affect the outcome, there are 8 possible culprits so this is one story that your kids wont get bored with in a hurry.


During the story you will be asked questions about what has happened so far, you will be asked to touch objects on the page and put missing words back in their sentences and play games all as part of the story.


My thoughts 


I bought this Ultra eBook for my daughter, age 5 and my son, 3 1 /2.  
They are both able to enjoy this awesome Ultra eBook at their own skill level. Something which is a huge plus, for me, as I don't have unlimited funds - so being able to get 1 app, that both can use and grow with, is great. 
I really enjoyed this app too. It was great fun, sitting down with my kids and interacting with them and the story. 
I only have one negative thing to say and that is; I would have preferred the pop out settings control panel to have been put at the top of the screen instead of the bottom, as my youngest keeps changing the settings as he pops it out all the time by mistake. If it were at the top, this would be less likely to happen.  
I would definitely recommend this Ultra eBook, especially as it is the only story-builder, currently available to the SA market. The story-builder, in my opinion, will make this story's "kid appeal" last a lot longer as the outcome is variable. 



2 comments:

  1. LeapPad is cool. It was what we gave our daughter last November as she turned 5. She is really enjoying it and learning at the same time.
    Visiting and following you from AFRICAN BLOGGERS COMMUNITY.

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  2. Im not familiar with Leapfrog but i heard it was good for kids. When my son gets old enough he definitely going to get one. Showing you some love from African Bloggers Community.

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Thanks for sharing .

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