Review: Wheels on the Bus for iPhone/iPod Touch

Last year, I took some money that I’d saved, and used it (along with birthday money from my parents) to buy an iPod Touch. What I really wanted was an iPhone, but that will have to wait (at the very least) until we’re upgrade eligible on our AT&T service this summer. But I love my iPod Touch – it has almost everything that the iPhone does (except the actual ‘phone’, lol) and I’ve been having a blast with it. And I was able to give my iPod Nano to my husband – which made him a happy camper since he doesn’t have a CD player in his work truck.

One thing that I hadn’t anticipated though, was how many of the iPhone applications would also work on the iPod Touch. There’s a huge selection in the Apple iTunes store and most are either free or only cost a few dollars. I’ve downloaded a few for myself, but then realized that there’s a great deal of kids’ games and activities available as well – which makes my iPod even more useful, since I can now let the girls amuse themselves with it when we’re out and about.

One application that even my three-year-old can use and enjoy easily is Wheels on the Bus. Thanks to the Family Review Network, I had a chance to try this app out and see what my girls think of it.

What it is:

Wheels on the Bus is an interactive digital book for kids, from a company called ‘Duck Duck Moose’. Using the touch screen of the iPhone or iPod Touch, kids can turn the pages, and touch or slide fingers along to make various things happen while listening to the music and lyrics of the familiar song.

The song itself is available in many voices and instruments – and you can even record yourself or your child singing it to play during the interactive experience as well. From different languages (Spanish, French, German and Italian) to various instruments (violin, cello, piano, and kazoo), you can introduce your child to a wide range of musical options.

The graphics for the app are all original and include interactive options such as making the bus move faster or slower, opening and closing the doors, moving the windshield wipers, making the people go up and down, etc.

Here’s my our take on it:

I knew that my girls would love the chance to get their hands on my iPod and I was right. And they were thrilled to see something on it especially for them to play! It was interesting to see how much of a difference age makes with this type of thing too – this app is aimed at preschoolers, but even my 6 and 7-year-olds were have a blast playing with it – just in a different way.

My 6-year-old goes through the book very thoroughly – she makes sure to do every activity on every page, and when she finds one that she really likes, she’ll sit there for a while with that particular one.

On the other hand, my 3-year-old goes from page to page to page – I think she loves having control over when and how the pages change from one to the other. Once I showed her that she could touch graphics on the pages to make things happen, she started sliding her fingers all over (thankfully I have a screen protector on the iPod, lol). It took her a few minutes to understand that some pictures needed to be tapped with a finger versus sliding a finger across, but as soon as she realized – I had a hard time getting the iPod back. 

The bottom line:

Wheels on the Bus is a wonderful interactive experience for kids as young as 18 months – up to well, even I had fun seeing what I could make the different pages do. Whether you need a way to keep your little ones occupied here or there, or need something for them to do in the car or on trips, this is a fun, educational application.

Where can you find it?:

You can find out more information about Wheels on the Bus at their website, http://duckduckmoosedesign.com, and you can purchase it directly from the iTunes app store if you have either an iPhone or iPod Touch. The regular price is $2.99, but right now it’s only 99 cents!

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