Review: Itsy Bitsy Spider for iPhone/iPod Touch

I’ve been thrilled to have had the chance to review the first two apps that Duck Duck Moose created for the iPhone/iPod Touch (Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald) – and am just as glad to have the opportunity to review their newest app as well – Itsy Bitsy Spider. Then again, my girls are definitely the happy ones whenever Duck Duck Moose comes out with a new app. 

What it is:

Itsy Bitsy Spider by Duck Duck Moose has already become (according to the developer) the #2 Kids Game and the #50 top-selling App Overall in iTunes (with 85,000 apps).  As with their previous two apps, this one takes a well-known children’s song and turns it into an interactive experience where kids can poke, slide and swipe their fingers across the screen to make the various graphics move, talk and sing.

Like our other award-winning children’s apps, Itsy Bitsy Spider is based on a popular song, but this new app is even more interactive and has more educational activities to engage children.  The app is like an interactive movie, panning to a different scene each time you poke the spider.  A friendly tutor (a fly!) teaches your child about nature and the environment.

• Poke the spider to go to the next screen – This app keeps the navigation simple for children and pans in a movie-like fashion, as the spider moves up the water spout, down with the rain, and out with the sun!
• Touch and explore the colorful illustrations, where nearly everything moves – Make rain come down from clouds, splash in puddles, help a caterpillar become a beautiful butterfly, play peek-a-boo with frog, slide down a rainbow, and much more!
• Tap the little Fly to learn about the environment, nature, and animals – A friendly Fly is your child’s guide to the world, covering 15 fascinating, educational topics, such as: Where does rain come from?  What makes a rainbow? Why does a squirrel have such a big tail?  How does a caterpillar become a butterfly?
• Engage your children in a variety of fun, learning activities:
  • Count from 1 to 10 as a squirrel builds his house
  • Find hidden eggs on a scavenger hunt
  • Create your own music with musical eggs that play 12 different notes
  • Stack hats on the spider’s head
  • Listen to classical music with violin and cello pizzicato
  • Record your own singing!

Courtesy of Duck Duck Moose and the Family Review Network, I received a copy of Itsy Bitsy Spider for my iPhone, to try out and review.

Here’s my our take on it:

As with the other apps, I played around with it first, before letting my daughters have a turn. This one has the same level of quality in terms of the graphics and sound, and is even more interactive in some ways. It’s a slightly different experience though – instead of moving through a series of ‘pages’, this app has only two pages, but with much more in the way of interaction on each one. As you tap the spider, it moves through the familiar song – up the water spout, down with the rain, and then back up again after the sun comes out. And there are also many other things happening on the screen as well for you to interact with, along with the spider and the song. The biggest change is the little fly that displays little tidbits of information every time you touch him. And there are tiny eggs hidden around the picture that your spider can collect and store on its web. I think it’s cute, a lot of fun – and something that adds a little bit of educational value to the whole experience.

My three-year-old was initially a bit confused with this app, since she’s used to the ones with ‘pages’ she can turn. And overall she wasn’t as enthused about this one as she is with the other two Duck Duck Moose apps (her all-time favorite is Wheels on the Bus). But she still had fun playing with the spider, the eggs, the fly and the other graphics in this app. And she liked it even more when I recorded myself singing the song for her – she thought that was pretty cool. It was actually my older girls who had more fun with this app – I think they really like the more interactive nature of it.

The bottom line:

The Itsy Bitsy Spider app from Duck Duck Moose helps turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into not only a way to amuse and entertain your child(ren), but also helps provide a little bit of educational value as well. Kids of all ages should enjoy the fun graphics and all of the different ways you can interact with them.

Where can you find it?:

You can find out more information about Itsy Bitsy Spider 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 for 99 cents.

This post was written as part of a program for Duck Duck Moose and the Family Review Network, who provided the application for review. No payment or compensation, other than product samples as described above, was received for this post.