4.7
Where to Buy

Happy Little Farmer App Review

App Info

Price: $2.99

Overview

Designed for kids under 8 years old, Happy Little Farmer is an iPad app that teaches the life cycle of a variety of plants in a way that is not only fun, but that kids in this age group will understand.

Through hands-on activities in three different scenarios kids learn how plants grow and what is needed to help them grow whether in a pot, garden or field.

In one scenario, growing berry plants in a pot, kids participate by adding the dirt to the pot, planting, fertilizing, watering, removing bugs, trimming leaves and finally, picking the berries. A counting activity is included as kids pick the berries.

The veggie patch scenario starts with kids preparing the garden for planting. They will remove the rocks, sticks and leaves, sorting them into the proper bins, then comes the raking and digging. After caring for their plants, comes harvest time. Pick the veggies before they rot! One item that could use a little improvement in this scenario is the use of the watering can. It needs the same control as it has in the Fruit Pot scenario.

Tilt the iPad to move the tractor as it removes garbage and mushrooms from the field, tills the soil and plants the wheat in the wheat field scenario. Kids will move on to watering the field with a helicopter and eventually harvest their crop by driving the combine. Two suggested changes for this scenario would be to eliminate the removal of garbage and mushrooms, or at least reduce the amount, and to change the method used for irrigating the crops. The current activities send the wrong message to young kids who may not know any different. Helicopters are more commonly associated to the application of pesticides, fertilizers and fungicides; not irrigation of crops. Choosing something like irrigation sprinklers may represent a much more common method, or incorporate Mother Nature.

In each scenario, day turning to night and night turning back to day signal a transition to the next phase in the plant’s life cycle. Additional interactive objects have been included in the scenes such as the frog eating flies, a bunny blowing bubbles to pop, and so on. Kids can earn stickers along the way as they find the hidden eggs. The stickers can be played with in rabbit’s house, a bonus area.

Settings are available to choose the language, mute background music and access external links and social media. External links on the main page are for additional apps. Happy Little Farmer app does not contain in-app purchases or ads.

Bottom line

Happy Little Farmer is a nicely designed science app to teach young kids the life cycle of plants using three different scenarios. A few changes could be made in how things are depicted or how kids interactive with them, but the app is still recommended.

Tap, pinch, tilt, and more! Now there are more ways for junior to play on the iPad – and best of all, learn all about the world of nature at the same time. Happy Little Farmer is a first-of-its-kind kids app that teaches children about how things grow through a series of interactive farming games. It includes animation so players can watch their plants grow as they complete the various activities. The gameplay is divided into three fun scenarios – veggie patch, fruit pot, and wheatfield – so kids can enjoy a more diverse range of play, such as driving a tractor, collecting bugs, trimming leaves, and more. Additional features includes a bonus treasure hunt game and an original music track of favorite children’s nursery rhymes.

Regular Price: $1.99

Happy Little Farmer
Quality
Education
Entertainment
Value
Child Friendly
4.7
Where to Buy