Just Helping My Dad App Review
App Info
Price: $1.99
Overview
Just Helping My Dad is another entertaining and engaging digital book from OceanHouse Media that tells the tale of a son spending the day with his dad while causing a bit of chaos along the way. The various narration options and other features will inspire little ones to practice their reading skills and the story just might motivate children to be more helpful around the house.
Features include:
- Narration options
- Voice record
- In-story game
- Text highlighting
Quality
Digital books typically include interactive illustrations and entertaining stories and Just Helping My Dad is no different. This Little Critter story includes wonderful illustrations taken directly from the book. The audio is also very well done when using the read-to-me option as it is accompanied by various sound effects that coincide with the storyline. These added features really bring the story to life despite the fact that the illustrations aren’t animated like some digital books.
Education
Oceanhouse Media always does a great job including educational aspects that help with reading skills and vocabulary and this app is a great example of that. The narration options allow children to read to themselves or to follow along with the narrator via the text highlighting as a way to practice their reading skills. For early readers, the illustrations provide a great way of learning new words by simply tapping the various pictures on each page. Once the image is tapped, the word appears and the narrator reads it aloud.
The voice record option also allows children to practice reading aloud which is a great since that can be a challenge for early readers. It also allows parents to record themselves reading the story to their child so there is a comforting and familiar voice when using the narration option.
Entertainment
In addition to the fun story, there is an interactive search and find game included in the story. As children read through and look at each illustration, they are challenged to find the mouse and spider that are hiding throughout. At the end of the story, they find out how many they successfully located and are encouraged to try again if they missed any.
This game adds an entertainment element throughout the book, however it would be nice to have an additional activity outside of the story itself to add more entertainment value.
Value
Priced at just under two dollars, this app is a good value and is in line with many of the other digital book apps available. When you consider what you might pay for the hard copy book with no additional games, narration options etc., I think parents will find this app is a good buy.
Child Friendliness
Just Helping My Dad is very easy to use for children of all ages as it provides narration options no matter what reading level your child is on. The user interface doesn’t allow children to get stuck on any one page as they move through the app and the illustrations and in-app game make it appealing to young children.
The main page does offer a link to more apps and information about the developer however it is somewhat protected. If a child tries to gain access they must first swipe their fingers in a very specific way in order to get into these “parents only” areas which is a nice way to provide protection to little ones. With that said, parents don’t have to worry about any social media links in the app at all which is nice.
