5
Where to Buy

The Little Bug App Review

App Info

Price: $2.99

Overview

The Little Bug is an entertaining and educational ebook that will guide you and your child through many fun readings.

Features include:

  • Over 28 interactive pages
  • Read-to-Me and Read-to-Myself modes
  • Over 100 interactions
  • Varied interactions, including tap, tilt and swipe
  • Beautiful hand-painted, cut-paper style illustrations

Quality

The Little Bug is an adorable high quality ebook for young children. The app includes high-quality illustrations, professional narration, and pleasant background music. The artwork has an interesting look, since it is hand-painted but looks like cut-paper outlines, which makes an interesting mix. The colors are realistic, yet bright and eye-catching. All of the controls are intuitive and easy to use. The app also uses a wide array of interactions, which will help maintain children’s interest and increase the play value of the ebook.

Education

This app does a remarkable job of satisfying young readers’ curiosity and providing information effortlessly. Children will not realize how much they are learning, but the text and illustrations provide a rich explanation of common insects’ main traits. Furthermore, the ebook has several positive messages about talents, self-esteem, and putting effort into projects. As they explore each page, they will uncover each insect’s secrets by swiping, tapping, tilting and more.

This ebook offers two modes: read-to-me and read-to-myself. Young users can choose to use the built-in narration or turn it off. This will increase their sense of independence and allow them to use narration when they need it and turn off that support when their skills allow them to read the text independently.

The Little Bug provides numerous opportunities for parents and children to explore together. The app uses a robust vocabulary that likely will prompt questions from children about the meanings of some words, so be sure to take advantage of these teachable moments. It’s also a great jumping-off point for exploration and further research as the children discover each insect’s special talent. If adults tap the question mark icon, there are some outstanding suggestions for discussion questions in the Guide section, and anyone who works with young children will appreciate the supplemental activity sheets available for free from the developers’ website.

Entertainment

The Little Bug is a very entertaining ebook. Each page includes several hidden interactions that children will love to activate again and again. The developers incorporated many different types of interactions, so each page is different. There are items to tap, swipe or drag. The device can also be tilted to show a bit more of the garden on each page, though the difference is pretty subtle and I doubt that most young children will want to engage that activity very much.

Each page also contains a hidden lady bug animation that will intrigue young users. They will tap everything in the scene to find out where the lady bug is hiding. In addition, each insect discussed has its own unique interaction; the grasshopper group plays at different pitches, the lightning bugs can be turned on and off, and the katydid is hidden among the leaves but will fly away when tapped. These are just a few examples of the creative and appropriate interactions that developers have included.

Value

This app is a good value. It is a high-quality ebook that is both entertaining and educational, and is quite likely to become a favorite at your house! The text, narration, illustrations, and interaction combine to make an outstanding experience for a child reading alone, and the book is full of possibilities for adults and children to interact in ways that will extend the learning and the fun.

Child Friendliness

This app contains no outside advertisements, no in-app purchases, no links to social media or the open internet, no connection to the App Store, and no connection to email. If adults are interested in connecting with the developers in any of those ways, information is provided to do so, but there is no chance that a young user can make any unauthorized connections.

The Little Bug
The Little Bug
The Little Bug is an entertaining and educational ebook that will guide you and your child through many fun readings.
Quality
Education
Entertainment
Value
Child Friendly
5
Where to Buy