Monster Time is a nifty little app that helps children learn to tell the time. It’s currently available for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
I’m liking
The graphics are engaging and your little person can choose from five different monster clocks and can also make the clocks analogue or digital. There are also three different skills settings. The monster clocks are quirky and cute and the app is very easy to navigate around.
There’s also a nice incentive within the app and by completing a certain number of clocks, children can unlock picture of their favourite Monster pals, which they can print and colour in. CUTE!
Things that made me go hmmmm
The app sticks to its mustard and apart from choosing different clocks and time settings, there’s not much else you can do with it. It’s inexpensive, though ($2.59NZ), so you certainly won’t feel ripped off. I wonder whether some kind of challenge might be a useful addition to the app?
The conclusion
This app is aimed at children aged 4-10 and my 3 1/2 year old was certainly a bit young for it. However, we found that although she wasn’t ready for the time telling aspect of it, we did make use of it to practise numbers and I can definitely see that it would be a good way of introducing time telling to slightly older children.
Overall, a nicely designed and built app with good playability.
