Have you heard of Magic Belles? There’s six of them and they live in Bellevue. They’re colourful, have pleasant music accompanying them and there’s quite a lot to do – spotting things, colouring in, animated stories, crafts – oh and there’s also the Flutterbud Club (and we’re loving Rainbow Belle’s Rainbow ring)! They’re targeted at girls, particularly ones of H’s age; three and upwards. Here’s what their creators Luma Creative have to say:

Magic Belles is a brand with good values and special wishes:

1. To help little girls appreciate the many wonders of life.
2. To celebrate and encourage their talents.
3. To engage them in the magic of music.

We hope, with your help, that these wishes can come true!

We were given an opportunity to review the Magic Belles app, which has just been released. I sat with H and we went through each section so we could see what you had to do. I’m very much a fan of letting her work out games herself with minimal help from me, and happily she played immediately and with no help – a very good sign.

So the app opens and you’re greeted with this page. If you’re familiar with the Magic Belles website, then clicking the blue bird in the middle will take you to a very familiar page

Drag each Magic Belle onto the star and they’ll play their tune (which is quite lovely and hypnotic!). However, if you know about this already, chances are you’ll be exploring all the other parts of the game…

Here’s what you get:

So as you can see there’s more than just the games – little extras and what H and I love is how lovely it looks – bright and colourful and most of all fun! (and an additional huge bonus point from me – no Comic Sans to be seen ANYWHERE which is a good thing!)

Of all the games, H’s favourite by far is Cupcake Belle’s one – she always going back to that one first – though loves playing Star Belle’s dot to dots game (and has a real sense of pride every time she completes one). MY favourite is Love Belle’s guitar game when I can get a turn…

All the games are really straightforward to play – they’re not complicated at all. We also celebrate music in this house and I love how each game follows the same overall tune but is based around each Belle’s part. The extras in each game are fun too, and helps with H learning to explore beyond what is obvious.

We love Magic Belles – this gets a BIG thumbs up from H!

Magic Belles: Magic Music is available from the App Store for £1.49 now. There’s a free Lite version too which has the first game – try it out!

We received a code to review this app – all opinions are our own.

Disclaimer – this app has taken us the longest to review – and there’s a reason why. H is a huge Bob fan, but all she wants to do is clean the characters from the show – and that’s one of the game options here; you choose the character, get the sponge and clean them (and there’s almost always some muck left around the wheels) then rinse off with water (you need to be a good aim here, though it’s not difficult), then polish with a cloth.

Every time we’ve played the game, it’s the only part H will actually play.

This morning we’ve sat down together and I’ve instructed her that she has to play the other parts of the game which include:

Clean the Can Do Crew – Can you clean it? Bob the Builder’s machine wash has broken down and needs fixing.  Can you help wash and hose down his muddy crew?
Mix and Paint – Can you mix it? Mix the colours together to create the perfect palette and paint your favourite characters.
Who Is It? – How well do you know the Can Do Crew? Match the characters to their shadows. (you get an Easy or Hard option on this too)
Picture Puzzle – Complete the puzzle by connecting the pieces to create scenes from the TV show. (another option for Easy or Hard)
Memory Game – Remember the location of the character cards to match all the pairs. (another Easy or Hard)
Plus special Sticker Book – collect stickers throughout the games to decorate a various Bob the Builder scenes within a sticker book.

H loves memory games, so played that for a while, and had fun with ‘Who Is It?’, but I’d say within five to ten minutes of playing those games she’d still made her way back to the ‘Clean the Can Do Crew’ section for the bazillionth time – she just loves cleaning, it would seem – even over the colouring in  section which she does enjoy doing.

The sticker book characters can’t be made larger or smaller (like with the Peppa Pig and Ben & Holly games) which isn’t a problem as they’re in proportion with the scenes you can stick them to.

Neil Morrissey narrates through the game as you’d expect (and if it isn’t him, it’s a good soundalike), and much like the other games from P2 Games it follows a familiar pattern – do well in games and win a sticker. I have to say it’s definitely a hit in our house as H just will not stop cleaning the characters!

Bob the Builder – Playtime Fun! is available for £1.99 from the App Store on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

We received a code to review this app – all opinions are our own.

We have a bit of a Ben & Holly fan here at home, just a bit (quite a lot, actually). When we had the opportunity to review the new app from P2 Games, we jumped at the chance. So far we’re really liking it too – as while a lot of these games have a similar theme (win games, collect stickers, play on the sticker book afterwards), there’s some additional variations which we think are fab.

You choose to play as Ben or Holly, though so far we’ve not noticed any difference in who you choose to play with, other than your child gets to choose a favourite.

You have four games to choose from :

Collecting Stars
Throwing Sticks
Hiding
Sweeping the leaves

All of the games are pretty self-explanatory – but here’s where we like it that little bit more – you have an option to choose an Easy or Hard game – and while H does love playing the other games that are similar, levels of difficulty help make this a bit more challenging (though to be fair, right now she seems to love cleaning Scoop on the Bob The Builder game, and we’re finding it difficult to get her to play any other game in that app!) – and means it wont get too easy too quickly.

Collecting Stars is straightforward enough, you move Ben or Holly and avoid the bees and butterflies, otherwise you’ll lose a life
Throwing Sticks was a bit more difficult – we’ve not been able to complete this on the Easy level yet! I’m not quite working out how to throw the stick in other directions, but that helps make this more challenging!
Hiding is a simple variant of Whack A Mole – without moles and without whacking – just tap the screen when Ben and Holly appear and don’t hit the other animals otherwise you’ll lose a life!
Sweeping the leaves is another simple one – move the leaves to the corners of the screen and don’t let Gaston mess them up while you’re doing it!

Another nice touch, the option to play again. I could be wrong, but I don’t remember that option on the other games.

Would we change anything on this game? Right now we’re loving it – it’s straightforward and uncomplicated and has the option of being a little more difficult. Like the Peppa Pig game you can make the stickers in the Sticker Book larger or smaller, and there’s a good selection of stickers to collect, so your book wont be complete for a long time which keeps you coming back to play more times. H did wonder why Daisy and Poppy weren’t together, but there’s the toddler way of thinking in action there, rather than a criticism!

I like that you use the pincer grasp to make the stickers larger or smaller, as while H has always been good at it, a little practice never does any harm!

So yes, in summary, I’m finding this good, it’s got different features to ones we’re used to in previous games while still similar.

You can buy the Ben and Holly game at the App Store for £1.99

we received a review code for this app – all opinions are our own

 

There’s a fantastic group over on Facebook, Apps for Parents where we’ll find out about a lot of games which are free – which is always the best time to try one out – or being reviewed. A few days ago we were alerted to ‘Tap A Tune’ which is essentially a tuneful Whack A Mole, done gently. Or at least, is so far…

I decided rather than attempt to explain it, I’d put up a YouTube video of H playing it – after all, that’s how you know if something is any good (other than trying it out for free).

Here’s H’s rendition of ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’ for the very first time. I love the iPad is so easy to pick up and use, and I love that this game is so quick to play – anything that encourages her to learn about music is a good thing.

You can pick up ‘Tap A Tune’ for free at the App Store for a limited time – hurry! Thanks to Mags for the tip!