Baby Joy Joy ABC game for kids

You and your child may already know Baby Joy Joy from the popular YouTube channel.  In this channel, Baby Joy Joy sings to and entertains young children.  Some of the videos are purely for fun and some offer more pronounced educational benefits.  This app picks up on the latter and harnesses the channel's baby star to familiarise young children with letters and numbers.

The two variations of game built into this app clearly take 'infinite-runner' style games as their inspiration but with a thought to making them accessible to young children.  In this style of game and this app, players run from left to right collecting items and jumping obstacles.

Where Baby Joy Joy's gameplay varies is that it does not punish children for mistakes.  In fact, there are no mistakes to be made.  Mistimed jumps do not lead the player to their doom and missed objects do not make levels impossible to complete.  

Children still have control.  In one style of game, tapping and double-tapping at the right time prevent Baby Joy Joy from being held up by obstacles.  In the other style of game, which is set underwater, a tap floats the player a little closer to the surface to avoid obstacles and time brings the player back down.  Having the two styles adds a bit of much-needed variety to the app and encourages children to think about what they are doing.

There are other aspects of this app that make it feel like the games from which it is taking inspiration. The player can collect a creature, themed to match the level, on which to ride at a greater pace.  Bonus items are also available to collect and children can choose a different character to run through the levels.

These game-like features, combined with varied graphics that would not be out of place in a purely entertainment-based game, do a good job of making children feel like they are playing games like those of their parents or older siblings - albeit without the frustrations of lives to be lost and time limits.  Young children enjoy feeling like they are doing the same as these people in their lives so harnessing this for education is a good idea.

The educational aspects of this game are learning the names of letters and numbers.  The 26 levels that cover the letters each focus on a single letter.  As the player collects each item, the letter name and a word that begins with it is spoken.  Together the appearance of the letter on the screen, its name, and its use in a word familiarise children.  The repetition secures the knowledge and reminds children.

It has to be admitted that this learning content is not particularly deep nor varied but it is fun and does have value.  Children will, through the repetition, learn to match letters and numbers to their names.  It would have been nice to see some extra variety such as matching more than one word with each letter.

This is a fun app and is especially relevant if your child is already a fan of Baby Joy Joy's videos on YouTube.  By bringing together a character children are interested in, an activity that feels like a game, and some useful learning opportunities, this app will be enjoyed by young children.  The letter part of this app is available for free while the numbers are unlocked through an in-app purchase.   This is a very generous offer and by giving so much away for free, it lifts this app to 5 stars.  There is absolutely no risk in getting the free version of this app for your child and seeing how they like it.