Fishing With Grandpa

This app takes a very simple premise - a fishing trip with the Grandpa character - and packs it with little educational experiences, each delivered in a polished but accessible way. The Fishing with Grandpa app has been developed by Fairlady Media, who have included this character previously, and the graphics, sound effects and usability here are as good as their other offerings.

The app itself is incredibly easy to use. Once the main screen loads up, Grandpa tells the user to "touch the boat to go fishing" and this begins the little fishing trip. Users then help Grandpa select the correct equipment for the trip as he requests. Next up is a little maths challenge, where children have to select fish in groups of a certain number as they swim by. All the graphics are very appealing and of a consistently high quality, as is the music track running throughout. Children receive instant feedback as to whether they have chosen the correct group or not, making learning more effective. After the groups of fish, there is a maze that you have to guide a crab through, helping to develop visio-spatial and all-round touch screen skills. These are further challenged on the next little activity, which is a jigsaw puzzle depicting some fish. Once the puzzle has been completed, Grandpa tells you the name of the species of fish on the picture. Further activities follow, including a "spot the difference" challenge, a colour matching activity and a video with factual information about fishing equipment. To round off the trip, children get the opportunity to do some virtual fishing of their own, choosing a lure, casting the line, carefully catching the fish and then reeling it in to the boat. Grandpa then identifies the species (which matches the one met on the puzzle earlier) and gives you a high five. Finally, the user measures the fish using a tape measure and add him to their fish "collection", where all the fish caught live. The whole trip can then be run through again as many time as required.

Although on paper the app may seem a little bit linear and simple, in practice it is very appealing to young children and they find themselves learning a lot in a very short space of time, probably without even noticing. The visual and audio elements are of a very high quality in every part of the game.It is worth noting as well that there is little settings menu for adults that gives them the ability to turn on and off different game features in order to tailor the learning experience to the particular child.

All in all, this game has been very well thought through and meets its aim of appealing to, and educating, young children. Its replayability and enjoyable theme will be sure to engage children.

You can download Fishing With Grandpa on your iOS devices from the Apple App Store.