Link4Fun Animal Books

Upon opening the application, the user is shown a home screen with 3 options: Wild Animals, Farm animals and Pets. Please note that the application has American narration. The developers may consider other languages for the app or narration in an English accent. The graphics are clear and the photographs are excellent. Once an option has been chosen the user has 4 further options:

To explore the app if you have the book, to explore without the book, to buy the book or to return to the home page.

If the user has the said book, then the iPad can detect which page the book is open on due to the magnets within the page. This is a very enjoyable feature and the application compliments the book very well.

The ‘Buy the book’ option has a parental sum lock which will direct you to the Link4fun books website, whilst the ‘Home’ button returns you to the Home screen. Stages Learning Materials has been creating quality teaching tools since 1996.

If the child choices the “play without the book’ option, they are encouraged to choose from a series of animals listed below:

Wild Animals include: Elephant, Giraffe, Hippo, Lion, Rhino and Zebra.

Farm Animals include: Chicken, Cow, Goat, Horse, Pig and Sheep.

Pets include: Bird, Cat, Dog, Fish, Hamster and Rabbit.

Choosing anyone of the above animals will bring you to a selection of options that include: Where do I live? What do I eat?, How big am I?, Watch Me and a Gallery option.

Where do I live? – This explores the habitat of the animal and where it lives most. This is often supported by a world map.

What do I eat? – This gives the user instant feedback for the types of food that the animal will eat. Further information is also given if the animal is an herbivore or carnivore etc. The option to feed the animals is really nice especially if you try to give them the wrong food.

How big am I? – This section describes the weight and size of the animal. We are unsure whether the use of inches is the best unit of measurement for younger users who are taught (certainly within the UK) in centimetres and millimetres. The use of pounds for weight is also an American unit and UK children may be unfamiliar with this.

Fun Facts – The app gives 5 excellent fun facts about the animals, these include anatomy of the animal, habits, characteristics and origins.

Watch Me – This provides a short video of the animal. The video is clear and informative. We did note that the application is rather large in size and this is probably due to the video content.

Gallery – This enables the user to add videos and pictures of the animals. This is a really nice feature and may give children to add family pet pictures or videos. A trip to the zoo could also be enhances by using the application. There are also some bonus pictures here.

It is noted that throughout the application the text has keywords within that can expanded upon. This not only gives the child extra information about the key word but also enhances their vocabulary of unfamiliar words.

We applaud the app developers for the apps high quality content and rich features.

The application is simple and easy to navigate without parent intervention. The application could appeal to a wider audience if the narration supported an English accent or other languages.

This application comes highly recommended by the EducationalAppstore.com 

You can download Link4Fun Animal Books on your iOS devices from the Apple App Store.