An app for the boys

Mr Potato Head


Sorry about the slightly late post this week, I'm off to Mauritius in less than two weeks and have been excitedly packing and keeping busy! It's therefore taking me a little while longer than normal to read my current book, The Clock of Time, by Nancy Klann-Moren, so today's review is for the above app.



I don't know about you, but my older niece and nephew have loved the Toy Story franchise since they were in nappies. 'Aylees', their baby babble word for Toy Story 3 (short for aliens) was practically their bedtime story (when they weren't visiting me!).

If you look at the apps on my phone, a good two-thirds could be said to appeal more to girls rather than boys. When I saw this, I knew I had to get it for Lewis.

I can't actually remember how much I paid for this - once bought, I can never seem to get Apple to show me how much it was! It must have been free or cheap though, as the app does have adverts. It took a while to train the children not to touch anything before the play button popped up! You can also buy bundles as in-app purchases, but I've found there are enough costumes without needing to buy more.

You basically get several choices of costumes to put onto Mr Potato Head, and these can be mixed and matched. It's a great idea - there are male and female versions of several costumes, including cowboy, pirate, circus performer, alien, etc. In the pictures I mixed him up so he's a pirate with sparkly eyes and a father christmas nose and moustache. You also get a choice of where to put each accessory, so if you want, you can put the eyes where the ears are supposed to go, or the ears where the legs are supposed to go. One big drawback about this, though, is that sometimes it can be a little tricky to get things in the right place, as well as mistakenly turning the wheel Mr Potato Head is on - while Caitlin can manage to get around these things, Lewis isn't quite there yet, so it does mean an adult (or older child) does need to be keeping an eye. By the way, Lewis is 4 in July, and Caitlin is 5, just to give you an idea of age.

Once the dressing up is done, you can choose one of several scenarios - including pirates, cowboys, aliens, candyland and a ballroom. There, you get a choice of 5 things you could make Mr Potato Head do, although I think these amuse me more than Caitlin and Lewis, who just love to dress him up! You can also press the camera to take pictures of Mr Potato Head's antics, which is how I got most of the screen grabs.

Generally, I'd definitely recommend it. It's the first one both Caitlin and Lewis go for, and particularly Lewis. While he can get a little frustrated at getting stuck every now and again, they both love being able to dress up Mr Potato Head, and it's fairly easy to make them take turns.

Oooh, and a quick side note - I should be seeing my website artwork soon so I hope to be revamping the design ASAP!