Installation
We tested on a number of devices: 2nd Generation Kindle Fire (not HD), HTC EVO (Android), iPad 2 and a first generation iPad. When searching, be sure you type “Touch ‘n Sing” not ” Touch & Sing”.
The game will take a minute or two to load on all devices (24MB) and be sure before you show your kids you have downloaded the songs also (more time). The first generation and had a hard time loading the game onto it and it would constantly kick us off. I it may be because the iPad was old, or the game is not compatible, either way here’s your heads-up.
Note there are category blocks in the upper right corner that tell you what the song teaches and there are also various settings like Karaoke and Music box and you can turn the lyrics off.
What Do the Mommy’s Think?
The animation is very colorful and sometimes obnoxious, but hey, it’s made for kids and the goal is to get them to look!
The songs are pretty short, so you will hear them again, and again, and again. I would ensure you are not in a place like the car where your child can use it to tease you when you ask them to turn it down/off (or try turning the lyrics off or setting it to music box version first).
The Hokey Pokey was…interesting. The characters selection was a little odd and the animation is very simple. You touch the characters body parts to make them ‘shake all about’ and the bottom is one of them. For some kids (see below) this crude humor is hilarious, but for some families we know this might be borderline inappropriate. We suggest you preview it to see for yourself. We will check with the manufacturer to see if there’s any way to remove or restrict a song and add the response as a comment to this post.
Kid Test
The game says it’s intended for ages 2-6, but even our 8-year-old really liked all the songs. She liked ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ because when you touch the planet it told you which one they were. In my adult opinion it was too immature for her and the graphics left something to be desired for her age, but it wasn’t false advertising.
The two almost-6-year-old girls both loved the ‘Hokey Pokey’ because it said “bottom” then shook their bottoms when you touched them. They were indifferent on ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ and could not figure out what to do with the ‘Alphabet Song’. But they did play the hokey pokey for well over 2 hours and listening to the iPad for 2 hours say “bottom” with two girls giggling like maniacs can get under your skin (in a good way).
The 3-year-olds (one boy, one girl) played for a little more than 20-mins but they have not asked to play it since. They laughed at the ‘Hokey Pokey’, but had no interest in the ‘Alphabet’ or the ‘Twinkle’ songs. Not sure if this is personality or age-based.
Our 2-year-old tester had no idea what to do with the ‘Hokey Pokey’, but LOVED the ‘Alphabet Song’ and caught right on to the visual cues as I mentioned above. He also liked ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’, and knew exactly what to do.
Overall, we definitely liked it and even better that you can try it FREE! We have two recommendations for the designers: add age recommendations along with the category info for each song and an option to hide a song with parental controls.
Here are links to it on Google Play, iTunes, and Amazon.
Check back for comments as we will test the other song packs in the next few weeks and share any response from the designer about our feedback. They just released a Christmas Song Pack so that should be fun!
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