Sago Mini School
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Sago Mini School
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this app.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Sago Mini School is a subscription-based set of lightly educational playful activities featuring many of the Sago Mini characters. Like the other many apps from the same developer, Sago Mini School is mostly about exploration, though here there are a few more structured games. The developers claim that new material is added monthly. The app asks for permission to access your device's microphone to record your kid reciting stories. When parents open the app for the first time, they must enter their year of birth and then create an account to sign up for a subscription. If parents don't choose a subscription option, they can try out the whole app for 24 hours, and then a limited portion of it for longer. Or, if parents sign up through the developer's website, they can get a 30-day free trial. Parents can download Sago Mini Parents, a separate companion app that, when linked to their Sago Mini School account, collects information about what their kids do in Sago Mini School. Read the developer's privacy policy for details on how your (or your kids') information is collected, used, and shared and any choices you may have in the matter, and note that privacy policies and terms of service frequently change.
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What’s It About?
Parents open SAGO MINI SCHOOL, provide their email to create an account, and then choose a subscription option. Once it's set up, kids can swipe left or right to choose a play theme such as big trucks, bugs, rainbow, bakery, or about me. Then, kids swipe through activity choices like short video segments, letter tracing, imaginative play, simple mazes, drawing, and more. Simple stories let kids flip through options to customize the narrative. When kids finish an activity, they can tap on a suggested one to play next, or return to the main menu.
Is It Any Good?
Fun, colorful characters guide little ones through engaging games with some basic early learning educational content. Sago Mini School is the first structured app from a developer that specializes in open-ended free play digital imagination spaces. Here, there are some games where kids simply move items around and let their imaginations go, but most of the activities have a specific purpose such as letters, numbers, drawing, or problem solving. These activities have kid-friendly graphics, and are designed to be easy enough for little fingers to complete. There are a few stand out activities such as the stories where kids can make some of their own choices. Yet, most of the content is pretty standard: trace letters, draw, and so on. Particularly for this kind of game design in which there's no guidance, some activities can also present a bit of a challenge for young players, such as putting blocks back together, or figuring out how to help the truck keep going along its path. And, it seems as though there are lots of different activities for kids to choose from, which can feel overwhelming and may overstimulate some. Many activity types are also repeated both within the same theme and across themes. Despite these downsides, Sago Mini School is still an overall good fit for little kids.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what kids play with in Sago Mini School. Which activities do they like the best and why? Ask them to talk about what they're thinking as they pretend play, make their way through a maze, or color a drawing.
Engage your little ones with the basics of preschool learning in your every day life. Sing songs, read stories, count things you see around you.
With no natural stopping point in Sago Mini School, it can be hard to put the game down. Be clear about your family's screen time rules before handing over your device.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android
- Subjects: Language & Reading: letter or word recognition, Math: numbers, Arts: drawing
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: problem solving, Creativity: imagination
- Pricing structure: Free to try (Free to download with limited content for a limited time. Subscribe for full content for $7.99/month or $59.99 year after free trial.)
- Release date: February 23, 2022
- Category: Education
- Topics: Cars and Trucks, Bugs, Numbers and Letters
- Publisher: Sago Sago
- Version: 2.5
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 10.0 or later; Android 4.4 and up
- Last updated: March 16, 2022
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