Common Sense Media Review
By Jinny Ree
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Lovable monkey's fans may enjoy, but activities need work.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 3+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Curious George at the Zoo
What's It About?
In Curious George at The Zoo kids visit different regions of the zoo to play with animals. In Sunny Safari, kids choose an animal (hippo, parrot, giraffe, lion, or elephant) to clean; they can also watch a video about the animal. In the Safari Showers mini-game, kids pick an animal to hose based on a clue from the Man in the Yellow Hat ("Clean the animal with spots.") Kids earn stickers for a sticker book, and can import a photo from the device as a background. You can buy other regions to explore, such as Deep Freeze and Old McDonald's Farm.
Is It Any Good?
Curious George at the Zoo will entertain fans of the character as they explore the zoo and use features of the device to interact with the animals. But overall, the activities could be further developed to incorporate constructive feedback and accommodate users of different skill levels. Since kids are just repeating the same activity with each animal, the sense of challenge is lost as they master each task.
The one region that comes with the app doesn't feel very substantial, and encouraging kids to buy more regions with such a prominent purchase button is inappropriate for the targeted age. For kids who can't get enough of Curious George, this app may be entertaining, but there's not enough there for kids who aren't diehard fans.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Visit the library with your kid to read up on the featured animals, their natural habitats, how they clean themselves, etc.
Visit the zoo and find the animals kids learned about in the app.
Read the book Curious George Visits the Zoo. Do any parts of the book seem familiar after playing the app?
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects : Science : animals
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : applying information
- Pricing structure :
- Release date : May 11, 2012
- Genre : Education
- Topics : Book Characters
- Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Version : 1.2
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 4.2 or later
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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