Parents' Guide to Disney Build It: Frozen

Kids have disappointingly few opportunities for real creative expression in this highly prescriptive, Frozen-branded app. Certainly, kids who love everything Frozen will enjoy the chance to enter into the Frozen fantasy world. Unfortunately, there's no narrative to carry kids along, and the building opportunities leave little room for personalization or creativity. For example, there are often only two options for building decorations, and they can be positioned only in predetermined places. The building process also doesn't always make sense: Often it's entirely unclear what the decoration choices even are supposed to be. Or, why choose colors before making the building? And why not have any control over where each color goes? Once it's built, there's no way to interact with the characters or buildings other than to drag them to new areas. One upside is that combining props in groups of four creates something new -- four little ponds make a big pond -- so there's some novelty to keep kids going. While kids may have fun making choices and responding to character "requests" for new structures, they'll inevitably want to see what the other areas and characters offer, so if you download this one, be prepared to spend more than the purchase price and don't expect your kid to have much control or creative opportunities.