Disney Magic Timer
Common Sense says
- iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android
- Free
- Health & Fitness
Parents say
Kids say
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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 Disney Magic Timer is produced in partnership between Disney and Oral-B to encourage kids to brush twice daily for two minutes. While you don't have to have a Disney or Marvel character toothbrush to use the timer, you have to scan one of these toothbrushes to unlock different characters. Otherwise, kids brush with Winnie the Pooh. Scanning is tricky and unpredictable and may add a couple of minutes to the brushing routine, though every update seems to improve the functionality a bit. Compitable products include Oral-B and Crest Pro Health Stages toothpaste and toothbrushes for Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse Club, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Monsters U, Cars, Planes, Tinkerbell and the Fairies, Belle, Ariel, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Marvel characters Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and Captain America. 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?
Each device can accommodate several brushers, each with a brusher account to track daily brushings and collect sticker books. Start by selecting the brusher (or creating a new brusher the first time; kids can choose which character they want for their profile picture) and then selecting the toothbrush tool. Scan the Crest or Oral-B Pro Health character product by holding the device to the product as if taking a picture of it. This works best if the product is lying flat on a surface and you hold the device about six inches from the product and slowly move closer. If the scan won't take (which seems to happen occasionally) or you don't have a character product, just hit the arrow button to skip scanning. Then kids start brushing. As they brush, an animated toothbrush moves through the quadrants of the screen (just as they should be moving through the quadrants of their mouth while they brush) revealing a new picture each brushing. The timer counts down from two minutes, showing both a digital and analog timer, and a little music plays in the background. When kids finish brushing, they earn a half a star -- half for the morning and half for the evening -- getting a full star for brushing twice in a day. They'll also earn a sticker to go in their character's sticker book. Kids can check the calendar by selecting the calendar icon to see their brushing history, or they can look through the stickers they've earned by selecting the book icon.
Is it any good?
DISNEY MAGIC TIMER does what it sets out to do: get kids excited about brushing their teeth. And it may very likely add to the sales of Crest or Pro Health character products. The timer gives kids something to focus on to make sure they're brushing according to dentists' guidelines, and the quadrants help them be sure to hit all four parts of their teeth. It's all just a bit unpredictable. Some days, the toothbrush just won't scan. When it does, it may not correctly identify the character on the brush. Three scans in a row of a Cinderella toothbrush unlocked Ariel, Rapunzel, and finally, Cinderella. Another scan unlocked Lightning McQueen from Cars. Really, that bug just adds to the excitement of "which character will I get today?" and saves parents the requests to buy additional character toothbrushes.
Talk to your kids about ...
Make tooth brushing a part of the morning and bedtime routine so that it becomes habit.
In the settings, you can turn the music off or choose training mode, which sets the timer at one minute rather than two. Use the training mode with younger preschoolers, letting them brush for one minute with the timer before you go over their teeth again.
Play non-screen games while brushing teeth, too. Sing a song or recount the day's activities as your brush different parts of your kids' teeth.
App details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android
- Skills: Health & Fitness: body awareness, fine motor skills, preventing sickness
- Price: Free
- Pricing structure: Free
- Release date: March 8, 2014
- Category: Health & Fitness
- Topics: Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More, Superheroes, Book Characters
- Size: 218.00 MB
- Publisher: Disney
- Version: 3.0.7
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 6.0 or later; Android 4.0.3 and up
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