Common Sense Media Review
By Amanda Bindel
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Bulky, slow app teaches fitness and healthy habits.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Doc McStuffins: Moving with Doc
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's It About?
Kids can choose to "train" or "compete" in the Backyard Games. They can choose their character from Lambie, Stuffy, and Hallie. In Training mode, kids chose from Food Catch, Stretch, Obstacle Course, Jump Rope, and Rings. They'll catch the "go" foods and avoid the slow foods in Food Catch, learning which foods give their body energy. In Stretch, kids have the option to use the camera to watch themselves doing stretches. They dodge or jump over bubbles in the Obstacle Course game, jump rope in the Jump Rope game, and swing on monkey bar rings in Rings, earning a star each time they complete an activity. Then kids can compete against a timer to complete the activities. They can also reward themselves with stickers on their Healthy Me Chart for activities they complete on their own outside the app, and they can take pictures of themselves to add to their chart.
Is It Any Good?
If kids can wait patiently for each game to load, they'll have some fun working through the activities and get inspired to go outside and play those same activities themselves. Some moves don't respond quickly to gestures, which is also frustrating. The overall message is great -- teaching kids to choose healthy foods to fuel their bodies and encouraging them to be active, and it's great that the games are all activities kids can re-create themselves outside. The concepts of adding their own pictures to the Healthy Me Chart and of seeing themselves stretching are really neat and personalize the game experience for kids. In a likely scenario, kids will play with the app a bit, get frustrated with the slow transitions, and ideally take their new ideas and go play outside.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Encourage kids to get outside to try out some of the activities from the app.
Create a mini obstacle course at home and time yourself and the kids running through it. Try to beat your individual best time.
Have kids pack their own lunches, choosing "go" foods.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPad
- Skills : Health & Fitness : balanced diet , exercise , fine motor skills , fitness , gross motor skills
- Pricing structure :
- Release date : January 29, 2014
- Genre : Education
- Topics : Book Characters
- Publisher : Disney
- Version : 1.2
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 6.0 or later
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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