Dora and Friends Back to the Rainforest
By Mieke VanderBorght,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Despite Dora's charm, repetitive arcade game is a dud.
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Dora and Friends Back to the Rainforest
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What’s It About?
Boots has lost Backpack and Map somewhere in the rainforest, and he enlists Dora's help in retrieving them. DORA AND FRIENDS BACK TO THE RAINFOREST is an arcade adventure lightly supported by a story line. In endless-runner fashion, Dora races through four settings while kids make her jump to collect items that "fell out" of Backpack. Along the way, Dora greets familiar friends and grabs objects for her charm collection. Every once in a while, kids hear some Spanish words or need to identify color or quantity to help Dora move forward.
Is It Any Good?
Despite great graphics and the Dora-typical nonchalant usage of Spanish vocabulary, the repetition of jumping and collecting with little other content is disappointing. It's kid-friendly because Dora can't fall off a cliff, be eaten by creatures, and so on; so long as kids keep playing, Dora always makes it to the end of the level. But that can take a while since the levels are long. However, because she's constantly moving forward, it can be difficult for young kids to move her in time to collect items. The background story nicely provides a bit of context and scaffolds kids' imaginations, but play sorely lacks variety -- and logic. Other than a few unique small tasks or obstacles thrown in to each "land," the only things that change from one land to the next are the background graphics and what Dora collects (bananas, teddy bears, and so on), and it's unclear why kids rack up items at all. Finally, sometimes bugs interrupt the game flow, and being able to turn off the frenetic music would help. Parents looking for Dora-branded games and activities for little fans will do better looking elsewhere.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the Spanish words that appear in the app. Try to use them in conversations, and find ways to learn and incorporate new Spanish words as well. Learn songs in Spanish and sing them together.
Read books that introduce Spanish words or that feature stories and information about Spanish-speaking cultures.
Talk about how easy it is to just keep playing games like this and discuss the importance of setting limits. Work with your kids to create guidelines that work for your family.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Kindle Fire
- Subjects: Language & Reading: vocabulary, Math: numbers
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Release date: September 23, 2015
- Category: Education
- Topics: Adventures, Friendship, Great Girl Role Models
- Publisher: Nickelodeon
- Version: 1.0
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 7.0 or later; Android 2.3.3 and up
- Last updated: July 27, 2016
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