Parents' Guide to

FETCH! LUNCH RUSH

By Dana Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Novel PBS Kids app takes game off screen and into room.

App iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad Free Family Games
FETCH! LUNCH RUSH Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

  • FETCH! LUNCH RUSH App: Screenshot #1
  • FETCH! LUNCH RUSH App: Screenshot #2
  • FETCH! LUNCH RUSH App: Screenshot #3

Community Reviews

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age 6+

Based on 1 parent review

HSCmom
HSCmom Adult
February 17, 2012
age 6+

Go Fetch Some Sushi!

This app makes the player feel like part of the action on Fetch. We like to spread the pieces out all over the house and then run around trying to get sushi for the crew. It is fun math practice for the little guy.

This title has:

Educational value
See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

This "augmented reality" game requires quite a bit of pre-work -- game pieces need to be sent to an email address, printed, and cut out before kids can begin to play. Players place the game pieces on the ground or on a wall and view them through the device's camera to select answers to the questions on the screen and help Ruff Ruffman get sushi for his crew. This can be a single- or multi-player game. To get the correct pieces of sushi, players must solve the addition and subtraction problems on the screen (with answers to 10).

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1):
Kids say: Not yet rated

If you're motivated enough to do the pre-work to set up the game, FETCH! LUNCH RUSH is a truly novel way for kids to practice basic math and learn some relatively new technology, too. The game pieces have to be taped onto the wall or, more practically, spread out around the room. If the mobile device is going to be carried around the room and handed between players in the multi-player version, it could get risky for the device, especially since part of the game is to see how fast each player can arrive at the answers. As a result, teachers or parents who are thinking of using this as a multi-player game may want to consider setting some "careful carrying rules" for the mobile device being used. The math lessons may be limited in scope, but since this app is free and the idea is quite unique, it's definitely worth a play at least once.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Help kids print out the necessary game pieces and set up the game -- it's not something young kids can do on their own.

  • Find more ways to involve your device's camera in your kids' learning adventures. A camera can add an interesting twist to a math-related scavenger hunt, for example.

App Details

  • Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
  • Subjects: Math: addition, subtraction
  • Skills: Collaboration: cooperation, meeting challenges together, Tech Skills: using and applying technology
  • Pricing structure: Free
  • Release date: July 20, 2014
  • Category: Family Games
  • Publisher: PBS KIDS
  • Version: 2.0
  • Minimum software requirements: Requires iOS 5.0 or later.
  • Last updated: August 19, 2016

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