Parents' Guide to Noggin Preschool Learning App

App iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android , Kindle Fire Free to try Education
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Common Sense Media Review

Amanda Bindel By Amanda Bindel , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 3+

Subscribe for fave shows; might want more parent control.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 3+?

Any Positive Content?

  • Marshall from Paw Patrol next to three icons for activity choices displayed above a box labeled Social & Emotional.
  • Main menu with icons to choose games, videos, or books, icons for each featured show, and other themed categories of activities.
  • Ebook page showing Dora the Explorer reading a letter and with options to choose Read Myself, Read to Me, and Parent TIps.
  • Grownups profile page with prompt to choose favorites from over 30 colorful icons representing the app's featured shows.
  • Nine buttons showing different body types including a baby, standing girl and boy, standing man and woman, and girl, boy, man woman in a wheelchair.

Parent and Kid Reviews

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age 5+

Based on 5 parent reviews

 

 

See all 5 parent reviews
age 2+

Based on 5 kid reviews

 

 

See all 5 kid reviews

Privacy Rating Warning

  • Personal information is sold or rented to third parties.
  • Personal information is shared for third-party marketing.
  • Personalised advertising is displayed.
  • Data are collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
  • User's information is used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
  • Unclear whether this product creates and uses data profiles for personalised advertisements.
Learn more about our privacy ratings

What's It About?

With a monthly subscription, kids can watch clips and whole episodes of shows from the former Noggin network—and play lots of games with NOGGIN PRESCHOOL LEARNING APP. Shows include Little Bear, Franklin and Friends, Blue's Clues, and more, with dozens of episodes across multiple seasons of each show. Games and play-along videos have interactive elements and touch on standard early-learning themes such as literacy, basic math, and puzzles. There's also a collection of early reader books from Bob Books and Noggin characters; kids can choose to read on their own or be read to. Kids can follow a guided activity path, or freely browse content by show, content type, or themed collection such as "creativity," "music," or "ocean." Kids can watch Noggin Knows, a variety show, or explore content from NASA. There's also social justice content and a podcast.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 5 ):
Kids say ( 5 ):

There's definitely some excellent content within the app, but the functionality and user experience can still improve. Regardless of whether you love or hate the featured shows, quite a lot of big names are here, and young kids are bound to find something they like. Classics like Dora the Explorer and Blue's Clues, as well as relative newcomers like Franklin and Friends, offer high-quality preschool fare. The addition of the interactive elements is a nice feature so that kids can take a more active role instead of only passively watching. The activities touch on typical preschool learning themes, but sometimes do so in creative ways. And kids who are really into a particular show or character will appreciate being able to play games with them.

The major downsides are the sometimes confusing presentation and a lack of parental controls or customization options. Noggin Preschool Learning App is huge, with lots of content presented in a crowded menu that can overwhelm young kids.

A new feature called Special Delivery helps guide kids toward handpicked content. But if they decide to browse on their own, kids may have too many options for choosing content categories, including show, activity type, and learning theme. They also may find that content is mixed together, making it hard to find what they want. For example, there's no way to filter for whole episodes versus short clips, so you can't distinguish between a clip that'll take a couple of minutes and one that will last half an hour. And parents have no options for customizing what their kids see, or for controlling anything other than how much memory downloaded content can take up on the device (which, by the way, you'll need a lot of). The bottom line: If parents and kids feel that they can wade through these usability issues, they will probably find content they like.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the shows kids watch with Noggin Preschool Learning App. What happened in each show? What was your favorite part? Ask questions about the lessons the characters learn: Did they discover something about friendship and sharing? Problem-solving? Teamwork?

  • There's lots of content here. Look through the app with your kid and help them figure out how to find what interests them.

  • Talk to your kids about screen use and limits. How can kids enjoy digital media in balance with other activities?

  • Ask kids about interacting with their favorite characters. Does it make it more fun to play games with familiar and well-loved characters?

App Details

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