Common Sense Media Review
By Dana Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Party-themed word app too simple and too fast to be fun.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
SUPER WHY Alpha Boost!
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's It About?
Kids tilt the device left to right to catch floating objects and letters to build very simple, party-themed vocabulary words. Kids choose from one of four main SUPER WHY characters -- Super Why, Alpha Pig, Princess Presto, and Wonder Red -- as well as a party theme -- beach, birthday, Halloween, or love. Then they try to catch the letters and falling objects to fly faster and boost their character higher in the sky. After the letters build the words (such as "mask" and "box"), the Super Party Password is created and the game is complete.
Is It Any Good?
Party theme notwithstanding, SUPER WHY ALPHA BOOST! may not be a good time for many kids who expect more from educational game apps (especially from the typically high-quality PBS Kids brand) than this app offers. The themes and character may change, but there's just one basic game, and it requires no more thinking than tilting a mobile device back-and-forth. In addition, once the character on the screen hits certain falling objects, the screen movements speed up at such a fast rate that many young kids playing the game won't likely be able to follow the word formation at the bottom right corner of even just three- or four-letter words, thereby making any learning less likely (although the words are repeated at the end of the game). In the boost mode, the falling objects, balloons, and letters are propelled forward at too fast a rate for the very young pre-K and K audience that SUPER WHY tends to attract. Ironically, the rest of the game is sort of slow-paced. There seems to be no happy medium on this game, which causes over- or under-stimulation at even rates.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Play the game with your child and discuss other party-themed words that you can think of together that aren't on the game.
Check out some of the usually higher-quality learning fare associated with the SUPER WHY brand, like the TV show or SUPER WHY! app.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects : Language & Reading : letter or word recognition , reading , vocabulary
- Skills : Emotional Development : handling stress , Thinking & Reasoning : making conclusions , prediction
- Pricing structure :
- Release date : November 11, 2011
- Genre : Educational Games
- Publisher : PBS KIDS
- Version : 1.0.1
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 3.0 or later
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
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