Parents' Guide to Toca Robot Lab

Toca Robot Lab gives kids a structure for experimenting with different ways to express themselves. Unlike a real-world play scene in which a kid constructs a toy, the app lets kids have access to things they may not have in real life. The downside is that interaction is limited to what's been programmed rather than what a child can imagine. Toca Robot Lab succeeds in that there are no rules, but there are limited choices for each body part and only one way to interact with completed robots, all of which have the exact same capabilities of movement and function regardless of how they're built. It would be nice to be able to move arms and legs or see robots roll if they have wheels, paint walls if they have paintbrush arms, and so on. This almost makes the robot construction seem futile.

The game might be more rewarding if kids could even take a picture of their robots. Within the test lab, however, kids may have to push items out of the way as they search for stars, and each obstacle moves a little differently, which adds a layer of interest and challenge, if only for toddlers. Relatively speaking, this is a shallower offering from Toca Boca, but kids will definitely love it.