Yo Gabba Gabba! Birthday Party
By Mieke VanderBorght,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Mini-games are deeply appealing but have shallow content.
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Yo Gabba Gabba! Birthday Party
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What’s It About?
Six randomly presented and lightly educational activities get kids matching, stacking, swinging at piñatas, and more. Most activities have three difficulty levels, which start anew each time kids restart that game. Kids choose which of five Yo Gabba Gabba! characters they want to play with, and after completing a full cycle of all games, they can interact with the party guests, feed them cake, and pop balloons. There's also an "I can remember your birthdays!" music video and coloring pages.
Is It Any Good?
YO GABBA GABBA! BIRTHDAY PARTY has lots of kid appeal. Characters are fun, cute, and inviting, and games are simple -- perhaps too simple -- even for young kids. Kids who know and love the show will particularly appreciate this interactive opportunity. Yet the content tends toward superficiality. For example, the birthday song is cute but is drastically over-simplified as it repeats the same words again and again. Also, in one game kids catch falling colored plates. Varying the falling plate colors and asking kids to distinguish among different colors, or emphasizing counting the plates with written numerals, would make play more meaningful. Sometimes there are long pauses while games load, which could frustrate kids. Ultimately, this is an appealing app that falls just a little flat.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about kids' memories from past birthdays. What do they remember, and what did they enjoy? How do they feel about getting bigger?
Expand on the learning themes offscreen. Play memory, stack real boxes or blocks of different sizes, and explore colors and numbers.
Talk about birthday traditions from around the world, from piñatas to special birthday foods to traditional birthday activities, or learn the Happy Birthday song in different languages.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: memorization, problem solving, Emotional Development: perspective taking, Health & Fitness: fine motor skills
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Release date: January 15, 2015
- Category: Education
- Publisher: Cupcake Digital
- Version: 1.0
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 4.3 or later; Android 2.2 and up
- Last updated: July 12, 2020
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