Two of my favorite things about the iPad are how eager my kids are to use it and how quickly it became second nature to them. A big part of how they mastered Apple’s tablet (they’re ages 3 and 6) is this simple app featuring the Nickelodeon superstar who parents like almost as much as their little ones do.
“Simple” is probably an understatement when describing Dora the Explorer Coloring Adventures, though. It offers only five scenes to color, and you can’t reset them to a “clean” page to start coloring again. Yup, you have to go through and manually erase your kids’ work if they want to start again, and yup, that’s really stupid.
But when you really need some quiet time in a plane, train, automobile, or living room, those will be seconds well spent. The coloring options are straightforward, bright, and alluring, and there’s a jam-packed sticker book that lets your kids festoon their canvas with every character from the show. That’s where their creativity will really shine, and as a bonus, resizing and positioning the stickers will quickly school them in the basics of the iPad interface.
Every parent knows that a few choice “neglect-o-matics” are essential tools of sanity preservation, and while this Dora coloring-book app is pretty short on bells and whistles, it’s $5 you won’t regret spending for exactly that reason.
Dora the Explorer Coloring Adventures 1.1
COMPANY: MTV Networks
CONTACT: www.nickjr.com
PRICE: $4.99
REQUIREMENTS: iPad
Easy to use. Bright colors and tons of characters from the show. Incidentally teaches kids the rudiments of the iPad interface.
Only five canvasses. Must manually erase each scene if your kids want to start fresh.
