Bottom Line: A sweet and silly app from Linguino GmbH that teaches both good manners and two early literacy skills. Six manic monsters, as well as quality graphics and a great app price, help make learning fun.
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**Please note that this app was reviewed as an app that cost $1.99. The increase in price may affect the Star rating should it be re-reviewed.
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This app contains external links under a very well-protected parent section.
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Poor Momma Monster. She has her hands full with six monster children who have the worst manners in the entire monster town. Thankfully, your young elementary student is here to save the day and help each of them learn a thing or two inside this sweet app. And each monster has some early literacy skills to teach your manner master in the meantime. (Say that ten times fast. I dare you.)
The app opens up to the main screen, where your app user can either enter the parent section (which is well protected by math problems so difficult I missed the first answer and had to use my fingers on the second), or straight into the app itself. A short video self-plays introducing mother monster's problem, along with her six menacing monsters. Your tot selects a monster, each with their own unique name and monster-sized problem. Screaming, eating boogers, blowing bubbles in beverages — you name it and these monsters do it.
Each of the six monsters contains three of their own mini activities. The first is a rhyming activity, where the narrator reads two sets of sentences. The first describes the monster's bad behavior and the second talks about the correction of the behavior. Your student's job is to select the rhyming word from a choice of three that correctly completes the sentence. Once the sentences are read, the three choices appear to the right of the screen — one is the correct answer, one completely incorrect and the third word that rhymes but makes no sense whatsoever in the story.
The second activity is a word selection game. Your child's job is to choose the correct words to fill in the blanks of each monster's poem. Certain words will only fit in certain blanks, however, so the story has to be just so. I love that these two activities are blended in with silly monster fun and are both critical in early literacy skills. The silly level of the monsters masks the educational value in each of the mini games. The graphics are great and I'm always two thumbs up for an app that teaches manners in a way that isn't focused on dos and don'ts.
If it were up to me, I'd only add a few things to this app to make it five stars in my book. I would add text highlighting to the words read for each monster to encourage more early literacy. I'd also add a touch-and-speak type of feature that allows words to be read when tapped. This would come in especially handy in the sentence completion mini game to help early readers.
All in all this is a sweet app that encourages good manners as well as early literacy skills in a funny and light-hearted manner. With a sticker price of $1.99, Monsters Behave! comes highly recommended in my book.
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Rachel J. has a hard time remembering to keep her elbows off the table. SmartAppsForKids.com was paid a priority review fee to complete this review in an expedited manner.
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