Bottom Line: Dr. Panda's adorable characters bring toddlers another fun app, this time fighting fires and saving the day. Although there aren't any real-world safety tips for children, this app is a lot of fun for pretending to drive, put out fires and be a hero.
If you would like to download Dr. Panda Firefighters ($2.99), please use this handy link we have made for you!
iPhone/iPad
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This app has no third-party ads, no in-app purchases and has parental blocks in front of external links to iTunes and newsletter subscription.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Panda is one of Smart Apps for Kids favorite developers because they consistently produce fun, engaging and bug-free apps for our youngest audience. Firefighters is no exception with the usual adorable characters of Panda, Elephant and Monkey racing in their truck to rescue Raccoon, Kitty, Cow and the rest of the gang from a store, apartment building and school.
The app opens to a heroic entry by firefighters, Monkey, Panda and Elephant. From this screen, users can simply tap our heroes to enter the fire station, or parents can view more Dr. Panda games or adjust settings. In settings, parents can subscribe to the newsletter, Like Dr. Panda on Facebook, turn the promotion screen off and adjust whether sound and music are on.
After entering the fire house, children can change their view of the scene with simple swipes to see different angles around the truck and manipulate a few things like knocking over a soap can while the truck is being washed or making an electric box show a zap of a tap. Hunt and find is always a toddler crowd-pleaser. Once the plundering is done, users can tap the fire bell in the top right corner and call the heroes to action where they dash into the locker room and wait to have their hats, coats and gloves added before they slide down the pole. The trip to the fire will be a lot of fun for little fingers. manipulating the wheel gives kiddos the feeling of driving, but even if the wheel isn't touched, or friends will make it to the destination. As always, the background is busy with colorful buildings, cars, trees and town people out and about for their day. Added fun during the drive is turning the siren on or off and making the truck go faster. No brakes, but don't worry as the truck heads for the sad group standing outside the building, the app takes over and no casualties to report.
In each of the burning buildings, Elephant stays with the ladder and users get to hand an ax to either Monkey or Panda. The one given the ax runs inside the building. Children are prompted to turn a handle to raise the rescue cart up the building and then prompted to hand the firefighter pails of water, axes, shovels or ladders in order to rescue victims. After each level has been cleared and all occupants are rescued, everyone poses for a newspaper photo with love and celebration.
The app works well in all areas and I was unable to find any bugs as I tinkered around with the app. The animations are colorful and all required actions are easy to follow for little players. As someone who has friends in the firefighting life, I would get an earful if I didn't recommend either a separate section of safety tips or even some actions by the fire victims in-app showing how to be safe. It's never too early to learn and who better to introduce these skills than a beloved group of Dr. Panda friends?
Overall, toddlers and parents won't be disappointed with Firefighters and many hours of play as real life heroes.
Check out Ellie's fun with firefighters below:
***
Cynthia sent her son to Fire Camp over the summer and now he wants to be a firefighter, which she thinks is adorable. *Smart Apps for Kids was paid a priority review fee for this post.
Comments