Bottom Line: Older tech-savvy toddlers won't be dazzled by the simplicity of this free, cute animal sounds app, but the youngest and newest users will enjoy popping around the zoo and farm while parents don't have to fret about little fingers buying anything accidentally or opening up awkward links thanks to solid parental controls.
If you'd like to download Animals: Sounds & Games, please use this link we've provided for you:
iPhone/ iPad (FREE)
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This app has no ads, no in-app purchases and parent-protected links to the app store and the developer's web page.
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This app is perfect for the two years and under group as an entertaining way to introduce those familiar animal names and sounds from zoos and the farm. The app has twenty animals evenly distributed between each of those settings including the typical favorites such as cow, dog, mouse, monkey, bear and lion for example. No need to worry about any unusual visitors like a narwhal (What sound does a narwhal make?) or ferret. The developer has stuck to the historically favorite choices for animals as well as the sounds they make. The app homescreen contains choices to enter the zoo, farm or mini-games with an option to turn on autoplay. Other buttons include a parent section, settings and rating the app (rating and parent contain blocks requiring a simple math answer in order to open). In the parent section, users can subscribe to the developer's newsletter, see more games (coming soon), rate the app, contact and read the privacy policy. The settings button gives users the choice of listening to animal names given by the narrator or recording custom names as well as the option to turn off or on animal name narration, animal voices and music.
Both the Farm and Zoo settings are very straight forward. One is decorated as a farm, the other as a zoo and an animal sits in the center of the screen. When the animal appears, the animal's 
name is said, then it wiggles around and makes the appropriate animal sound. Arrows to the left and right of the animal allow users to scroll forward or backward through the ten animals. In the upper right corner are buttons to create a custom recording (children do love to hear themselves talk!) or switch to the alternate setting of zoo or farm. The upper left corner has a home button which must be held for two seconds in order to return to the home menu.
The minigames section carries the previous choice of zoo or farm for the games, but that can be switched the same way as the change is made when learning the animals. Just press the upper right button within each game. There are three minigames; guess who, jigsaw puzzle and peg puzzle. "Guess Who?" presents four animals with a question mark in the center. The narrator says an animal name and the child chooses that animal. Pressing the question 
mark will repeat the name. There are no sounds or buzzers if the wrong animal is chosen. The jigsaw puzzle minigame consists of a picture of an animal spread between four squares. tapping a square will rotate the animal to its proper position. In the peg puzzle game, the silhouette of an animal is shown along with three small animals along the bottom of the screen. Users choose the appropriately shaped animal to place in the silhouette.
Technically speaking, I found no bugs or random errors while playing. The app works well with interaction between user and app feeling seamless. While 
young users may benefit from a free app that gives animal sounds and names and may promote logic (find the shape) and dexterity (place the shape in the right place), this app will definitely fall flat as tech savvy kids get older because it doesn't offer anything new or shiny to the farm/zoo animal learning genre. It's free, it has no bugs and it does what it promises so you can't lose by taking a look if you're in the market for this kid of app or you need to get a quick download before you babysit your new grandbaby or neighbor's kiddo.
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Cynthia is going to look up narwhal sounds now.
***Smart Apps for Kids was paid a priority review fee for this post.
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