Bottom line: Explore Paris, from the fine folks at Toowoo, is a cute little app that lets your preschool-aged child explore along a quaint Parisian street (that just happens to be home to multiple famous landmarks). Your child will be exposed to the French language and culture in a low-stress play atmosphere.
If you’d like to purchase Explore Paris ($1.99), please use the handy link below so they’ll know how you found them.
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No ads or in-app purchases, external links in protected parent area.
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Let’s explore along a quaint Parisian street (Avenue des Toowoo) and see what we can find. This little street can be navigated by swiping left or right to get to your desired destination. As we look around, we find that we can tap many of the items and we will hear their names in French. If we tap a second time, we get to hear the English translation. Each shop or apartment is marked with its number address which we can tap to hear the number spoken in French and English.
Along the way we will find shops and bakeries, along with apartment buildings and parks. Kids can see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. Children will also be able to see a bit of French daily life. Eat at an outdoor café or go to the metro stop to catch a ride to somewhere else in the city. Our little tour ends up watching the Tour de France while cheering on the cyclists.
Throughout the app there are dozens of interactive elements to be discovered. Turn on the fan in the window or spin the globe around. Tap the street artist’s easel to change her rendering of the Eiffel Tower. Many of the characters can be changed by tapping them also.
Watch Ellie bring this app to life here:
What I liked:
- I think it is never too early to expose children to other languages and cultures. Preschool is the perfect time to begin learning languages and such.
- The characters were cute and engaging (even if they were somewhat random and unusual at times).
What I liked less:
- I would have found this more useful as a learning tool if more items could be tapped for translation rather than just seemingly random ones. For instance, at the vegetable stand the cheese is identified and translated but none of the vegetables appear to be. Also, many of the items in the building windows have interactive actions but are not identified by name. I feel like this is really a missed opportunity.
- Où est cinq? Where is five? The hotel appears to be missing its address marker. (I will note that if you tap around in that area of the building you will hear the address spoken, but it’s just one detail that I felt was overlooked.)
Overall, I think this app will be entertaining for kids in the preschool age range, with lots of interactive elements to keep their interest. It does offer some educational benefits, mostly with the exposure to French vocabulary. I do feel like the developers have an opportunity to expand on this aspect and really kick this app up a notch. I’m giving it four stars.
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Kelli is pretty sure that Alabama is going straight from Summer to Winter this year. Smart Apps for Kids was paid a fee to review this app.
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