Sago Mini Ocean Swimmer app review: a fun toddler underwater game

Introduction

Sago Mini Ocean Swimmer for iPhone and iPad is an underwater game for young kids. You simply have a fish that you guide through the ocean with your finger. There are no lives and no losing: you just hold the fish to help it swim and interact with the occasional pop-up character.

The best iPhone apps for toddlers

Easy Game to Keep Your Toddler to Preschooler Happy

Sago Mini Ocean Swimmer for iPhone and iPad is a fun game for really young children. It is controversial whether this age group should even be playing with the technology; however, they are going to be using it for their education and everyday lives, so I personally see no harm in it provided it is monitored and they are doing other activities that don’t require screen time.

The best iPad apps for toddlers

Toddlers to Preschoolers, around 12 months to three years, enjoy this game because there isn’t the frustration of hitting a bad guy that makes you start over. If you hit the ceiling of the cave, no problem, keep going! If you hit a spikey fish, no problem, keep going! I have a two-year-old who loves to be like her big brother and sister, but simply doesn’t have the dexterity to play the same games. We’ve downloaded a few games to try with her, but they’re too hard. This one, she can play for the whole five minutes that she wants to play, and she doesn’t get frustrated.

 

Filling a Gap in the App Store

Sago Mini Ocean Swimmer for iPhone and iPad fills a gap in the App Store, as there are games for kids, games for teens, and lots for those in between. There are a few for preschoolers, but I often find that even these are too difficult for my two-year-old. Sago Mini Ocean Swimmer, however, is a game that she can handle.

Best iphone and ipad apps

As mentioned above, toddlers don’t have a huge attention span, so I appreciate that this app is free, and that it has a small foot print. It is animated adequately, and is on a fairly short loop that repeats every few seconds, but looks like the cartoons or books that she would be watching in little kid land. In other words, it looks like it could have been drawn by a little kid, but it is animated. My toddler appreciates both repetition as she knows what’s coming, and the drawing style. In fact she has tried to draw the fish many times since I downloaded it for her.

 

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Free
• Short loop and simple animation equals small foot print
• Short loop means repetition your toddler can anticipate
• Simple animation means that they can attempt to draw the characters with success early on
• No restarts for errors with bad guys or environmental hazards

Cons

• The only thing I can see is that there is 0 consequence for error will not teach them caution for future games

 

Final Thoughts

Sago Mini Ocean Swimmer for iPhone and iPad is a great game for toddlers to preschoolers to play without consequence of hitting a bad guy or environmental hazard. My two-year-old really likes it, and I would recommend it to parents traveling with young children, or even just for a quick play in the doctors office.