Busytown Mysteries app review: investigate mysteries

Introduction

One way to get kids reading and enjoying books is to offer them up a tale they can't ignore. The Busytown Mysteries app for your iPod touch, iPad and iPhone uses the characters from the Richard Scarry books and presents it in an interactive package. Here kids will be able to enjoy each of these adventures that work on solving a mystery. It's fun for kids yet educational at the same time as it encourages their deductive reasoning skills.

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A Mini Detective

This app encourages your little ones to become mini detectives and solve some very fun and cute mysteries through these interactive adventures. It should be noted that the app is free to install but from there you will need to purchase a toontale episode, each of which are full-length. The free version does give you access to one free one that kids can use in "freeview" mode. This is a great way to discover how the app works and how much fun it is for kids. Each of the Busytown Mysteries is priced at $2.99.

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Each of these toontale episodes includes activities, interactions, dialogue, animations, and stories. Once you combine all these elements together you are sure to capture the attention of kids. The way it works is that kids will work through the mystery and uncover the clues along the way. They will be using their memory skills as they go because they have to remember what they have uncovered so far.

 

The Toontale Experience

In all of the toontales, kids will be given three karaoke songs to sing along to, two activities that have an educational aspect to them, an interactive summary at the end of the toontale, and interactions throughout. Additional educational features include speech bubbles, word highlighting, and touch-to-speak elements. It should also be noted that this app supports AirPlay so the whole family can work together to solve the mystery.

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This is a brand-new release and I think it still has some kinks to work out with the user interface. I like that you get an introduction complete with instructions when you first launch the app. You are then able to download the “Freeview” toontale called “Strange Ski Tracks.” I have had zero luck trying to download this story; it freezes, shuts down, or just does nothing. Clearly there are some bugs still. Users comments so far have been mixed with others experiencing issues as well.

 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Interactive adventures that allow kids to uncover clues to solve mysteries
• Each tale features animations, dialogues, interactive elements, and more
• Supports AirPlay
• The mystery solving encourages deductive reasoning skills in children and helps to work on their memory skills

 

Cons

• The app seems to be suffering from some bugs still, is unstable and slow

 

Final Words

The Busytown Mysteries app for your iPod touch, iPad, and iPhone is meant to be an engaging and educational experience for your kids. I am hoping that the bugs in this app can be addressed so users can enjoy this app the way it is meant to be enjoyed.