Tilly’s Petting Farm is an educational app that is aimed at very young children who are starting to build their vocabulary and learn about their surrounding world.  The activities are presented much like an old-fashioned ‘interactive’ picture book where you press the images on the page to hear descriptions.  What makes Tilly’s such a better and enhanced experience is that it is truly an interactive one.  When you first open the app, you are presented with four windows that all center around a farm theme.  After you touch an image, you are then presented with a couple of options.  

You can choose first to touch on the various animals and objects to hear the descriptions and names from the narrator.  There are several descriptors for each animal that are accessed by repeatedly pressing on the same image.  After you and your child become acquainted with the objects, you can move on to the next aspect of the app.  For this part the narrator asks questions and you have to respond by touching the image that matches the appropriate answer.  Questions range from simple identification to a little more advanced regarding the behavior and/or characteristics of the animals.  Within each scene, there are several questions and the app does a good job of randomizing the order.  

There are a few small things that could have made the experience with Tilly’s Petting Farm a little more enjoyable.  First off, the menus are not the easiest to navigate.  It is not entirely clear how to return to the main menu as it requires you to push an icon and then slide the tractor over, which may be confusing for younger children.  Second, the narrator may be a little difficult to understand for a small number of the actions.  I found this only for a few things and it didn’t interfere too much with the overall enjoyment of the app. 

Tilly’s Petting Farm is appropriate for very young children and is a great way to introduce your child to the touch interface of the iPad while at the same time teaching him or her some vocabulary.  The app only includes four different scenes which may reduce the lifespan of this app.  If you are at all on the fence about Tilly’s, there is also a free version of the app that allows you to “try before you buy."

-MICHAEL STROUD