I have a confession to make, I am a bad parent when it comes to device time with my child. I remember shaking my head before I was a parent, looking at kids on their devices at the table with their parents at restaurants. “I’ll never do that,” I declared in the usual arrogance of a person unknown to the challenges of parenthood. We started letting our daughter watch movies on a device to survive a long plane ride. Soon the convenience of what I call the 21st century pacifier made its way to our dinner table, then some mornings when we were very tired, sick or even more guiltily… hung over.
Working in educational technology I would like to believe that learning games and well structured interactivity are probably better than those unboxing videos on YouTube. My wife and I were basically raised by the TV. So as insecure in my assertions that I’m “alright” despite all my screen time, here are some music games that I think will alleviate some guilt of getting some time to yourself with the screen babysitter (I won’t tell anyone if you let it go beyond “the proper amount of screen time,” it’s our little secret I promise).
Sago Mini Music Box
Platform: iOS & Android
Price: $3.99USD
Very young children first using a device struggle with interactions like swiping, pinching , zooming, dragging and dropping. This game from Sago Mini creates a lot of surprise and multiple effects from a single tap interaction. This became one of the most favored games by my daughter before she turned 3. The designers obviously know how to design for very young children.
Music Box gets it name from the concept of making a 21st century music box. The menu at the start of the game lets you choose between a cat in a balloon which plays Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, a dog in a boat which plays Row, Row, Row Your Boat and a Rabbit in a sled which plays Jingle Bells.
As you tap on the screen a single note of the melody is played and a surprise appears where you tap, such as an octopus springing from the ocean or stars twinkling in the night sky. The faster you tap the faster the melody is played, like winding the handle faster on a music box. Where you tap also changes the instrument that plays the melody. Tapping in the sky triggers an Fender Rhodes electric piano sound and tapping on the hills triggers a harp sound. Tapping on the character plays percussion sounds. This surprise and variation kept my daughter experimenting and coming back to play the game.
How to use this as a music learning app?
If you wanted to guide your child you might want to ask, “what happens when you tap your finger faster on the screen?” If they describe that the music goes faster you could tell them that they are controlling the tempo. You could also ask “what happens when you tap up top here compared to down the bottom here?” If they discover that the sound of the instrument changes you could lead them into listening to different instruments.
Toonia Jelly Music
Platform: iOS
Price: $2.99USD
This is the music version of the Toonia Jelly app. If you tap on an object on the screen a little jelly character moves toward it hurtling around a seeming underwater world where it collides with objects that trigger sounds. There are objects the jelly devours that make it change color, shape, facial expression or make a sound. Another app that rewards experimentation with surprise.
Interestingly you can also drag the character but the designers, being mindful of young children’s ability to interact with screens have devised clever ways to inspire them to tap if they haven’t yet figured out how to tap and drag. There are instruments the character can be “trapped” in. A drum kit, a xylophone, flute and record player that lets you control its speed. Tapping on the different parts of each instrument plays their sounds, creating some simple virtual instruments that appeal to kids. As soon as you are “sucked into” the instrument one of the little shapes that change the jelly characters color and shape pops up giving a tantalizing treat for the player to tap on and free the character from the instrument.
Learn about musical instruments
To help your child learn about musical instrument you could tell them, “that’s a drum kit, that’s a xylophone” and so forth. Best of all they can experiment with the instruments and explore sound but with volume control (perfect for the hung over parents). The sound design of the game is fantastic. The background music is unobtrusive but still lively and all of the virtual instruments in the world are tuned to the same key so they won’t play any bad notes.
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