Children help friendly animals find their playmates in Animal Pals – Preschool Matching Games for Toddlers 1.1, an entertaining and educational app for iPhone and iPad. New from Kumu Labs, developer of the beloved Animal Puzzle app, the Animal Pals game is now available for free download through the iTunes App Store.
“Children adore animals, and matching games have long been a favorite activity for preschoolers,” said Ryan Piccolo, Founder of Kumu Labs. “With our new Animal Pals app, children develop lifelong skills through game play involving cuddly creatures.”
Artfully configured for high-definition Retina displays on the iPhone and iPad, Animal Pals begins with a choice of exciting themes. Learning to assert their independence, preschoolers can choose to explore more than 30 animals from the sea, barnyard or jungle.
With a theme chosen, cards are randomly placed face down on the playing surface. Preschoolers flip the cards over two at a time until two matching cards are displayed. Racing the clock, players receive points for finishing the game quickly and for each match. As an incentive, preschoolers earn bonus points when matches are made consecutively.
With each match, preschoolers are rewarded with celebratory music and the display of an enhanced image of the animal they matched. To help children begin to understand the connection between words and images, the name of the animal appears below its image. As children develop confidence in their abilities, they can choose to move from the introductory easy level to medium and on to hard.
Developed to inspire young minds, Animal Pals offers a variety of other features that also will please parents. To better serve special needs children, preschoolers can play the matching games with music and sound effects on or off. The app is free of links to social networks and Kumu Labs refrains from collecting user information. Third-party advertising can be removed by purchasing the full app. Animal Pals also includes a child-lock in the free game to prevent unintentional upgrade to the full-priced version.
Children enjoy playing Animal Pals, but they also are building self-esteem, improving their short-term memory and recall skills, recognizing details and developing problem-solving strategies. Happily for parents, the simple matching games in Animal Pals provide preschoolers with the skills that can be used later in academic subjects such as math, science and reading.
“Parents and children can create cherished memories playing Animal Pals together or the preschooler can play independently,” said Piccolo. “The options for learning and fun are endless with Animal Pals.”
Parents eager to introduce Animal Pals 1.1to their children can download it through the iTunes App Store in the Games category. The app is free and a full-version upgrade is available for $1.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) through in-app purchase.
