It’s hard enough to dress our kids (and have them keep their clothes on) everyday, but could you imagine dressing your pet everyday too? Don’t even think about how particular some kids can be about their clothes; now imagine a fashionista fish, too. In the storybook app Pets in Pants, this silly and imaginative idea of animals frolicking in their favorite trousers, is told by a family member of a home in which pets have revolutionized the dress code, and demonstrate their individualized fashion sense and appeal for wearing pants.
Pets in Pants, written and illustrated by Omri Stephenson, and published as an interactive storybook app by PicPocket Books, is available in HD for the iPad at $2.99, and is available for the iPhone for $1.99 (I reviewed the iPad version). I would recommend Pets in Pants for children ages 2 and up.
Pets in Pants is a storybook app that can be enjoyed in two ways: listen to the story told by narrator, or read the story on your own. Tap on the letter “i” icon at the bottom, right of the screen to access the Settings. Here you can turn the narration on or off, and also turn off word highlighting (the default setting for the app is narration with word highlighting on). Having the capability to turn off the narration and word highlighting is great for older kids who wish to read the story on their own, and at their own pace. The background music, sound effects, and interactive animations will remain no matter the adjustments to the app’s settings.
The interactive elements are very simple and don’t distract from the story. I love how before the story starts, there is a brief demonstration that instructs on where to tap to initiate the animations in the illustrations. It lets your child practice and discover what she or he can do once in the story. I love any type of tool that provides instruction on where and how to access interactives, so kids aren’t just tapping all over the screen trying to find it.
You and your kids will find the story funny and imaginative, and I loved how it is more like a poem with the rhyming verses. There are also some difficult words that your child will probably not be familiar with in the story. For example, in the story it reads, “All he will don is wollen pants adorned with stinky cheeses.” It might be fun to break down this sentence and concentrate on the unknown words, or ask your kids to explain what they think the sentence means. Pets and Pants presents an opportunity for building your child’s vocabulary; look up a word in the dictionary and learn the definition.
Pets in Pants boasts simplicity in bringing a story to the iPad; no flashy distractions, no games, no advertising ploys to get you to purchase more apps. I do appreciate that this apps works well in that respect, however, a nice feature that would be great to incorporate in a future update, would be the capability (when narration mode is turned off) to touch on the word in the text, and have it spoken out loud. This would help kids that are learning to read and get stuck on a certain word, by allowing them to tap on the difficult word, hear it pronounced, and proceed through the story.
Your kids will love this whimsical story about the wardrobe of some peculiar pets, all while practicing reading and learning new words, in the clever storybook app, Pets in Pants. All children at different reading levels will enjoy Pets and Pants; from a toddler listening and tapping on the screen, to readers following along as each word is highlighted when spoken.
Get in on the fun; share a pic of your pet wearing clothes on my facebook page!
–>iPhone
–>HD version for iPad