Shape Up! - Busythings Review

Shape Up! - Busythings is a wonderfully dynamic and engaging interactive universal app, soon to be a favorite application of many toddlers, as well as kids and adults of all ages.

This app is delightfully intuitive as it opens up to a main page that offers 20 different creatures that one can bring to life. Simply tap to choose and then either trace the objects offered - Paint Brush style - or fill them in with a tap in Paint Bucket mode.

After one has completed these simple shapes, animation and upbeat music is introduced, ultimately with these shapes de-constructing back into pieces and falling away in a style that is unique and full of whimsy.

I love that both Paint Brush as well as Paint Bucket styles are offered here, and I think the spray paint sound and other noises made when these shapes are filled are creative, cheeky details adults will enjoy as much as their kids will.

Toddlers will get a kick out of filling these objects with a simple tap, being greatly rewarded with the animation offered. I especially appreciate how preschoolers and up can give their fine motor skills a workout by tracing these shapes, something my son, nearly four, needs to work on.

My boy routinely builds structures out of blocks that impress his teachers as being well beyond his years, but has shown no interest in holding a pencil the correct way or writing letters - something he has mastered in terms of phonic knowledge, already sounding out words on his own.

We do work with some other apps that allow him to trace letters, and he has fun doing so, but as a singular exercise, these apps do seem like work to him although not in a bad way, as he is happy to be engaged with these letter exercises, but sometimes he would rather spend his time doing other things with the iPad that are more unique and just for fun.

I love that this has such a light, gentle quality that will never seem like work to a child while still valuable educational tool.

Even better, although somewhat forgiving for children new to tracing, the app will not allow one to “cheat” with any random scribble to move to the next sequence, a pet peeve of mine when this issue comes up with other letter tracing apps. Here, if one ventures too far off the template, these markings simply don’t register and one has a chance to try again.

Another nice feature is Zoom, where the shapes to be filled in are made bigger and brought center screen, making the tracing easier for little hands to trace as well as delivering an alternate view of these pieces as when this blown-up version is in use, the compete creature can't be fully seen until scaled back down as the animation begins.

Cynics may say that this is a more passive game than other interactive apps, as simple tapping or tracing can fill these sections in quickly, but I would love to see the look on a toddler the first time he explores this app as these shapes become animated creatures, as I find it captivating even as an adult.

Players can easily go back to the main page to choose a creation, but it is also nice that one can keep going from one to another without leaving the page that is being worked on as well.

Although quick and simple to fill in, the 20 choices available do create a content-rich experience that will suit the needs of toddlers as well as older children and adults.

I also enjoy that because many of these shapes used within are traditional, such as triangles, rectangles, and squares, these images often reminding me of tangrams, with some other shapes mixed in or added later as fun, stylized details within the animation section.

The imagery created as these creations fall apart with interesting sound effects added really fun and captivating moments that I look forward to with each creature I draw or simply fill in, also giving children some ideas on how to draw creatures based on these simple shapes and tangram-like pictures.

I am thrilled to be able to introduce this app to readers. One may buy this for their toddler or preschooler, but expect other children and adults to sneak some time with this app as well.

This game is based on an online subscription-based series of games by the UK based Busythings - educational games that although having been around for the last ten years, are something not on my radar until now. I am tremendously impressed with how intuitive and fun this app is for all ages. I greatly look forward to more of these educational games to be turned into apps as the quality here is wonderful as well as quite affordable - especially for a universal application.