Hi, I’m Tony and I am a single father to 2 great children, I have been raising them on my own for the last few years. As every parent knows, it’s not a simple task, especially in the modern era. Computers and the internet have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt, that there are some very helpful tools out there to assist everyone. Kids these days are constantly interested in what they can learn online and truly be able (not just to use a computer) but directly relate to the new technology it offers. To boot, we all know how games are being used, with ever increasing versions and there is always plenty of choice for the (not so) youngsters of today.

While I was searching online for games and activities that we could play and enjoy together, I came across this amazing learning app, "Emily's Pics & Sounds”. The app is a great tool to facilitate learning methods for children through games and I started to encourage my kids to use it, the app offers my kids loads of categories of games and interests that they love. This app (or online learning tool), incorporates some very interesting methods of teaching, including the ‘fun aspects’ they love. There is something for all ages in the app and it also rewards the user with online visual and audio sounds, to stimulate each goal and level. All of this is neatly packaged within a native app for either iOS or Android.

As a parent, I would encourage all those in a similar position of bringing up their little ones, try this app!.

The app makes the exercise of learning really fun and interactive, I found this kept the kids really interested even when using other tools to learn they would lose interest.

I have found the more that my children enjoy playing games even learning ones the more they learn and it stays with them even more.

The other bonus is that when I have chores to do around the house I can let them sit on the app for a short while, but I don’t worry that they are wasting their time, they are actually having fun and learning.

When we first installed the app and started playing, I found the Ui very intuitive and easy to use, even for someone that is a bit of a technophobe like me.

The app is like a massive picture album that links animals and habitats to sounds and noises, my youngest had a great time making funny sounds or copying animal sounds while we were playing.

Some interesting points I noted (while we were all getting used to this tool) was the fact that it provides a highly interactive system into the whole game experience. The child can choose which album (an album is based on animals or habitats) they want to learn about.

When creating an account you setup a parent or “Talers” account and then you add a child to that account, each account has their own username, password etc and from what I understand they use industry strength security systems to keep these secure.

This works well because as a Taler you can download new content such as habitats, animals and sounds. As with most apps nowadays these are purchased using in-app currency, but the great thing about this is that Talers can earn in-app currency by doing daily quests / goals themselves. A great security feature is the fact that children cannot spend the in-app currency themselves, you must login with your own account to spend this currency which as a parent who has had the horror of my credit card being charges 100s of pounds due to lack of security controls in other apps this is a massive weight off my mind.

The functionality that comes with the game is both fun and functional and includes sliding puzzles, as well as a variety of games. One game in particular helps really young ones match sounds of animals to online photos. They are rewarded every step of the way to give them incentive to get more answers correct. All of this helps to stimulate the neo cortex and brain development, as it is well known phonics rapidly speed up the learning and language processes.

Knowledge is the key and every parent should encourage their children as much as possible. I would encourage everyone in the family to join in on the fun and solve several key issues for the daily learning, while having fun at the same time. There are Apple and android and phone apps available at the Apple Store and at Play Store to keep the little ones busy on those long car drives!

For those worried that there will be advertising within the app, they actually have none (that I saw while playing on the app with the young ones), which is more than a bonus for this exciting and free starter tool. Once the levels of complexity are completed, there are plenty of additional materials for downloading once you have joined the site and interactive community of “Emily's Pics & Sounds”

The imagery and other elements of the app shown that the developers have taken great care to make sure that all of these elements actually speak to the children rather than adults so that their interest is always kept. You can also see that they have put lots of energy and time into making sure that as a parent you can trust the games and functionality will not introduce your children to things that you would be worried about.

During my usage of the app the developers made some changes but they were always open and gave great descriptions and reasons for any changes that were made as a parent this really gave me a great feeling that the developers realise that random changes to an app or site that their kids use could worry them.

There are two main species of animal to start with, then once you are used to these, you would have to buy the app to work through the rest of the packages and choices.

I hope you enjoyed my review of this new learning tool. Go and see how much fun it can be to learn in this way, for all of the family, old and young to come together!