LumiKids has released its third app for preschoolers. LumiKids Backyard is available for free on iOS now. Like its predecessors LumiKids Backyard focuses on providing fun ways for kids to develop core skills. This time around, some of the skills kids will be learning are things like spatial relationships and quantities and weights, all in a nighttime backyard setting.
I’ve featured both LumiKids Park and LumiKids Beach in my Ana’s Apps column. I’m really impressed with what LumiKids is able to do with absolutely no written or spoken instructions. I also love that the games change dynamically based on how your child is doing. And the weekly email breaking down your kids’ activities in the game is a great way to see what the learning is all about.
My daughter and I took a quick look at LumiKids Backyard once its release was announced. It features the same cute art style of the other games. You can even find some of the older characters by playing around in an activity. Backyard combines the two non-game elements that appeared in the first games and features them both here. You get a little bit of the emotional relationships, while having some fun things to simply interact with. My daughter’s current favorite is the snail wall you paint on. She doesn’t like it for the paint, though. She likes tapping the little snail to see funny animations and sounds.
It’s still baffling for me that these apps are available for free when so many other sub-par apps cost money. But of course we don’t know if that will change in the future. So if you have a preschooler you should download them now just in case.
In the few minutes I watched my daughter play, I like what I saw in LumiKids Backyard and I’m looking forward to playing it more with her.