I should have trumpets playing for this… but I’m ready to bestow the Media Macaroni Seal of Approval for the first time. Doo-doo-do-DOOOO! And it comes as little surprise that it’s for an app from Tickle Tap Apps, the creators of another of my all-time favs, Sound Shaker.
The lastest app is DoodleCast, and it’s brilliant in it’s simplicity. You know how I’ve been digging on creative coloring books to doodle in? The app follows the same idea, giving some basic prompts to get kids’ creative juices flowing. For instance, there’s a gray mouth and the app asks “Whose mouth is this?” leaving the player to draw the details. Or a blank canvas asks, “What tastes yucky?”
The drawing tools are as simple as simple can be – 9 colors and your finger. That’s it. Now, if this were it for the app, I’d review it favorably, but it would get the Seal of Approval. No, for that they needed the brilliant feature of recording while you’re drawing. The app capture both the drawing as it happens and the audio in the room.
I was sitting on the couch this afternoon trying to get some app reviews done while Olive was having a playdate. Before I knew it, both girls were flanking me, demanding to play. Then this happened:
Later, while we were all doing our own things, Olive picked up the app on her own. Then this happened:
When I first watched this I thought you had to hold the iPad a certain way or your drawing appeared upside down in the finished video, but then Olive said, “No, I drew the pig upside-down. He’s lying in the mud!”
You know that parenting advice about getting your kids to talk more? Don’t say, “I like your drawing.” Say, “Tell me about your drawing.” Well, this app not only lets your child tell you about her drawing, it let’s you open up her little brain and see the gears working. I’m cracking up watching these videos. I think it’s a fascinating app for everyone from a toddler just learning shapes and colors (I’ll post Ozzie’s DoodleCasts in a couple more months…) to older kids who could do some truly interesting storytelling.
This app is $1.99, a bargain at twice the price.
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