the ikids blog

APP REVIEW: Chinese4Kids

Having studied Mandarin for over 10 years and having lived in Beijing for a few months, I have a special place in my heart reserved for an app that might help my daughter learn Chinese. That said, I am still blown away by the quality and the value of the new Chinese 4 Kids- Animal Kingdom app.

The app has two different modes – learning and games. In the learning mode, you begin by selecting from among 26 animals.

Having selected an animal, you then get a screen that features an image of the animal, the Chinese character, the English word, and the Pinyin transliteration. All of these options offer interaction — selecting the English or the Pinyin produces the appropriate audio, while touching the animal image gives you a sound effect and selecting the character shows you how to correctly write the character. Simple and straightforward — but a great way to learn.

The learning mode could easily keep a kid (or an adult, for that matter..) occupied for quite some time — mastering all of them is no simple task. But there’s more to this app — once the kids are confident that they have some of the content mastered, they can then transition into game mode, which features three different games to test your knowledge. The first game, Dot-To-Dot, challenges you to match the image of an animal to the appropriate Chinese character.

Quick Pick is a bit easier — it asks you to select the correct Pinyin transliteration for the image of the animal. The game gives you 10 rapid-fire questions and then gives you a grade and a score based upon your performance.

The final game is Flip Card which is a classic memory matching game that challenges you to demonstrate mastery of the correct English, Pinyin, and character for an image — and match them to each other by flipping cards. It’s a pretty standard memory game – but one that requires a solid knowledge base to succeed at.

And that’s why I love this app – it takes a challenging topic and reinvents the way the material can be learned so that it is both fun and educational. Kids may think they’re playing a game, but I guarantee that to succeed they will learn quite a bit along the way.

On a more personal note, this app is still a bit too much for my toddler right now. For slightly older kids, however, this app is a clear winner. My only real complaint is the music — it’s rather irritating and would almost be better without it. That said, I really do think this app is fantastic. Any parent looking to help their child get a jump start on learning a language that is sure to be critical over the next century has a great tool on their hands here. If that sounds like you, and you’ve got $0.99 to invest in your child’s future, you can get the app here.

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