City of Friends App Review

My husband is away a lot and before a recent week away we had the discussion of how we could teach our son about the emergency services, should anything happen to mummy or the house whilst my husband wasn't around.

So when we were offered the City of Friends app to review it sounded like the perfect opportunity to introduce my son to the emergency services and what they do.

 

The app has been launched around the kid’s TV show City of Friends which has turned into a global phenomenon and currently broadcasting in over 150 countries worldwide.

Designed for pre-schoolers and their families, the City of Friends app has become the number one app for children in its native Norway and teaches children about the emergency services by interacting with the show’s main characters; Max the police officer, Elphie the fire officer and Ted the paramedic.

There are a selection of games and some videos which are unlocked the more games you complete. This is great as a four year olds attention span can sometimes average only seconds so they can swap and change between games.

My personal favourite was the Put out fires with Elphie game, not only was this fun but as fire is a real killer and also a real possibility I think this certainly teaches them about what happens.

The pairs/memory game is also really good and always goes down well with my son, there is also a helicopter flying game and organize Ted’s first aid kit which are both really fun and also help teach how to match shapes and coordination.

Whilst I'm sure this is intentional due to the number of countries and therefore languages this is played in there are no words or commentary to assist the child in playing the games.  Nowhere does it say what you have to do to get more videos and it would be good if it could talk you through what you need to do and maybe what each implement, character or object is.

The only other thing that did bother us slightly was the addition of a Facebook and Website button, if this is aimed at 2-6 year olds there is really no need for this and our opinion is that it shouldn't take you to an external website from within the game itself.

Other than that though if you are looking for an educational and fun app that teaches children about the emergency services then at £1.49 this is most definitely a winner and we have certainly enjoyed playing it together.

NB: We were given a redemption code in order to review this app however all opinions are my own.

Rainy Day Activity - Cornflake Cakes

There is nothing more satisfying in the world than melting chocolate, it's consistency is so lovely and I have no doubt I am not the only one who looks forward to licking the bowl!

Making cornflake cakes is a perfect rainy day activity to do with your children and this morning we did just that.

This is great fun for toddlers and preschoolers and brightens up the gloomiest of days.

I haven't put the amounts down as you can do them with as little or as much chocolate as you like and I never make them with weighed ingredients just however much looks like enough ;) Just add cornflakes a bit at a time and you can't go wrong.

In a bowl over a pan of hot water, melt some chocolate.

Be careful not to get any water in as this upsets chocolate

Once all melted carefully take off the heat

Add some cornflakes and stir (children are especially helpful at this bit)

Ensure the chocolate coats the cornflakes and add more cornflakes if it looks to chocolatey

Another child friendly part of making them, get them to put the cake cases into tins

Spoon the mixture into the cases and pop in the fridge to cool

Once cooled eat....

 We added some raisins to ours but you could also add nuts, marshmallows or anything else you fancy really.