Mix 2 Color by Little Beetle – Review

Mix 2 Color is an iPad only app by Little Beetle, the developers of Kids Mosaic. There are two sections to the app “Draw a Picture” and “Color a Picture”. The “Draw a Picture” section is a drawing and coloring app, and the “Color a Picture” is an educational game teaching children how to mix colors.

In the ‘”Color a Page” mode the child has a blank outline of a picture and a smaller image showing what the finished picture should look like, and they need to color it to match. They have five colors to work with – red, yellow, blue, white and black, and there are another ten colors they can make. To make the secondary colors they use a mixing pot- if they add some paint from two of the primary colors to the pot it will mix them to create a new color. There are twenty seven different pictures, these vary from very simple two color images, such as an apple, to more complex pictures, such as a christmas tree, with nine or more colors. If the child needs help working out how to mix a color they can click on the “?” and a diagram will come up showing how to mix all the colors. When the child starts to color: if they are using the right color after a few strokes the rest of the section will fill in automatically, if it is the wrong color the strokes will disappear allowing them to try again with a new color. There are different sounds effects that accompany right or wrong choices and completing the picture, these can be switched off in the settings, as can the background music. Once they complete the picture correctly a congratulatory message shows on the screen and they can move on to the next picture.

The “Draw a Picture” mode is a classic drawing and coloring app. The child can draw on a blank piece of paper- there are 12 different colored paints to chose from ,with three different width paintbrushes and a sponge to erase mistakes. There are also eleven stamps- which can be stamped in whatever color paint they choose. There is a camera button to take pictures of their finished masterpieces. As well as drawing freehand, there are twenty six pictures they can color – these are the same images as in the “Color a Picture” game. You can use the same tools for coloring these as for drawing on the blank page – stamps, paintbrushes and twelve paint colors. This is good fine motor practice, as the child really gets to color the pictures rather than them automatically filling in. In this section they can color the picture anyway they want, instead of having to match the colors as they do in “Color a Picture” mode. One thing that I think would make a great addition in a future update is the option to use the color mixing in the ‘Draw a Picture ” mode – so that kids could use the skills they learned in “Color a Picture” mode in a more free play option.

The app contains no third party adverts or in-app purchases. On the homescreen there is a hidden pull out bookshelf with icons of their other apps, this contains links to iTunes, and occasionally an advert pops up for a giveaway the developer is running (currently for iPods), clicking on this leads to a page with FB links. I would like an option to disable these links in the app settings.

Overall, I would recommend this app for toddlers, pre-schoolers and Kindergarten students. It is really like two apps in one. The ‘Color a Picture” mode is a great educational game for teaching how to mix colors – most color mixing apps just show how to make orange, purple and green and I like that this includes other choices such as brown, navy blue, pink, olive green, pale blue, pale yellow and grey. It is also good for practicing copying, color matching and visual motor integration skills. The “Draw a Picture” mode is a nice drawing and coloring app and good for practicing fine motor skills. The pictures that the child can color include some very simple outlines and also pictures with quite a lot of detail, so it can be used for children with varying levels of skill.

Category: education
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
Cost: $2.99   ON SALE FOR 99C  until  Sept 1st Only(27.7MB)

Their other apps are also on sale for 70% off until Sept 1st too you can check them out here
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A fee was received to expedite this review to the top of our waiting list but this payment has not influenced the objectivity of the review and all opinions have been offered honestly.