Magical Music Box by Kidoteca- Review

 Magical music box is a universal app from Kidoteca. It turns your iPad into a virtual music box. There are six different music boxes to choose from including a solar scene with stars, planets and rocket ships; a train going around the world; a carousel; an ocean scene; a nighttime sky with a slumbering moon, and my favorite- a mine scene with dwarves mining diamonds and a runaway mine car. With each music box you can operate it by turning it’s own unique key (by drawing circles on the iPad), or you can set it to play by itself. The graphics are clear, sharp and colorful and the animations are cute and well done. My children and I enjoyed seeing what each one did.

Each music box has its own default tune it switches to when you select it, but then you can choose anyone of sixteen different tunes for it to play. These include classical music, children’s songs and others such as the Brazilian National Anthem. The included tunes originate in a wide variety of countries including Brazil, France, Germany,  Austria, Russia, the USA and the UK. The tune is selected by touching a picture representing it, this can be a little confusing at first when trying to pick a familiar tune, if you don’t know which picture represents it. However, children soon learn which pictures represent their favorites. It would be nice to have the option to also display the song names. The tunes really do sound like a music box, so if you like the plinky- plonk sound of a real music box you will enjoy this.

The included tunes are: A la Claire Fontaine, Au Clair de la Lune, Beautiful Dreamer, Brazilian national anthem, Drunken Sailor, Brother John, Für Elise, Hänschen Klein, Il était un Petit Navire, Invention No.8, La Marseillaise, Old MacDonald had a Farm, Ronda Alla Turca, Beethoven’s Symphony n°5, Brahm’s Lullaby, Swan Lake.

You can also choose to see the song lyrics and information about the song. I think this is a good learning opportunity and I’d love to see this expanded by adding a karaoke option where the words are highlighted in time to the music to help a child learn the song. There are three language options for the app – English, French and Portuguese.

I think this app will appeal most to babies and toddlers, who I can see being mesmerized by the music boxes. It is quite soothing to watch and listen to, so might also be a useful option for putting babies to sleep – similar to watching a mobile play (though you would have to turn off screen lock in your settings). However, it will also appeal to older children and adults who enjoy playing with music boxes. My five-year-old twins had a lot of fun exploring the app, and really enjoyed watching the different music boxes play. The animations of the music boxes are really well done and interesting to watch.

This app is priced at only 99c and it is an interesting and unusual app for babies and toddlers, and for adults and children of any age who love to look at and listen to music boxes.

Magical Music Box by Kidoteca Category: Education, Music Requirements: Compatible with all Size: 57.74 MB

$2.99USD

Screenshots

Screenshots for iPad

There is also a free Lite version available:

Magical Music Box - Lite by Kidoteca Category: Education, Music Requirements: Compatible with all Size: 33.01 MB

$FREE

Screenshots

Screenshots for iPad

NOTE: 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.

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Mary

Mary is originally from England but now lives in California with her husband and three children, an 8 year old boy and 5 year old boy/girl twins. Mary and her family love soccer, camping, hiking and playing with their iPad which is also used for therapy for their daughters Apraxia (speech disorder).

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You can email me direct at mary(at)theimums.com