I find technology and the way that it has changed the way that we play with our children absolutely fascinating. I am not a parent that is against screen time, but rather using it as a tool for learning and play. So I was very intrigued when I first heard about the game Pebli Town which is a board game that is played with an app on a tablet.
As soon as the box arrived the kids were both immediately excited! They had seen the game on TV and already knew that they wanted to try it for themselves.
We started by setting up the game. It comes with a board (which requires batteries) then the decorative board and four location accessories as well as the four characters. They are really chunky and sturdy, the kids loved holding and playing with them. The kit also comes with a stand for your tablet, which is really handy for game play. I then downloaded the app onto my tablet, but unfortunately I have an older iPad so it actually didn't run very well, so my advice would be to check the list of compatible devices to be sure that your tablet will run the app properly.
Luckily I was able to run the app on my iPhone, so even though it is quite a small screen, it meant that the children could play the game straight away (and they were not prepared to wait!) There are four elements to the app; game player, story teller, story creator and video room. Within each of the four areas there are different choices for each of the characters. There is a firefighter, doctor, painter and chef. Ethan's favourite is the firefighter, so he featured in a lot of our playing!
The games are completely interactive, so for example in the firefighters game of Cloud Buster you have to jump the little person up when the cloud goes past them overhead to catch whatever is inside. So it's great for their hand eye coordination. The other games are also great for memory skills and sequencing.
In the story teller area there are little stories for each of the characters that you can listen to and make choices for what they should do next. In story creator you get to record your voice for the characters to then interact with each other in a little video that you can watch back.
Finally there's the video element, which simply connects to a video on youtube that is relevant to that character.
It's a really interesting way to play a game both on a tablet as well as with a game board. It has so many learning opportunities as well as the chance to safely introduce children to the use of technology in a fun way. The game is fantastic and is definitely the beginning of a new trend in gadget games for kids.
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