Bottom Line: A solid app, with three basic color games, for $1.99.
Rainbow Train: Teach Colors presents children with three different color-learning games/activities.
The first activity presents a palette with four, seven or 10 different colors (number based on a setting). Each color can be pressed to view five items of that color that are named and can be pressed to hear the name again. I assumed with a palette there would be more interaction, such as some sort of coloring/drawing game, but it's just press-and-hear.
In the second activity, which is started by pressing a strange looking horn-thing, the app displays 15 bubbles, each containing an item, and asks the child to press those of a certain color. So, for example, it will ask "Show/find green objects" (not sure why it doesn't say "touch the green objects") and the child will have to touch a frog, an apple and green beans. This continues until a timer bar at the top expires. At the end of each game, the app displays a board where stars are awarded.
In the final game, the app displays a really cute train character with four different colored cargo cars and the child must put the appropriate items into the matching colored car. So, bubbles with the frog, green apple and green beans must be dragged-and-dropped to the green car, for instance. At the end of the level, the track ends in a station where a results board displays the child's accomplishments.
The number of colors used in each activity is chosen via a setting on the title screen. There is also a "news" button on that screen, which leads to the developer's other apps in the App Store, and a settings button, which changes the language and controls the volume or turns it off completely (for both music and sound effects individually.)
The interaction is very simple (touch and drag) so this is an app best used by toddlers. The interface is simple and easy-to-use, but there are no real visual instructions or assistance if a child doesn't know what a certain color is, beyond indicating when they are wrong and a faint flashing light inside the bubbles of the correct answers if the child is having trouble.
I always prefer at least a setting for the possible display of words, even in an app such as this. My daughter Lily, who is four, wouldn't really learn anything from this app that she doesn't already know, but she could get some use from it if the words were included for the colors and items.
The narration is OK, but American users should know that purple is called violet and the pronunciations of a few colors will be different from what a child in the U.S. is accustomed to. I'm fine with that as a parent, because I want children to realize that American English isn't the only way the language is spoken. However, as a reviewer, I am obliged to note it because some parents and teachers take that into consideration when deciding to purchase an app.
Strangely, the default language is not English upon installation and that's very unusual for an app purchased from an app store for an English-speaking country. It has to be adjusted to English in the settings.
Rainbow Train: Teach Colors is one of those apps that's solid and put together well, but there really isn't anything particularly exceptional about it. Take a look if you need an app to reinforce learning about colors.
****
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iPad/iPhone ($1.99): U.S. Canada Europe Australia
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