Netflix: To Kids Corner Or Not To Kids Corner

With the introduction of Kids Corner, parents are given such a GREAT way to allow their little ones to explore technology without surrendering their phones completely to their kids' wiles, watching them call Hong Kong, or send gibberish texts to Grandma.
 

But, one conundrum I'm facing is whether or not Netflix should be pinned to Kids Corner.
 

On one hand, Netflix is a lifesaver. I can't tell you how many dinners we were at with our daughter as a toddler when she would launch into "meltdown mode", and our only savior was Blues Clues on the Netflix app. During downtimes when she's required to sit still, having Netflix has been a huge blessing...but also a curse.

 

 

The downside is if left unattended she might be inclined to launch the Netflix app and watch something I DON'T want her seeing. Things like South Park and Family Guy and Futurama. Having access to Netflix (or YouTube even) through Kids Corner could provide her the opportunity to expose herself to things she's much too young for, and if I'm not 100% present in the situation, what's to stop her?
 

I wish there were a Netflix Kids app. We watch Netflix through our Xbox, and are in LOVE with the separate sections for adults and kids. At four she's able to launch my Xbox live account, go into Netflix, and then the Kids section, and she loves that she has her own Netflix all to herself. I wish something like this were available in mobile app form for putting in Kids Corner. It would ease my mind knowing she's limited to what she has access to.

 

~credit: techonthego.uk.co

 

 Until then, I've chosen not to place Netflix in Kids Corner. If she wants to watch something she'll simply have to wait until I can pull it up and select something for her. I think this is just the only way to protect her from adult content.

App Review: Angelina

Angelina Ballerina is a children's book character turned PBS cartoon that teaches children about friendship and the dynamics of our relationships with others. There are two versions of this cartoon mouse: one closely resembling the story book, and the one this app is based on. This Angelina was given a revamp a few years ago to work in a preschool type format (although for our part we still prefer the old Angelina).

So, about the app:

This app costs $1.99 and is published by H.I.T. Entertainment, the same production company that makes the cartoon. Even though it's not a free app, it is certainly worth the buck ninety-nine. The premise of the app is dressing up Angelina and four of her mouseling friends.

There are five types of games to choose from:

Fashion Mix & Match: A free play type game where your own mouseling chooses the outfits for Angelina and her friends (with a pretty wide variety of options) and then can choose to save the outfit to her "closet" for later viewing. This outfit can include shoes, bags, glasses, plus the normal array of shirts, pants, and skirts.

Performance: In this game children are asked to choose between the given options which completed outfit is most suited for a particular genre of dance. Ex. Hip-Hop, Ballet, Jazz Tap. When they get it right they are awarded with audience cheering, sparkles, and their mouseling on stage dressed for success.

 Concentration: Concentration is a memory game. A mouseling appears before your child dressed up, and for ten seconds your child tries to memorize what they're wearing. Then the outfit disappears and your child is presented three options and is prompted by Angelina herself to choose which items she was wearing. There aren't really any wrong answers because when your child selects incorrectly, the app simply makes a honking sound and waits until she picks the correct item. When all is said and done, the mouseling is once again shown onstage in her matching outfit with cheers and sparkles.

Mix & Match: Similar to Fashion Mix & Match, this version focuses solely on dance attire, but the premise is exactly the same.

What Doesn't Belong: Lastly, this game asks children to pick out which items in the predetermined, genre specific outfits don't belong.


There are also two other activities:

Postcards: A neat feature where children can choose photo frames and stickers to accentuate their own pictures, pulled from your photo albums. This is my daughter's favorite. After creating her "postcard" she can then save it to my phone for later use.

An example of a postcard my daugher made in app.

 

My Dressing Room: Remember me mentioning the ability to save outfits? My Dressing Room is where you can now view all your fun fashion creations all in once place.

Overall this game is charming, relatively affordable, and has a high replay value for my 4 year old. The only thing you should be mindful of, is this game is not listed under games so it will not show up in your games hub. I don't know why, but it appears as a regular app, so don't waste time searching for it in games. But, since it begins with an "A" you'll only need to slide over to the right to open it, or pin it to your Start Screen, or your Kids Corner.

I recommend this app and give it 4 out of 5 tiles.