Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
reviews and complaints

we got this for our three hour plane ride to florida. my 2.5 year old daughter loves it. the variety is just perfect. enough variety that she doesn't get bored but enough repetition so she is confident in completing the tasks. i'm not sure she is learning much, but it does reinforce some of the things like shapes, colors, and counting which she already knew. it is also good because she can play it with or without tue sound on. after a few games she is rewarded with a "sticker" to put on a board. she was playing this morning and accumulated 50 stickers before i had to pry my ipad out of her hands.
highly recommend!

My 2 and 1/2 year old son absolutely loves this game. He has been able to do all the games, even though it took him a little bit to be able to complete the memory game.

The child gets to win stickers so they can place them on white sheet. This is great cause my son loves stickers (he decided to decorate the back of my ipad with some a few weeks ago.

This game keeps him very occupied for sometimes almost an hour (and we all know the is an accomplishment considering their commonly short attention span). I highly recommend this app considering it is very educational for children before they enter any kind of schooling.

this is an awesome learning game that keeps kids going by changing the games from word match to puzzle to the others listed one after the other. pleasant characters. BUT...no age or level of difficulty adjustments so buy only for this level: four piece puzzle, choose first letter of fruit with word spelled out right there, 8 card matching game, find X fruits... but ithas exact amount shown and simply counts them out as the kid touches them... to 7 or so, find which of 4 fruit doesn't match, find the 'blue' fruits... great for that age when your just introducing letters and numbers, etc...not any more advanced than that.

My son will be 3 in july. And i have him where he is doing the your baby can read. And can already read about 20 words. So when i get him games i try to have them fun but still learning things and using his brain. That is this app all the way. The puzzles I thought he would have a hard time but by the end of the first day he had them. He loves it. He is playing it rightnow. And he gets so happy when he gets it correct. He thinks he is playing a video game yet he is learing his colors, bigger and smaller, match making and so much more. Its a great app and I suggest this to EVERYONE. I would pay alot more for this one..

We have bought all of your apps and I just wanted to tell you thank you! My daughter has multiple disabilities and we didn't think she could ever read. We loaded monkey preschool and dress-up and saw that the game was teaching her the skills she needed and she loved playing it. We have tried so many apps for her and these are the highest quality we have come across. Our daughter is now reading! Thanks to you and the wonderful sequence of the games. She also is learning her math facts because of these apps. I keep hoping you will put them out for several grade levels. :-) The way the apps are designed is perfect for kids with difficulties. Thank you!

This app may only be $1, but i am unhappy about it (totally not worth it). It may be educational, but the concept just keeps repeating and repeating again and again. For the first 5 mins my son played with this app, all i hear is the same fruits over and over. The same letters, the same games. I thought there would be more variation and interaction. Through out the whole game, i noticed there are only about 5-6 letters the child can learn from this. I believe there are only 8 fruits in the app too. Could have been so much better. I am investing in sorts of learning activities i can possibly get for my son, to the benefit of his learning. And so far, this was not good of all. Im sorry.

My 4 year old loves playing this! He is autistic and delayed in speech and comprehension, but is good with visual identification. I like how it shows the color's or something up in the corner that helps him identify what he's looking for since he doesn't comprehend the verbal cues. But listening to the verbal cues will help him to verbally identify what he's look at or working on. Though he doesn't comprehend what he's doing most of the time (except the puzzle's and matching, which are his favorite's), he still loves playing it. I definitely can't wait for more things to be added to give him more to do. I wasn't sure when I bought this application, but he picked it up and won't put it down!

Great animation and such a nice learning game but missing two huge items ... NAVIGATION AND ENDGAME REWARD .. My tot has dozens of learning games and she is quite adept with the iPhone ... The one thing she likes is having a choice and winning...This game 'locks' you into playing with no way to return to a main menu ... Make some categories like counting, matching, puzzles, random, etc and a way to return to a main menu.. Also there is no 'end'...the sticker rewards need to exhaust where the kid eventually wins maybe with the monkey dancing at the board when you get all the stickers and a way to start over or go to main menu..UPDATE .. I let my toddler play it and she is laughing her butt off ... I changed my ranking!

This was a nice game in a lot of ways but my daughter learned she could randomly make choices and get the same results.

At first, she used logic to figure the games out but after a while she learned that it was easier to just randomly "guess". Not a trial and error method but just no thought whatsoever.

It's when I noticed her using the same method in daily activities that I deleted the app.

Now it could be that she learned this prior to the game and I just didn't notice it. Either way the game doesn't promote logical thinking and rewards not thinking.

I definitely do not recommend this app and would strongly advise against it. It's a shame because it is really well done but I can't overlook the detrimental affect.

My toddlers LOVE this ap. My 2 1/2 year old begs me to play it and while there are times it is too difficult for him it is set up so that he can guess his way through- helpful for keeping the little ones still trying to play. My 5 1/2 year old likes it but only for short periods of time and it's not a game she would ask for. It has six types of problems and they rotate so the kids have to try and solve each kind before moving on. There is a memory match card game, a fruit shaped puzzle, a find the fruit that is different, a counting one, a letter one, and a color question. The monkey in it squeals with excitement when the child answers correctly and has my youngest doing the same, it's his favorite game and I have a dozen. Totally worth the money!

This is a great game for preschoolers and even a little older. I got this game for my 4 year old nephew and he loves it. His favorite part of the game is the fruit matching (oh, and the stickers of course)! The only thing I would change would be the counting part. The number of fruit is already on the screen, and as the child touches the fruit it is counted aloud by the game and put in the lunchbox. This is great for children learning their numbers one to ten - hearing the numbers as they touch the fruit, but it would be great if there was an option for kids that aleady know their numbers to have to count the fruit themselves. But hey, my nephew, who does know his numbers, still absolutely loves this game and asks for it all the time, so I still rate this a solid 5 stars. Most definitely worth the money.

First, this app is best for 3-5 years if they have not entered Kindergarten yet. My daughter who just turned 4 could easily do this after a couple of tries and she LOVES it. There is a "chose a sticker" wall that is overburdened with her selections, as each couple of rounds you complete, you get to choose from a number of very cute graphic stickers. The only improvement I'd like is that it allow you to graduate to harder levels. For example, the counting part could as a next level ask the child to put three apples in the lunchbox where there would be six showing - currently the exact amount is shown and the program announces the number each time they drag the apple to the lunchbox. The puzzles would be easy - just make them more pieces each time they master the previous set. There is a colors section and a size section, both of which could easily be expanded on as they succeed in the previous level. For the money, this is totally worth it and it's a great intro to educational games for this age group. I really hope they put out other versions because I will definitely keep buying them! If for no other reason, so my daughter plays something different!

Thank you so much for this app! My 27-month-old daughter absolutely loves this! I too love it because it challenges her to learn fairly complex skills; yet, it always keeps it fun while giving her the right kind of encouragement to not quit - especially when it is difficult.

There are so many variations on several themes that she is able to master a truly advanced skills for her age (like matching) without getting bored or frustrated. I have several other apps that focus on matching items, but they just didn't get the concept through to her. This app did after the third time matching came up in the lineup.

THANK YOU! You have two fans for life! You're awesome. All I ask is PLEASE make more programs. I will buy every single one of them!

Be proud knowing you're helping to shape our future. I firmly believe you are playing a major role in helping our children be the future leaders of this high-tech generation in which they belong.

P.S. If I could make suggestion - my daughter always loves when the lunchbox shuts after she completes a screen. She thinks she is shutting it, though, and sometimes swipes it several times before it closes. is there anyway that the kids CAN be the ones who shut it? It just seems like, for her, it's this little victory ritual that gives her a big sense of self satisfaction. Hope that makes sense. :-) Anyway, just thought I would ask. THANKS!

You all have to fix the part where you push d home button and you go back and all the earned stickers are gone. My daughter told me " mommy that is not fair, why they took away my stickers" please fix it ASAP, pleassssse.

There is a volume issue. Even if my phone is on silent the sound will still play. Twice now my daughter has accidentally woken our baby. My daughter shouldn't feel bad because you can't program correctly. Please fix this then back to 5 stars.

This app is way too simple. My 2 1/2 year old blew through it on the first try. She likes the game and sometimes returns to it, but she doesn't stay with it long and it certainly isn't teaching her. It needs more levels. On a positive note, the characters are fun and cute.

Nice job with all the animation; however, there is no sound or instruction with this app. My kid is 2 and can't read. The monkey should at least make noise when she gets the answers correct or say the instructions out loud. The animation alone isn't enough to keep her attention.

I love this app! My 2 and half year old asks to play it all the time. It took her about a day to figure out how to drag and place the puzzle portion, but the rest she mastered after a couple tries! She played it for a solid 25 minutes while I was at the Doctor! Love Love Love this App!

My daughters each have an iPod touch 2nd generation. They loved playing this app until a recent update dropped support for older model iPods. Now I am forced to by new hardware to support old software?! Release the patch supporting models you have always supported and stop alienating loyal customers!

Can't believe I wasted a buck on this app! Would give it minus 5 stars if I could. Kids don't get to choose what game they play, the app decides...and when you try to select a sticker nothing happens. A waste of time and money! I will be deleting this one promptly. Lots of GOOD apps out there for toddlers... Keep looking!

About a third of the times my daughter places a sticker, the game gets confused and stuck. It never leaves the sticker screen, apparently not realizing she let go of it. Really annoying bug in an otherwise pretty good app.

I also wish it adapted more. Maybe it does when working properly but I need to reboot it so often it forgets.

My 3 yr old daughter did enjoy this for the hour I had it. Once I tried to use the Internet browser, it essentially stopped. The keypad slowed down so much that i thought the phone was broken. I had no choice but to delete the game to get my phone working again. I just got my phone, so this made me nervous! I would like my .99 back!

We bought this after reading all the great reviews. How very average. Yes the monkey is cute but you need more than that to compete in this market. We have many FREE apps that have more activities, are more engaging, and have far more educational value. This program needs a lot of work. Check out all the FREE apps before buying this.

Downloaded the app after reading reviews and research online, and I am the least bit impressed. There is no sound to instruct the child on what to do, and you don't have a choice of what kind of game you want to play be it matching, puzzles, letters etc. I do however like the idea of the different games, it could have been better executed with different options.

My son is just over 28 months old and my wife and I decided that an iPod touch would be a better deal than purchasing a leapster with the games he might like. He already uses my iphone so there would be no relearning for him. He LOVES his new "ipone" and this app is his favorite. I definately recommend this for any age as long as they can do the iPhone/iPod touch and slide movements. Nice work!

I’ve had the paid version of this app for years... first for my niece and nephew, and now for my own kids. Since the most recent update, the sound stopped working (and yes, the volume on my iPad is up the whole way and other apps work just fine). I tried updating my iOS, uninstalling the app, resetting the iPad, then reinstalling, and still nothing. I also checked the app settings, and the sound is on. It’s useless with no sound.

I got a paid version of this app and it like a free version with very minimal games. I have to upgrade and pay again to get more content. This version kept my 3 yr old busy for maybe 5 min before it asked for more $. Even though it was only $1.99 it was a complete waste of $. I found it very deceptive. There are free apps out there that have way more content and better. The graphics look really old school and the voice sounds like an old lady.

So I bought the game, and we started to play it right away. Well let me tell you that when my brother was on the third level, which is the matching game, the game crashed. CRASHED!. I tried returning to the app but it wouldn't go, so i had to turn off and then on my ipod. I have the newest ipod touch with hd camera, so no my ipod isn't old. It works now, but you're not getting a higher rating until time passes by and I see that it doesn't crash any more.

A thoughtless game. No time spent on game design or interest. For example, the monkey does and says the same thing EVERY TIME a correct or incorrect choice is made. Imagine this going on for 15 or 20 minutes. The numbers game only presents the exact number of fruits that the player is supposed to pick...duh. The game itself and the music are on an endless, mind-numbing loop. Finally, the puzzle pieces must be exactly in place - there is no margin of error. Which can be frustrating for younger players. Buy this if your kid is dumb, or if that is what you hope him to be. Or if you want to go insane.