Iphone Mom Review

Pirates of S.I.

Written by The iPhone Mom

The Pirates of SI. turns your child into a puppeteer. Captain Snow is a monkey pirate who also happens to be the star of a puppet play. Your child can use their fingers on the screen to move Captain Snow around while tapping on other things in the play’s scenes. Their goal is to find an object for each letter of the alphabet but some will be trickier to find than others. The puppet scenes will change when certain objects are tapped and it’s up to your child to figure out what to move around. Each scene will reveal new objects from the alphabet. If your child finds themselves stuck trying to find an object then they can tap on one of the letters at the bottom of the screen. This will show them the object that begins with the letter, it’s what they should be looking for.

Fun piratey music adds to the experience and I enjoyed seeing the different scenes Captain Snow found himself in. I think my favorite was probably the underwater location. Overall this is a fun exploration app for children and the developer has included a guide that parents can use for additional learning activities. They’ll see suggestions for questions that working in counting, colors, spatial relations and relational concepts.

There are two separate versions of Pirates of Snow Island, one is for the iPhone/iPod Touch and the other is for the iPad. I tried out the iPhone app and I had a little bit of trouble with the alphabet letters, information and extra activities buttons. They were a smidge small and not always responsive right away when I tapped on them. I don’t think this would be an issue on the iPad screen.

The Pirates of Snow Island graphics are gorgeous, they really do have the look and feel of paper puppets and props. Captain Snow moves like a marionette with his arms and legs bending this way and that. The overall effect looks like fun for children and adults.