Make A Scene: Farmyard is an interactive app developed by Innivo, Ltd. It is a sticker book app that gives your child multiple scenes and a variety of stickers to create their custom pictures.
Upon launching the app, the player is met with upbeat music and some basic animated farm characters. The “play” button is clearly visible and large. The top left of the screen is peeled down and advertises the company’s other mobile apps. There are also links to Facebook, Twitter and Make A Scene’s website. I found those links to be a bit too large, but I understand that the company would like parents to like and follow them.
Clicking play takes you to one of the 5 animated backgrounds. There is a change scene option in the right hand corner. Next to that is an option to change the foreground. Changing the foreground gives the player an option to add grass, bushes, flowers and falling leaves. The animated backgrounds feature clouds moving slowly across the sky and birds chirping.
There is a scroll bar along the bottom that features the animals, characters and objects you can add to your scene. There are lots of different objects and animals to choose from. The object, character or animal is identified by the narrator with each selection. The animal will make its corresponding sound, ie. a horse neighing or a chicken clucking.
The animations are subtle. I am glad there isn’t music throughout the whole time you have the app launched. The colors are bright and vibrant. The objective is simple, so I feel a toddler could enjoy using this app. Preschoolers would have a blast since they could learn about all the options they have. A preschooler would have no problem navigating through the app.
One key feature that is extremely forward-thinking on the part of the development team is the addition of mutli-touch. This means 2 or more people can play at the same time. This is extremely valuable for those families with 2 or more young children.
Another terrific thing is the stickers go to scale. They get smaller as they go further into the background. It is a small thing, I know, but, man, it makes sense. Not too many developers concentrate on such intricate details when it comes to a sticker book app.
There is an option to save the picture and share through Facebook, Twitter or email. I would rather the social sharing options not be there. What toddler or preschooler has a Facebook or Twitter account? Just provide the option to save the picture and leave it up to the parent to utilize other methods of sharing should they wish to do so.
Should your child accidentally press the home button, relaunching the app he or she will be met with yet another advertisement for the company’s other mobile apps. This seems to be a little overkill in my opinion.
Aside from those quirks of mine, the app is actually pretty fun. It has great graphics. It helps with the concept of nouns and sounds. The colors are beautiful. There are tons of scenes and “stickers” to choose from. For the outstanding price of free, it is a must-have.
Make A Scene: Farmland is free in the App Store for a limited time.
Free – Download Now (iPad)
Other Innivo apps can be purchased for $1.99: