Ask your average rabbit to sort the letters of the alphabet into order, and it’d probably just look at you, twitching its nose. In fairness, that’s what rabbits do whatever you say to them…
Not the rabbits in a new educational game for iPhone and iPad called Wonder Bunny ABC Race, though. Developed by Fantastec, it’s a rabbit-racing game with an alphabetical twist: your children earn virtual carrots for their letter-spotting skills.
It’s actually a follow-up to Fantastec’s first mobile game, Wonder Bunny Math Race, which did a similar thing for mathematics. This game is aimed at 3-8 year-olds, covering first letter recognition through to more advanced skills.
The basic idea: your bunny runs, while you tap the letters up ahead on the track in the order shown at the bottom of the screen – initially this is simple A then B then C. When you tap the right letter, the rabbit speeds up, and the better you perform, the more virtual carrots you earn.
The carrots can then be spent on unlocking new bunnies with different decorations on their fur. Each level is based on a certain number of letters, with the levels spread across two game worlds: Candyland and Polar Heroes, with different visual themes (sweets and snow, if you hadn’t guessed).
Wonder Bunny ABC Race is a free download for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store including the first three levels, but the game does use in-app purchases to buy additional levels and “premium bunnies”.
In the former case, £3.99 unlocks the entire game, but you can also choose to pay smaller amounts to unlock specific sections – 69p per three-level pack, £1.99 for levels 4-15 of Candyland, and £2.49 for Polar Heroes’ 15 levels.
Read about more alphabet apps for kids on Apps Playground, and check out our 100 Best iPad Apps of 2013 e-book – £1.99 from Apple’s iBooks Store
“This game is aimed at 3-8 year-olds” followed by “the game does use in-app purchases to
buy additional levels and premium bunnies”
Corporatocracy at work
Hi @lerp, we have a policy, when there are in-app purchases, of explaining how they work and how much they cost, so parents can take an informed decision about whether to install the app. It wouldn’t stop us writing about one though: in this case, £3.99 to unlock everything seems decent-ish value.
We’d always advise parents to have their in-app purchases restrictions turned on though, so their children can’t spend without their permission. We’ve also provided a guide on how to do this.
But yes, to be clear, the game is for 3-8 year-olds, but the in-app purchases are aimed at parents.