Practice Critical Thinking with Odd 1 Out

By Juli | July 20, 2011 | No comment yet

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Odd 1 Out is a newly released educational app for children, designed to help young kids develop critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills.

In this app from Punflay, children will use their visual skills to pick specific objects, such as a certain type of fruit, out of a group of objects that flies past on the iPad screen.

When opening the app, you can choose from Practice mode and Challenge mode. Practice mode, with clear and crisp audio instructions, is meant to teach children how to use the app before they begin playing in challenge mode.

The game can be played with fruits, shapes, or colors. In fruit mode, bees fly across the screen carrying fruits, like mangoes, strawberries, and apples. The goal is to pick out just one fruit, so your child would tap all of the mangoes as they go by to earn stars. At five stars, the game advances to the next level.

In shape mode, little ants carry various shapes across the iPad’s screen, and in color mode, different colored beetles. As with the fruit, the goal is to tap all of the items that the game instructs you to, without tapping the wrong items.

This game is a great way to help kids learn different objects, shapes, and colors. Children will use decision making skills to decide which object to tap and learn to think faster as the game speeds up during each level. After every level, the object will change, so while your child is tapping apples one level, it will change to strawberries during the next level, increasing awareness and listening skills.

With bright, colorful graphics and easy to identify objects, this game is perfect for pre-schoolers who are learning to identify objects and are working on critical thinking skills.

Odd 1 Out is a simple app that’s easy to play and will likely be perfect for parents and children looking for a short game that is both fun and educational.

What I liked: The audio instructions are always clear and easy to understand, and the bright graphics of fruit and bugs are sure to delight young children. Note that I left shapes out of that – they only come in an oddly textured pink color.

What I didn’t like: There’s not a lot of actual content here. There are a few levels for each category, but that’s it, and there are no other mini games or additions to make it more worthwhile. Additionally, as the levels progress they get shorter and easier, as a child picks out two shapes instead of one, but still only needs 5 stars to end a level. The number of stars required should increase, as well as the time limit. The 60 second time limit is a little too unforgiving, because if a child misses an object or two, they may very well lose just because another apple doesn’t happen to float across the screen.

To buy or not to buy: Odd 1 Out is a short game, but if your child likes picking objects out of a group and needs to practice with simple shapes and colors, this app is a decent choice.