Price: $3.99

Elmo’s Monster Maker

Our Review

My son is just learning to talk and there are five words he says clearly and often: NO, fishy, apple, mama… and Elmo. Needless to say, we were thrilled to learn that Sesame Workshop Apps recently came out with an app starring our furry, red friend. To play “Elmo’s Monster Maker”, we first select a monster buddy and customize it with eyes, nose, and a hat. We then have the option to “play” with our monster by taking a picture, watching it dance, or goofing around with Elmo. There is an alluring and intimate quality to this game… a sense of inclusion where Elmo and the monsters embrace us in the fun rather than feeling like observers. This can be partially attributed to the production that uses only interactive video clips that engage directly with the audience. The monster’s dress-up options are ultra-silly with some outlandish choices, and the dance party feature has toe-tapping, themed tunes that can match the style and mood of your monster. This isn’t an educational app per se, but it’s certainly a lot of pure, clean FUN… Elmo-style.

By Age Range, By App Feature, Just For Fun, Middle School, Preschool, Primary School, Reviews, Toddlers

February 10th, 2010 by Kristen Young Share

Application Detail

Elmo's Monster Maker

Developer: Sesame Street
Released: 2010-01-28
Price: $3.99

Description from the Developer

*** 2010 Parents' Choice Silver Honors Award Winner ***
Elmo wants you to make a monster friend! Its easy! Choose a monster body and touch its face to give it eyes, nose and a hatthere are lots and lots and lots to choose from. When youre done, Elmo will dance and play with your monster! This is going to be so much fun!

Features:
* All original Sesame Street video.
* Elmos photos of your monster go to your iPhone/iPods photo album.
* Elmo interacts with your monster.
* Your monster comes alive to dance and play.
* Change your monster as many times as you like.

Parade Mode:
* Touch one of the monster bodies to get started.

Create Mode:
* Touch your monsters face to give it eyes, a nose and a hat. Keep touching the same spot to keep changing your monsters features. When youre ready to play with your monster, touch the green arrow.

Play Mode:
* Touch the camera icon and Elmo will take a picture of your monster. This picture will appear in your iPhone/iPods photo album.
* Touch the Elmo icon and the little red monster himself will jump in to play with your monster!
* Touch the music notes icon and your monster will dance for you!
* Touch your monster any time for a surprise!

Curriculum and Skills:
* Fosters art and creativity.
* Encourages decision-making.

Troubleshoot:
* To enjoy all the sounds of Elmos Monster Maker, silent mode should not be activated. Apple hardware does not mute videos when the phone is in silent mode. So, the videos will play with sound, but the game audio will not. You may think the sound has dropped, when in fact the mute button is on.

About Us
* Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that revolutionized childrens media with the landmark Sesame Street. Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org.

* IDEO is a human-centered design and innovation firm ranked independently among the ten most innovative companies in the world. Learn how our team of child-development experts, veteran toy designers and interaction designers approach the creation of award-winning kid apps at www.ideotoylab.com.