Tiggly Shapes & Counts App for Toddlers

You could tell the fun booths at BlogHer14 at a glance. They usually had crowds of people around them and many of them involved fun kids toys. The Tiggly booth was no exception.

All of us moms wanted a chance to try out the fun little shapes on the iPad. I knew immediately that my girls would love these toys and games. At the time, they were only available on iOS.

When I got my tablet last year, I looked up Tiggly again and sure enough, the toys had come to Android. I immediately emailed the people I’d met at BlogHer14. I couldn’t wait for our toys to arrive in the mail. I installed the apps on my Tablet and watched for the truck. And when the package arrived, I had to figure out a way to get the girls to take turns with their new toy.

Tiggly is a fun, interactive app for both Android and iOS that features hands-on toys for kids to match with the on-screen game. All three of my girls were captivated by the cute animation and bouncy music of the app. They also enjoyed matching the counting squares to the game to complete the game (when Jade wasn’t stealing the squares).

What I like about this app: it’s educational as well as fun. Even Sunshine had to stop and think about a few parts of Tiggly Addventure before choosing the right number of squares to safely complete the game. The game helped reinforce counting and adding.

Lily’s favourite app is Tiggly Chef. This game has her counting food for the chef to chop and then eating it and recording what she thought about it (which gets sillier every time she plays the game).

The games have been a huge help when we’ve had to sit waiting somewhere, like the ferry terminal (as in the pictures above). On our last couple trips to the Island, we ended up with one-sailing wait to hang out at the ferry terminal—in the rain. Thankfully, I’d planned ahead and had the tablet and toys with me, so the girls were kept entertained—and learned some math!—while we waited for the ferry to come.

The Tiggly apps are free and can be played with or without the shapes (the shapes open up a few more possibilities in the games). Each set of toys comes with a handy carry bag and accompanies three apps. Tiggly has won numerous awards for their games, including Parent’s Choice and TOTY.

Tiggly Shapes is recommended for ages 18+ (Jade fights for her turn on the tablet too) and Tiggly Counts is intended for ages 3-7 (some of the games I thought were a bit easy for Sunshine, who just turned 7, but they were perfect for Lily, who is starting to learn these math concepts). The apps are free and the shape or counting toys are $29.95.

Worried about how much time your children are spending on computers or devices? OurPact is a great app that helps parents manage their kids app and internet use! (Currently available for iOS only.)

I received a set of Tiggly Counts toys for the purpose of this review; all opinions expressed are my own.