[App Review] The Three Little Pigs Come to Life

The Three Little Pigs Come to Life

Little kids love to pretend to be the Big Bad Wolf, running all over the and trying to blow down everything in their path. They also love the story that features the Big Bad Wolf, The Three Little Pigs. Kids Academy Company’s animated version of the popular Three Little Pigs story will help children experience the story in a new, interactive way, making it even more enjoyable.

Options for Reading and Interacting

When it comes to reading the story, children can choose one of three options: Autoplay, Listen & Play or Read Myself. For most children, the Listen & Play option is best. It reads the story to them while allowing them to interact with the characters and other objects on the screen at the same time. The Read Myself option also allows children to interact with the objects on the screen, but the text is small and covers nearly the entire screen, so kids must hide it before they can play. The Autoplay option is more like a short cartoon, reading the story straight through with animations that children cannot interact with as they read.

The version of The Three Little Pigs contained in the app is cute, but the animations and interactive elements are the highlight of the app. As they begin the story, they are introduced to Sniff-Sniff, Snuff-Snuff and Snaff-Snaff, the Three Little Pigs. Each pig in the story has a unique look and also speaks with a different voice to make it easy for children to tell them apart. Just as in the original version of the story, kids can help the pigs build houses out of straw, sticks and bricks. As the Big Bad Wolf visits each house, tapping on him produces the “Little pig, little pig, let me come in” and the huffing and puffing kids love. Once the wolf has blown a house down, kids can click on the house to rebuild it and have the wolf blow it down again.

An Interactive, Enjoyable Read

All in all, the app offers an interactive, enjoyable version of a classic children’s story. Giving the pigs cute names helps personalize the story a little more, but it still keeps some of the lines children know and love. The app also has the option of purchasing additional activities to add to the story. These fun activities are indeed fun, especially the Puff Striker, which uses the microphone to let kids pretend to be the Big Bad Wolf and really blow the little pigs’ houses down.

All images from Three Little Pigs

By Stacy Zeiger
Stacy Zeiger is an 8th grade English teacher, writer and mother of two who holds a B.A. in English and M.Ed. in Secondary Education from Ohio State University.