Fergus Ferry Children's App Review

Fergus Ferry is a new app for children ages around 2 to 6 years old and as a special festive celebration of the new app it is currently available to download for FREE from the iTunes app store until the end of January, that is a MASSIVE saving because it includes all 24 Fergus Ferry ebooks and the total estimated value of the app is around $89.

Fergus Ferry is a friendly ferry boat whose adventures are recorded in 24 already-popular books which are available in both electronic and paper format.  Fergus has lots of friends who he meets in his stories, some are people, some animals and several are other boats and vehicles.

As well as the complete set of Fergus Ferry stories, the new Fergus Ferry app features a small fun game to play.  In the game you play Fergus and you have to use the boat controls to move around the harbour to save people who have fallen into the water.  For every person you manage to throw a life ring to, you get points.  You have to watch out for other boats as well as fighting off sharks!  The controls are pretty basic so even Holly has some fun moving Fergus left and right and tapping the screen when she sees a person in need of help.

Lara instantly took to the Fergus eBooks (totally unprompted by me!).  Each of the stories has a simple moral behind it - don't play with fire, the value of friendship, it takes time to learn, etc.  While the moral is usually the main theme of the story, the books aren't patronising at all and the stories remain fun and engaging.  Yesterday Lara and I read "Fergus at the Fireworks" together (you can read it yourself or let the app read it aloud for you); the story was really topical as it was based in Seaport Harbour on the night of New Year's Eve but among the fun and fireworks there was someone letting off flares which caused a boat to set alight; I thought the story was a good mix of fun with an important message.

Lara's favourite Fergus story so far has been "Fergus at the Zoo" in which Fergus Ferry is enlisted to help when animals escape from the harbour zoo. Each of the stories is written in a comfortable rhyming pattern which small children love.  The stories on the app are read in a slow, quite deep male voice which is a very interesting change for my girls - I quite like it because so few of our other ebooks are read in a mature male voice.  The stories are set in Australia (Seaport Harbour bridge feels very familiar!) and several of the voices have strong Aussie accents; the stories regularly feature Australian sights and animals so this offers an extra level of learning for the girls.

The final feature of the Fergus Ferry app allows your child to explore Fergus' harbour.  Your child can tap on each of the buildings in the harbour and all of Fergus Ferry's friend to find out more about them.

Next week I will be running a giveaway to win the complete set of printed Fergus Ferry books so stay tuned to Mellow Mummy!

All of the Fergus Ferry ebooks are also available to download for FREE until the end of January from Amazon, iBooks and Barnes and Noble.  The Fergus Ferry app is on offer for a reduced price of 99 cents on Android.  You can find out more about Fergus Ferry at www.fergusferry.com .

Disclosure:  I have an advertising relationship with Fergus Ferry but all words above are my own.