The number of insects Sam needs to eat for lunch
When you load the app a screen appears telling you how many of each insect you need to help Sam catch, to start the game press begin. In the bottom left hand corner you will find an insect counter to help you keep track of the number of each insect required and caught, when you reach the correct number a green tick is displayed which turns red if you feed Sam too many. To catch an insect tap on it as it swims past, Sam's tongue sticks out to catch it and the counter gets updated in the corner. There are a number of other objects which fly past such as a chilli pepper and space ship, if you feed one of these to Sam something amusing happens, for example if he has a chilli pepper a sheriff's hat appears on his head or a space helmet if you catch a space ship. If Sam eats too many of the wrong fish he grows bigger and bigger until he finally ends up falling off the lily pad and becomes a tasty meal for the crocodile waiting nearby.
Fish and Space ship zooming past Sam
Uh oh Sam ate a chilli pepper!
This is a fun app, which is great for developing counting skills while reinforcing color and object recognition in kids. The graphics are bright and colourful and the interactive features make it engaging. It wasn't long before Ben got the hang of the game and with my help, he soon understood that he had to catch the insects that were indicated in the corner until he got a green tick. He found it very amusing when he feed Sam the random objects that were floating by, in particular the underpants. I have to admit I found this game quite fun to play myself, it gets faster and harder as you progress through the levels which keeps it challenging.
Sam has eaten too many of the wrong fish
..and it's game over!
Sam Phibian is free to download from the App Store and is compatible with both the iPhone and iPad.
