Review: KinderBach App

Imagine our complete surprise, and joy, when we learned that we were going to get to review KinderBach again!! We loved it the last time that we reviewed it so we were just thrilled to hear that this time we were going to review the new KinderBach App.

About the KinderBach App

From the Website:

KinderBach's App for iPad or iPhone brings the teachings of Karri Grego to your device. The KB App features Levels 1,2, & 3 and offers a year's worth of entertaining music education for 3 to 7 year old children through video, interactive coloring pages and games. Miss Karri introduces preschoolers to the keyboard characters with stories and fun tunes. Kids will enjoy playing simple songs, identifying music direction and pitch, learning rhythm notes and their beat value. Levels 1 to 3 cover proper hand and finger position, as well as note reading by pattern for voice and keyboard.

* The most fun and engaging piano and music app on the App store
* Improves all forms of musical skills including the piano itself.
* Try the first game and two lessons for FREE, then choose which lessons you wish to purchase for your children. Lessons can be purchased one lesson at a time, or at a reduced rate for an entire level.
* No subscription required, once you purchase a lesson it is yours for good.
* Hours of content for children of all ages over the 3 levels, each containing 10 lessons.
* 150 videos allow your children to work directly with Karri Grego to learn concepts and skills.
* Keyboard included in the app for use during the video lessons.
* Six Mini-Games are unlocked as you purchase further lessons to learn more advanced concepts. he first Mini-Game is included with the application along with Lessons 1 and 2.

Our Experience

Well I'm sure that it's no surprise to anyone that we loved the App. It's everything that KinderBach online is and a little bit more. The App contains levels 1-3. Each level contains 10 lessons and each lesson contains  an intro video, 4 video mini-lesson as well as printables and games that you can unlock.

The printables are the same ones that you would get with the online version. However you can access and print them right from your iPad. Well you can if you have a wireless printer. Which I do. Yay me!!! If you don't have the wireless capabilities you can buy a pdf file of the printables for less then $2.00 each.

One of the first things that I did was download all of the videos. The first time you download them it takes a couple minutes. It goes much faster after the first time because they're already loaded onto your iPad.

You are meant to complete one lesson per week but we did our lessons over a two week period because that worked better for our schedule. We did a quick review of some of the earlier lessons and then we picked right up where we left off.

Kayleigh was in love with the little keyboard on the iPad. It was just the right size for her little fingers, much better for her than our full size keyboard. That just thrilled her.

There are two games for each level. They are a fun way to reinforce what your child has learned. There was one game, The Train Game, that had a glitch that would shut down the entire program. The fabulous KinderBach people were quick to start working out that bug as soon as they were notified. Their customer service is top notch. A large majority of the time, your questions are answered by Karri, the founder of KinderBach.

The videos themselves are 2-4 minutes long and they are the same ones that you get with the online or DVD versions. The teacher, Karri, is just delightful as are the characters. The lessons incorporate movement, instruments, some basic pre-k skills, as well as music instruction. So much fun packed into a short time.

The only difficulty I had was remembering what lesson we left off on. I'm old and my mind is going fast so I'd forget where we were day to day. I would love to see a way to mark them off as completed in future updates. For now I entered them all into my Homeschool Tracker so I can just add them to our assignment sheets.

The app is also compatible with the iPod Touch and the iPhone as well. However, the small screens on these devices could can make using the keyboard difficult but it can be done. Some of the games are perfect for playing on the smaller devices.

We definitely feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to review this app. It is an incredible value for the money. $26 dollars might sound like a lot for an app but it such a huge savings over the online program because you have access to the lessons forever. A real bargain, especially compared to private piano lessons. Trust me know, I foot the bill for those for my oldest. ;o)

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.kinderbach.com/index.html

Age Range: 3-7 years of age

Price: Full App $26.99 available on the iTunes App Store. You can also purchase individual lessons for $ .99 or each level for $8.99.  If you're still not sure, you can try the first two lessons for free.

And guess what?? KinderBach is offering my readers 30% off. Just use the code: TOS_crew2012 

Disclaimer: I received this app for free for review purposes. All opinions are my own or those of my family.