Breathe, Think, Do from Sesame Street comes with a big claim, that it can help your child to cope with frustrating situations and come up with solutions to their problems.
Can an app really teach your kids these sorts of life skills?
Breathe, Think, Do puts a muppets style monster child in a number of frustrating situations and the player then “helps” them, first to calm down and then to think of a solution to the problem. It’s very simple to play, the child essentially just taps the screen to see what happens next, but for the app’s 2-5 year old target age range it holds a lot of replay value. Most importantly, it puts simple tools (like taking three deep breathes when feeling frustrated) into the hands of children which (according to numerous parent reviews in the stores) they really do start to use in many cases.
In the stores the app has quite a few one star reviews from people that have had problems with it freezing or crashing, I’ve also had occasional issues with this, but it’s not so disruptive as to earn it a bad review from me. The engagement the app produces along with the value of the content far outweigh this minor issue.
As well as the children’s content, the app also contains a section of simple advice for parents whose children struggle to control their temper (also complete with illustrative muppets clips – you know they’re not just for the kids). You can also customise one of the apps scenes by recording your own “encouraging phrases” to help the monster in the story to think of a solution.
Overall, I was impressed, especially given that it’s a free app it’s a worthwhile addition to your toddler toolkit, especially if temper is something your small ones struggle with. Here are the links for App store and Play store.
