Board books are a staple in every new parents’ library, even if we know that they end up mostly as chew toys. So I love that DADA Company came up with a virtual version of the board book that’s equal parts interactive story, animated illustration and digital game.

Targeted to the preschool set and a little younger, the I Learn With Transportation app covers 21 different things that go by land, sea, air and space, and offers up six different learning concepts: sounds, words, colors, shapes, numbers and environments.

Kids can easily navigate through the whole app without help thanks to simple, arrow-style page
turns, and tapping on most vehicles, from rowboats to rockets, results in bright, cheery sound effects coupled with verbal reinforcements. My three-year-old especially likes that the sounds are based on people’s imitations (an ambulance’s wee-oh sounds vocal, not mechanical), and that the graphics are bold, colorful and cartoonish.

Each time it’s launched, the story changes, giving kids a different combo of pages and challenges. Bonus: The app is bilingual (Spanish), and languages can be switched out at start up.

One bummer: Kids can leave the app by accident, since links to iTunes, Facebook and more are easily accessible. Turning off WiFi will solve that issue, but if your kids are anything like mine, attention spans don’t last all that long, and you’ll need that internet connection to switch apps soon enough. -Pilar

Download I Learn With Transportation on iTunes for iPhone and iPad for $2.99, and stay tuned for a free lite version coming soon.