Awhile back I wrote a review on Peekaboo Barn, exclaiming how cute and clever it was, piquing a child’s imagination to see what was behind those barn doors, making whinnying noises, or cock-a-doodle-doos. I enjoyed the app so immensely I included it in the article 6 Apps That Make Mom’s Life Easier, because the app served well as an entertaining distraction while mom was busy cleaning up all those toys little Ophelia left on the wayside in favor of mommy’s iPhone. In Night & Day Studio’s latest incarnation, they take the same concept away from the barnyard and into the wild.

A lion!

Peekaboo Wild had plenty of exotic animals to tickle your kid’s fancy, from lions and crocodiles to giraffes, hyenas, and my personal favorite, the baboon. The app takes place on the arid plains of Africa, with gently billowing yellow grasses, dried from the blazing orange and yellow sun overhead, and a lone acacia tree gently swaying in the background. The artwork is, once again, beautiful and slightly abstract, with a modernized feel despite the commercial application. Just as with Peekaboo Barn, you may opt for the narrated voice to be in either English or Spanish, and the voice, once again, comes from a cheery bubbly little girl. One by one, animals appear behind the rustling grass, making the noises for which they are known, the animal revealing itself once the grass is tapped. It’s an interesting experiment in animal call recognition – most kids in this

The hippopotamus

country are very familiar with dogs barking, cats meowing, and sheep baaing, but what about a cheetah’s yell? A hyena’s laugh? Or a baboon’s general monkeying around? It’s a good way for kids to become familiar with these other, more exotic but still commonplace animals.

Once the grass is tapped, the animal making a hullabaloo behind the wheaten field is revealed – a short animation of the animal roaring or sqwaking is done, and then the girl’s voice rings out, “ostrich!” in a happy, upbeat voice, along with the written name. And, just as in Peekaboo Barn, in Peekaboo Wild the animals are shown all together, in an entourage shot of wild beasts, once the user finishes cycling through all the animals. At the close of the app, the prairie settles to dusk, a soft red glow just along the horizon, and all the wild beasts wild no longer, sleeping together in a docile turn of events. It’s a sweet ending for any wild thing.

Goodnight.