There is an important birthday coming up next month…

Someone I really like a lot is going to be reaching the grand old age of 58.

Can you guess who it is?

It’s MIFFY!

Sweet little Miffy, Dick Bruna’s creation, has been around for nearly sixty years – isn’t that incredible? It brings me no end of joy that the same simple, brightly coloured books that I loved as a little girl were also enjoyed by my Mum before me, and are now being enjoyed by DorkySon too.

We were delighted, then, when we were asked to help celebrate Miffy’s Big Birthday by reviewing the Miffy at School iPad App.

School is on DorkySon’s mind a lot at the moment, as he and most of his nursery friends are due to start after the summer, so we have been making the effort to read a lot of books about it. The Miffy at School App has provided another great opportunity to talk about starting school in a positive way, and to try and reassure DorkySon that it will be a fun and exciting experience rather than a scary one.

The App consists of three games – building with blocks, a memory game, and creating your own e-card – and an interactive book. There is the option to record your own (or your child’s) voices reading the story.

DorkySon’s favourite part was the interactive book. He would listen to the narrator read the story on each page, before moving onto the activities which included tracing a path for Miffy to take to school, counting with an abacus, drawing a picture, and shape recognition using bricks. All the activities were instinctive and he could do them without my help.

Of the three games, he most enjoyed the memory game, which involved tapping cards to turn them over and trying to match up pairs. The make your own e-card option was fun, but as we have removed email from the iPad that DorkySon uses, it would be nice if there was an option to just save the card that you’ve made rather than having to send it right away. We ended up taking a screenshot because he wanted to keep his creation to look at later.

Overall I’d say this is an App worth buying for a toddler or pre-schooler, especially if your children are already fans of Miffy, or if you’re looking for an opportunity to talk about school in a fun way. There is enough to keep them occupied for a good amount of time, and to make this an app that they will return to again and again.

The Miffy at School iPad App costs £2.99 and can be bought in the App Store.

You can also say hello to Miffy on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: I was gifted a copy of the Miffy at School app for the purposes of this review. I received no other payment, and all views are my own.