Butterflies are one of nature’s most colorful, delicate, and beautiful creatures. And kids are fascinated by them! You can even buy kits that let kids keep their own caterpillars and watch them turn into cocoons and butterflies (which they then set free). And now your kids can color and design butterfly wings with Paint Me a Butterfly, a new app for iPad and iPhone (played on iPad for this review).

The paint tools are simple to use. Just pick a color and ‘brush’ size and use your finger to draw on the butterfly’s wings. It’ll automatically paint the other side of the butterfly’s wings, too, so everything stays symmetrical. You can also erase, choose the color of the wings’ border, or use a water tool to blend the colors together for a smoother contrast between different hues.

When you are finished, you can save your creation in a garden which has bunches of butterflies for you to paint and edit. You can also email and print out your designs for use in crafts and other activities. Finally, you can post them to a gallery where you can show off your butterflies online, view others’ creations, and rate them. But you need to be connected online to use that feature.

The graphics are really nice, and very crisp and clear. It’s neat to see your butterfly designs flutter about. Only problem I had with the game is the menu interface is a bit confusing. It took me a little while to figure out how to get from the paint screen to the garden and then the gallery and back again. But otherwise it’s a neat little coloring activity for kids.

Kid Factor:

Reading skill isn’t needed to play, but because of the lack of instructions (text or spoken), some youngsters may need a little help figuring out what to do. And the game may not hold their attention for very long unless they REALLY like butterflies and coloring. But most kids usually do.

Tags: Game Reviews