My kids love Dr. Panda Apps and we have reviewed so many of them here at The iMums. I thought it would be great to put them all in one post so you can easily find the reviews and links to the apps! Apps range from cooking, to chores/cleaning, role playing and more. I love the amount of replay these apps get even years after I bought them and loaded them on our devices. Dr. Panda started making apps in 2012, originally under the name Tribeplay. They are based in China and California, and you can learn more about them here. We recently updated our review of Dr. Panda Town and are currently running a giveaway. Those that share this post in addition to commenting get 5 entries!
Dr. Panda Town by Dr. Panda Ltd is the first free app with in-app purchases or IAP offered by Dr. Panda games. Dr. Panda was founded in 2012 and has a number of apps available for iOS and Android with great open free play options. This app includes in-app purchases for a park and a supermarket as well as a home setting. For purposes of this review, I will review both the park and supermarket settings contained within the app. The app opens with Dr. Panda pulling up to the town in his yellow car. If you try to open up the park or supermarket and have not purchased them a parental lock pops up before taking you into the iTunes store which requires you to enter your year of birth. Of note, I got the app bundle on one device and had to “restore” my purchase on my second device to be able to access each of the three places. We used language to describe each of the actions which made it great for practicing language. Read the full review and enter our giveaway!
Dr. Panda Cafe
Dr. Panda Cafe from Dr. Panda Games is a new universal app for iOS which has your child making food and drinks in a cafe setting. As you gain more customers, you have to balance time management, taking orders and making them as well as cleaning up. As you serve more customers, you earn new recipes and foods to give to the customers. To play the app, first you seat the customer at a table – if the table is empty you can put the customer at it. Once they are seated, you take their order and go back behind the counter as Dr. Panda to work on the order. Items are broken into categories, and you tap on the correct category to make or brew the item. Once you have made all of the items in the order, it’s time to serve it to the customers. You can take orders from multiple customers at once, and make food the same way although it can bet a bit confusing! Among the food choices, coffee/tea, cakes, pizza and as you get to know your customers better you can try to imagine what they might order in advance. It was important to pay attention to the customers in order to keep them happy which in turn unlocked items after you earned stars and gave you more food and drinks to serve. Read our full review
Dr. Panda’s Restaurant by Dr. Panda features interactive mini-games which include seating a variety of animals (patrons) and cooking a dish that they have in mind. Activities’ practiced in the app include fine motor via chopping a variety of foods, peeling, sautéing in a frying pan, pinching and squeezing for making of juice, toasting and preparing bread along with cooking a variety of foods. There are a variety of different dishes in rotation to be prepared and served to the various animals including soups, decorating cookies, making apple pie, a variety of fruit drinks and his personal favorite pizza. This app could also be used in speech therapy to describe each of the items as they are prepared and sequencing of them. This app was fun in that it was two restaurants’ in one, with one downstairs serving American theme and the upstairs decorated in more of a Chinese theme. It would be great if the foods matched the décor on each of the floors. The mini-recycling game was a nice way to remind my son what went into each bin and helped us practice our recycling skills at home. We also enjoyed touching a variety of objects within the dining room to turn on and off the lights, touching the spider and interacting with the plates after the meals were finished. My son enjoyed making cookies and making the soups best because they required precision in chopping and fine motor practice. Read the full review.
Dr. Panda Restaurant 2
Dr. Panda Restaurant 2 by Dr. Panda is a universal app for iOS that puts your little chef in a tropical kitchen and allows them to make food to delight their patrons. The app includes more than 20 ingredients including fish, eggs, peppers, tomatoes, three types of pasta, seasonings and more. You can boil, bake, fry and cop ingredients to make the perfect dish for your patrons who arrive in parties of two via a water taxi and place their orders. As you are making the item, the guest will stand at the window while you pick out the ingredients and make faces depending on what they want on their meal. Each dish allows you to put different toppings to satisfy their taste. The app includes a traditional diet as well as a switch for a vegetarian diet. The app practices attention to detail, fine motor required for chopping, slicing and laying out the ingredients as well as making sure the customers are getting the food that they want. In addition children follow recipes step by step which include making the pasta, pouring it into the colander, putting it on the plate and then making a sauce. Other tasks include rolling out the pizza dough before adding additional ingredients. Read our full review.
Dr. Panda Train
Dr. Panda Train, all Aboard this app from Dr. Panda Games this time with a train theme! In this fun themed train app your kids serve as conductor and they drive the train and tour one of three landscapes which includes jungle, desert and a beautiful countryside scene. Within the app, your child can drive the train either from a first person perspective inside the cab or from a distance. They also can stop and visit the passengers to give them food, snacks, reading material and more. My son even found some great tech to give the passengers. Shovel on some coal to stoke the fire and make the train go faster to it’s next destination or simply blow the horn as the countryside goes by. I liked that my kids could take turns playing with the app or putting passengers on and handing out items to them. As you complete more of the game you earn extra items to give to the passengers – my kids favorites were of course the tech! Read the full review
Dr. Panda Daycare
Dr. Panda’s Daycare by Dr. Panda features Dr. Panda in a daycare setting where your child is in a virtual playhouse with five baby animals. The animals have a playroom where they can rock on a rocking horse, bounce on a ball or play with a train. In the kitchen they can pretend to have a birthday party, have breakfast or lunch and cook foods. Upstairs there is a stage and instruments for them to play with and a naptime room. There is also a backyard where kids can play with a slide, bouncy pit or pool. The app encourages creative play and helps children understand that their choices can determine how the animals will play. It is best suited for late toddlers and preschoolers who will enjoy the setting while finding new toys to play with and switches to turn on and off. Read the full review.
Dr. Panda Airport
Dr. Panda Airport by Dr. Panda is set at an airport adventure featuring ten activities including: going through security, checking in at the desk, driving the luggage cart, getting your bags via baggage claim, controlling airspace via the control tower, counting money for a payphone and making a phone call, stamping tickets, cleaning the airplane. loading the flight with luggage and going to lost and found. The app is designed for children in preschool and older through elementary school. It practices skills such as fine motor, sorting, counting, finding a specific object, expressive language. shape recognition and matching, and more. The four main characters in the app are a monkey, elephant, raccoon and a hippopotamus who are all attired in different types of vacation clothing. Read our full review
Dr. Panda Bus Driver
Dr. Panda Bus Driver by Dr. Panda has Dr. Panda is driving a bus around either a city, countryside, harbor or a variety of other locations picking up and dropping off his passengers, painting the bus, refilling the gas tank and more! Much like a traditional bus, you have to stop to let passengers and other vehicles go by, stop for trains that will pass as well as clean up the bus after your “route” has been completed. This app is designed for preschoolers through early elementary school similar to other Dr. Panda apps and will provide hours of open ended play for them that uses fine motor skills both from seating passengers and driving the bus either with your finger or by gently moving your device to steer it from side to side to ensure it stays in the road. The scenery within the app changes each time you launch it – and can range a harbor complete with a drawbridge, railroad crossings, tunnels, birds in the road to a countryside. Dr. Panda must deliver his animal friends safely to their destination while ensuring they are sitting down on the bus and watching out for obstructions. When an obstruction comes up – a warning “light” comes up inside the bus so you can touch it to stop for it and allow the drawbridge to go up and down, passengers to cross the road as well as watching out for birds and other wildlife that might be on the road. Read our full review
Dr. Panda Handyman
Dr. Panda Handyman by Dr. Panda Games is the latest universal app for iOS featuring Dr. Panda as he fixes of household objects that seem to have mysteriously broken through 14 mini games. The app is designed for toddlers, preschoolers and elementary school children. The app is a great one for children to practice fine motor skills as well as naming and finding objects and tools. One of our favorite features of the app was fixing all the different objects around the house and the realistic sounds of the tools as they worked. We loved that the tasks varied so you were not always doing the same task over and over again. My son also loved giving high fives to Dr Panda for a job well done! The three dimensional graphics in the app were animated and we saw familiar characters from the other Dr Panda apps and were very engaging for our testers. Read our full review.
Dr. Panda Home
Dr. Panda’s Home by Dr. Panda is a universal app for iOS and allows your children to do chores in Dr. Panda’s House while earning an allowance for completing them. The app is done in 3D and has over 20 mini games and activities to complete. Your child is assigned a list of three chores which are checked off on a list as they are completed and then after they are completed, are awarded five coins for their piggy bank. Your child can either spend the coins on small toys or save them to get bigger toys for the toy shelf. The app is kid friendly and brings all of Dr. Panda’s animal friends to life while they help you do daily chores like emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the toilet and bathroom sink, sorting and doing a load of laundry, mowing the lawn, washing the windows and more. The app also helps with step by step directions, sequencing, following a task to completion as well as fine motor skills. Read the full review
Dr. Panda Hospital
Dr. Panda’s Hospital by Dr. Panda Games is a universal app which features eight different animals that your child will take to their hospital beds, discover and treat their health problems. The app features ten mini-games which include: treating an upset stomach, treating chicken pox, giving an injection, treating eyes, ears, mouth/teeth as well as retrieving mistakenly swallowed items. TribePlay was founded in 2008 and creates educational games for the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android and is based in Chengdu, Western China. Dr. Panda and TribePlay are certified by the kidSAFE® Seal Program which certifies child-friendly websites and applications including kid-targeted game sites, web-connected devices and other products. This app helps practice fine motor, sequencing, speech and discussion skills as well as creative/dramatic play. This app provides a great rendition of an animal hospital for children to interact with and treat all of the various animals. Read the full review.
Dr. Panda Racers
Dr. Panda Racers by Dr. Panda LTD features a racing theme that lets you build your own cars and track including jumps and tricks, washing your vehicle, competing against other Dr. Panda characters and more! As you successfully complete the races – in first place you earn prizes which include race car parts, spray paints, and trophies. The tracks can either be concrete, dirt or sand and you choose them prior to racing at the event. To play the app you either choose or build your car, choose or build your track and then head to the pits for a wash before going out to the track for the race. At the starting line you are prompted to buckle your seat belt and then it’s on to the race and fun stunts! The track is controlled using a toggle which allows you to go 5 or 10 – and then the stunts require stopping to complete a tracing task. Read our full review
Dr. Panda Firefighters
Dr. Panda Firefighters is a universal app for iOS that lets your child fight fires, drive a fire truck, clear obstacles, explore over 30 rooms and more. This app is designed for toddler age and up and features Dr. Panda and his friends as they drive the firetruck to the scene of the fire, turn on the water and look around for flames to extinguish. It reminded me very much of playing fire engines as a kid, except Dr Panda was able to physically make the rooms rather than me having to imagine them. The app is great for toddler and preschoolers especially. It can be used to practice following directions, expressive language to narrate what they are doing and following along with the animals to rescue them. There is also cause and effect of fighting the fire, handing over the tools and moving on to the next level. Read our full review
Dr. Panda Toy Cars Free
Dr. Panda’s Toy Cars by Dr. Panda allows your children to role-play and use their imaginations in two cities with a variety of vehicles ranging from a fire truck, boat, police car, ambulance, cargo truck, regular cars and more. The app allows you to “drive” with your finger, turn on and off sirens, put out fires, put up and down barriers for the railroad crossing and more. The app is designed for children from toddler through preschool although my elementary aged student really enjoyed the activities contained within the app. My son loved that two of us (or more) could play with the app at the same time as you can drive multiple vehicles simultaneously.
Dr. Panda Space
Dr. Panda in Space is a universal app for iOS, Amazon appstore and Android which allows you to customize your own space ship and blast off and have open ended discovery in space of planets, asteroids, activities such as fixing your space ship, free play in zero gravity and more. This app is aimed at preschool and early grade school aged children with lots of great free play opportunities for the younger children during the exploration phase. The app begins with a customization of your spaceship where you then blast off into space and begin your exploration. Read our full review.
Dr. Panda Mailman
Dr. Panda’s Mailman is a universal app for iOS that features the post office! This app features the ability to make and address your own postcards, pick a gift to package up for delivery including wrapping and delivery. The app features a variety of animals, including a pig, the turtle (Toto) we saw in Toto’s Treehouse, a monkey, elephant, sheep, hippo, cat, raccoon, elephant and more for a total of 12 animals! After designing your package, Dr. Panda is off on an adventure to deliver your mail. The stamp on the package or postcard helps him know where to deliver it and it’s placed into Dr. Panda’s scooter to deliver it. The world includes rivers, forests, mountains and houses along with jumps, roads, road signs and more! This app is best suited for preschoolers and early elementary aged children. Skills practiced can include language, motor skills in coloring and driving the scooter, listening to directions. Read our full review.
Dr. Panda Swimming Pool
Dr. Panda’s Swimming Pool by Dr. Panda is a universal app designed for iOS that has the animals in a variety of aquatic settings at a pool. You can dress in a variety of bathing suits in the locker room while taking a shower and getting ready for the pool, diving off a pirate ship, playing in a sandbox, going down a water slide or playing in a small wading pool with a variety of lunch items available. This app is aimed at toddlers and preschoolers. Skills practiced include language both receptive and expressive, and some fine motor skills. I liked that the app had four different play areas similar to a traditional beach. The graphics were crisp and they showcased especially well with the animations. Read our full review.
Dr. Panda’s Ice Cream Truck
Dr. Panda Ice Cream Truck by Dr. Panda has you making your own ice cream using a variety of colors, mix-in’s such as fruit while whipping it up in a blender to make your favorite combinations. Once your ice cream is created you then add your toppings like squeeze on caramel or rainbow, sprinkles which include chocolate curls, and traditional sprinkles as well as the ability to top it with candy. After finishing the ice cream you tap on a bell and you help the character eat it before paying for the ice cream sundae. The payment for each sundae depends on the size, complexity and amount of toppings used. I have seen cones range from four to 31 coins depending on how you put it together. Read the full review
Dr. Panda Supermarket
Dr. Panda Supermarket by Dr. Panda is a universal app for iOS which features Dr. Panda in the supermarket along with many of his friends we have seen in previous apps including the most recent Dr. Panda Daycare. Dr. Panda is based in Chengdu, China where the national animal is a giant panda! The app features the animals as they go grocery shopping and a variety of ten themed mini games which vary from shopping using a list, organizing differently shaped boxes, cleaning up spills and more with six different animals and their children. The app practices fine motor, critical thinking and creative play skills. It does not contain any language either written or spoken which means it will appeal to toddlers to early preschool age children. Read the full review
Dr. Panda’s Veggie Garden by Dr. Panda allows your child to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables for their customers who are comprised of a variety of animals we have met in previous Dr. Panda games. The app allows you to plow, plant, water, harvest and of course take care of any insect infestations or critters from harming your crops. This universal app features sequencing, fine motor, visual skills as well as language to name objects within the app. The app features a variety of different “steps” which include: digging, planting seeds, watering and harvesting for five animal customers using 12 different fruits and vegetables including corn, wheat, strawberries and apples to name a few. In addition, there are two bonus mini games which help your child organize the tool shed. Read our full review.
Dr. Panda Beauty Salon
Dr Panda Beauty Salon by Dr Panda Games allows your child to immerse themselves into a spa experience where they pamper the pets and do a bunch of great mini games. The app allows for open ended creative play and has some great hidden elements within to unlock. This universal app had wide appeal with our testers, both boys and girls who enjoyed playing with the virtual spa. The app features 13 mini games along with three floors of fun! My son even enjoyed tapping on the pictures on the walls, finding the hidden nail polish which means your next client automatically gets nail polish and a pedicure as well as the smaller features like the vibrating chairs, magazines and variety of tasks needed to play the app. The waiting room was fun as the customers entered – similar to other Dr. Panda apps and we loved listening to the music, reading magazines and sipping tea. Read our full review.
Dr. Panda Cafe
Dr. Panda Cafe from Dr. Panda Games is a new universal app for iOS which has your child making food and drinks in a cafe setting. As you gain more customers, you have to balance time management, taking orders and making them as well as cleaning up. As you serve more customers, you earn new recipes and foods to give to the customers. To play the app, first you seat the customer at a table – if the table is empty you can put the customer at it. Once they are seated, you take their order and go back behind the counter as Dr. Panda to work on the order. Items are broken into categories, and you tap on the correct category to make or brew the item. Once you have made all of the items in the order, it’s time to serve it to the customers. You can take orders from multiple customers at once, and make food the same way although it can bet a bit confusing! Among the food choices, coffee/tea, cakes, pizza and as you get to know your customers better you can try to imagine what they might order in advance. It was important to pay attention to the customers in order to keep them happy which in turn unlocked items after you earned stars and gave you more food and drinks to serve. Read our full review
Dr. Panda Art Class
Art Class with Dr. Panda takes kid-art to a whole new level of enjoyment and allows your children to make one of six different art projects with their favorite animals from the Dr. Panda series. The activities include: making a kite, cutting to make a design, making a pinwheel, making pottery, making a bead design and decorating an object with shapes. Skills practiced in the app include: fine motor, creative thinking, sequential thinking, creative play and of course FUN! He loved shaping the pottery on the pottery wheel, watching it get fired in the kiln and the painting it with the rainbow colored paintbrush. I also loved that the art book hanging on the wall allows your child to choose an activity (from the ones available in the app) as well as choosing an animal at the table. We had fun with all of the activities in the app – and also really enjoyed the cutting one which required you to fold a piece of paper in a specific way and then make cuts with scissors prior to unfolding it to see your design. Read our full review.
Dr. Panda Hoopa City 2
Hoopa City 2 by Dr. Panda Games is the newest app in the collection, this app is universal and features a building theme which encourages speech, creative play and role playing depending on the activity in the city. The app appeals to kids from preschool through elementary school, and I found myself even enjoying playing with one of my son’s cities. My son really liked all the content in the app. He enjoyed putting people in the buildings, role playing and switching from day to night. He liked building his own characters as he progressed within the app. As a mom, I liked the amount of content that was offered and the variety of options for building, playing or simply interacting with the city. The 3D graphics are beautiful and my son enjoyed experimenting to create the different buildings and testing out combinations to see what bigger and better buildings he could make. Read our full review
This post was originally posted at The iMums in August 2017.