(Review) Paddington Bear's Adventures iPad game app

One of the things I enjoy as a mum, is introducing my children to toys and characters that I watched, read about or played with when I was a child.  One of these is Paddington Bear.  Dexter received a cuddly Paddington and a book filled with stories about the lovable bear's adventures as a Christening present last year.  He has enjoyed hearing about how Paddington ended up living with the Browns ever since.

It's amazing to think that Paddington Bear is around 55-years-old and been entertaining children for over half a century.  And it appears his popularity isn't about to fade away any time soon - he's now starring in his very own computer game.

Designed for the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, Paddington Bear's Adventures is officially licensed and is Paddington's first foray into the world of computer gaming technology (I think.  It's definitely his first ever game on Apple Inc. technology at any rate).  Aimed at pre-school children, it includes six mini-games and three different difficulty levels to ensure children are kept interested and challenged.  The games are:

• Paddington Goes Sightseeing.  A spot the difference game featuring some of London's most famous landmarks.
• Paddington Goes Home.  This involves completing jigsaws of famous buildings like Paddington Station, Buckingham Palace and the Browns' home.
• Paddington Tidies Up.  Place items into Paddington's suitcase in the correct order to close the case.
• Paddington Helps Out.  This is an observation skills game that involves placing items in the correct place.
• Making Marmalade.  Follow Aunt Lucy's recipe to make some delicious marmalade.
• Paddington Dresses Up.  This mini-game is just for fun. Dress Paddington up in different costumes (the pieces of which you collect when you complete the other games), then take a picture and save the image.

The game also has a 'scrapbook' feature.  This is where your pictures of Paddington will be saved and you can also create fun sticker scenes.

There are three different 'profiles' you can set when you play Paddington Bear's Adventures and you get to choose a character from the Paddington Bear stories.  Your progress is saved to whichever profile you are playing as, which means you can have three different people playing the game at different stages.   This feature is especially handy when you more than one child - my two like creating their own sticker scenes for instance.

This game has proven to be a big hit with both of my children.  Sophia enjoys the fact that there isn't just one difficulty level; while her brother gives it a go on the 'easy' setting, she sets her difficulty level to 'hard'.  It certainly gives the game more longevity.  Sophia likes all of the games, but particularly the 'Goes Home' and 'Tidies Up' ones.

As for Dexter, this is his favourite iPad game at the moment.  He loves nothing more than swiping the iPad from under mine or my husband's nose and making marmalade with Paddington Bear's Adventures.

The Paddington Bear's Adventures game app costs £2.99 to download from the App store.  It has been developed by Daredevil Development and published by Boiled Frog Gaming.

Please note: I was given a copy of Paddington Bear's Adventures for my iPad free of charge for the purposes of this review.  All opinions, as always, are 100% honest.