Every child must look up at the night sky at some point and think, “I wonder what’s out there.” To quench this thirst for astral knowledge, What’s in Space? is a youngster’s introduction to planets, stars and rockets.
It’s a mix of education and entertainment and bounces along with fun, cartoony visuals as animated children guide your exploration.
You’ll find their interplanetary info divided into four sections: Travel To Space, Live In Space, The Solar System and The Sky. In each, a friendly voice reads out facts (what astronauts do, for instance, or what gravity is) and there are also games and quizzes.
The app offers 16 activities and 30 information panels. Between playtime pastimes, young minds will meet spaceship Soyuz, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova and a spinning model of the planets.
Some puzzles are tricky. You need to pay close attention if you hope to identify which constellations rise in the north versus south skies, for instance. But the activity elements are brilliantly accessible: dressing up an astronaut is a cinch, and pirate-themed helmets are actively encouraged.
A colouring section invites you to paint your own spaceship. The backgrounds contain Easter eggs: tap on the little monkey, and he’ll board a rocket and take off.
What’s in Space? is by the aptly named Learny Land, a developer also responsible for What Were Dinosaurs Like? and My First World Atlas. A deliberately uncomplicated experience, this mix of the factual and the creative is perfect for curious nippers.