Version 2 is the biggest update yet. Every game has been rebuilt as its own painted little world, with things that move and breathe: butterflies and birds, rippling water, a Ferris wheel that turns, planks that float on the river. Bobo the owl asks each question out loud and plays along. New games teach position words, opposites, more and less, dressing for the weather, telling the time, and many more. Everything has been laid out again for iPad, so the big screen is used properly. The app now opens straight onto its own colors, with no flash on launch.

Bobo the owl now plays along in every game: he asks each question, cheers a right answer, gives a kind nudge after a wrong one, and points the way when a little one is stuck. Games have new painted scenes and a proper finish with stars, and they now grow level by level instead of repeating the same round. Most spoken lines are now a recorded narrator. New and bigger: Rhyme Time with 39 sung nursery rhymes acted out on screen, Everyday Adventures (20 read-aloud stories about days out with Mom and Dad), 59 folk tales, and a Coloring Book with all 360 pages on one shelf. Grown-ups get a Downloads page in the parent area showing what has arrived and what is still on its way. The first download stays small; stories, songs and coloring pages arrive on their own after installing.

A tidier grown-ups area, a calmer welcome, clearer weekly reports for parents, and small polish throughout. Happy playing!