Elmer’s Photo Patchwork - StoryToys Entertainment Limited

This review of Elmer’s Photo Patchwork was completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 26 July 2018.

About the app

This section contains details about the app provided by an ACCM Reviewer.

ACCM review

This review of Elmer’s Photo Patchwork contains the following information:

• The level to which the game was reviewed
• App description
• Reviewers comments
• In App purchasing
• Online information
• Gambling
• Advertising and product placement
• Gender stereotypes and sexual references
• Coarse language
• Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents
• Other

The level to which the game was reviewed

All available features were considered in this review.

App description

The player chooses one of ten elephant motives by scrolling through the elephant parade on the start page where they can also change the background scene. They then tap on the elephant and pick from four different patchwork patterns, such as gridlines, hearts, circles, puzzle pieces etc. Tapping on a patchwork piece activates the device's camera, and the drawing gets filled piece by piece. The player can search their online environment for interesting colours, shapes, and patterns. Each piece can be filled again and again, and the player can wash the elephant clean and start all over again. The completed patchwork artwork can be saved to the device's camera roll.

Reviewers comments

There are brief written instructions that parents can use to help young children when first setting up the app - after that the app can be used intuitively. The app encourages children to observe and engage with their environment, searching for appealing, interesting artwork for their collage. Creativity and personal input are restricted to taking snapshots within the given frameworks as there are no drawing tools or the option to use existing images from the device's photo library.

There is a parent zone which is accessible through the start page and protected by a written task to hold one of three depicted symbols. It contains a note to parents with patchwork ideas, as well as a link to Elmer's Shop which directs parents to the publishers' website offering Elmer books and e-books.

In App purchasing

N/A.

Online information

The parent zone contains an invitation to like Elmer on Facebook - clicking on the link leads to a website that requires creating or logging into an existing Facebook account.

Gambling

At the time of review, the reviewer found no simulated gambling content in the game itself but pop-up ads for other apps with gambling content.

Advertising and product placement

The parent zone features Elmer's Shop promoting books and e-books from the Elmer series. Clicking on a product redirects the user to the publisher's website.

Gender stereotypes and sexual references

None.

Coarse language

None.

Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents

None.

Other

N/A.

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