Goodnight Caillou - Budge Studios

This review of Goodnight Caillou was completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 9 December 2015.

About the app

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

ACCM review

This review of Goodnight Caillou 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

This app was reviewed to completion.

App description

Goodnight Caillou is an educational mini-game app based around the activity of going to bed. The objective of the app is to work through various bedtime activities, such as eating dinner and brushing Caillou’s teeth, and eventually get him ready for bed. The skills required to use the app are predominantly motor skills and basic identification and listening skills.

Reviewers comments

The app begins with a short animated video of a young boy named Caillou – he speaks of how his parents have made his bedtime activities ‘lots of fun’, and how he wishes to help players have a similar experience. After the phone suggests that players enable their microphone to enjoy the full experience of the game, players are taken to a main menu screen. This contains a large Play icon in the centre, as well as a settings icon in the top left-hand corner (which offers control over things such as music, sound effects, voice overs, etc).

There is additionally an icon that encourages players to purchase the Full Version of the app (this costs $7.34, and Caillou speaks about how there are many other activities available to help get ready for bedtime, and to ‘ask a grown up for help’). Furthermore, there is an icon to browse other apps by the same developer – this involves viewing a small icon advertisement of the app, and clicking on the Install button to be taken to the Google Play Store. All of the apps are free, and include games such as ‘Caillou Check Up’, ‘Caillou House of Puzzles’, ‘Chuggington: Kids Train Game’, etc.

After clicking the Play icon, players are taken a screen with four activities: a picture of a bathroom with a toothbrush, a kitchen with a pizza, a bedroom with a picture of a sheep, and a playroom with an image of a book. Players can then choose to play through each of these pre-bedtime activities.

For the bathroom activity, players are presented with an image of Caillou as he is holding his hands up. The voiceover then dictates that players must slide a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste into his hands. After this, players are shown a close-up image of a toothbrush, with a stencil outline for the toothpaste section – players are told to ‘rub their finger where the toothpaste should go’. After this, players must use their finger to move the toothbrush up and down over Caillou’s teeth in order to brush them. As the brush goes over his teeth, players can see bits of plaque and dirt being removed. Players then must rinse Caillou’s teeth by tapping on the water cup on the sink.

For the dinner activity, players are presented with a plate of salad and cutlery on the side. They are told to tap the meal to eat it.  Each time they tap, a bite is taken out of the food.  Players must continue to tap various places on the plate until all the food is gone. The same must be done for a whole plate of pizza, as well as two large slices of watermelon.

For the playroom activity, players are presented with a storybook cover that has a puzzle stencil on it, as well as puzzle pieces positioned around the book. Players must then slide individual puzzle pieces onto the storybook cover.

For the bedroom activity, Caillou begins to think about a paddock with animals in order to fall asleep. There are sheep, birds and rabbits, and players must tap on the sheep they see in order to help Caillou ‘count sheep’. They must get to ten sheep before Caillou falls asleep.

After this, players are shown a brief animation where Caillou says ‘Now that our bedtime routine is done, we’re ready for sleeping’. Players are then presented with a large gold star, and are told to speak aloud to make a wish on the star – their voice is then recorded, and this is captured within one of the gold stars on the home page. Any of the seven stars can then be clicked on, and players can hear their wish back to them.

In App purchasing

There is an icon that encourages players to purchase the Full Version of the app (this costs $7.34, and Caillou speaks about how there are many other activities available to help get ready for bedtime, and to ‘ask a grown up for help’).

Online information

N/A.

Gambling

No gambling content found during the review of this app.

Advertising and product placement

There is an icon to browse other apps by the same developer – this involves viewing a small icon advertisement of the app, and clicking on the Install button to be taken to the Google Play Store. All of the apps are free, and include games such as ‘Caillou Check Up’, ‘Caillou House of Puzzles’, ‘Chuggington: Kids Train Game’, etc.

Gender stereotypes and sexual references

N/A.

Coarse language

N/A.

Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents

There was no game playing behaviour which may be of concern to parent discovered during this review.

Other

N/A.

Got a suggestion?

You can contact us if you have suggestions of other children's apps to review.