Toca Life World has been officially named the best app for iPhones of 2021 by Apple. But what can be so special about some simple game for children? Let’s find out!
Apple is known to publish its own list of the best App Store apps every year, and recently the company has presented its top picks for 2021. Quite interestingly, the first place is occupied by Toca Life World, a popular educational game for kids. You can easily find it on the CCPlay Toca Boca page and give it a try.
While the majority of common App Store users don’t even know about its existence, many kids and their parents (and probably a lot of teachers, too) love it wholeheartedly. If you are one of those users who do not understand what’s so great about this game, we’re going to explain that to you right now.
What is Toca Life World
Toca Life World is a well-known app for children that you can find in the Education category. Actually, it is one of the top apps there, so you definitely won’t miss it. But what’s it all about? Well, you can make your own world inside the game (hence the name) by experimenting with hundreds of decorations and costumes for your characters. Toca Life World allows you to use your imagination to the fullest, and it’s especially great for kids.
Players can make their own towns, build cozy houses and decorate them with many items, and create funny characters. There are enough parts and costumes to make those characters look like friends or parents, and that can be a lot of fun. What’s even more interesting, the avatars you make can interact with other inhabitants of the world and move between different parts of your town. For example, they can go to the city theater to find additional hats and costumes or unlock some secrets.
All in all, there are seven different areas to explore, including:
- Pom Pom Peaks — a snow-covered ski resort;
- Busy Plaza — a huge city downtown;
- Morning Meadows — a cozy countryside.
However, a bunch of locations and a handful of costumes are not enough to make a great game. Toca Life: World is more than that, because the game also has great social elements. You can record your gameplay and your voice to make elaborate stories which can be shared with others. That makes the possible combinations almost infinite, so the only thing that limits you is your own imagination.
Educational elements
Okay, you get it: the game is a lot of fun, especially for kids. But is it educational at all? The answer is: yes, but not in a traditional sense. You won’t find boring exercises or redundant math problems here, but Toca Life: World definitely helps kids develop their cognitive skills, and many teachers agree with that.
The thing is, this game allows kids to learn without noticing it while unleashing their creativity. Kids just think, invent, and experiment with different assets, modes, and items, and the result is very tangible. If you don’t know how to do something you want, just try different things until you’re successful. The app also helps kids develop their social skills by practicing telling stories and socializing with others. While ABCs and 123s are crucial, they are useless without confidence and imagination.
Safety concerns
Many parents seem to be concerned about mobile games, but Toca Life: World is totally safe. The app doesn’t have ads, and the in-app purchases can be disabled by parents. And the game is offline: there is no way some shady person would be able to message your kid. The app is used by millions of kids every day, so you don’t have to worry about it.
Regular updates
Released in 2018, Toca Life: World is still frequently updated, and the developers seem to improve the app with each update. That means the game gets even better with each passing year, so it’s not really surprising that it’s still so popular — and that even Apple recognizes how important this game remains.
