As the TinyHands Raccoon Treehouse app (TinyHands, 2013) opens, you're greeted by a raccoon, gently bobbing in the air, balloons attached to his suspenders.

Hit the “play” button and you’re brought down to the base of a tree (past tunnels and living quarters burrowed into the trunk) where there are a number of games to choose from: "Sorting," "Build," and "Pairing," to name a few.



Tap to play and you can sort fruits by color with a color-coordinated farmer raccoon, build toys with a curly-haired baby raccoon, or pair clothes with a pig-tailed mama raccoon.



A large hand appears at the very beginning to show you how exactly to play the game, then the rest is up to you (if too much time goes by without your making a choice, the hand will reappear to, well, lend a hand).

Every time you choose correctly, a cheerful “sparkly” kind of noise plays and tiny white stars glimmer around your genius choice (if chosen incorrectly, a very friendly boing noise plays and the item returns to where it was). Upon completion of the game, forest-type flora appears around the edges of the screen and a celebrating animal pops drops down on a vine to display its happiness at your win.

With pleasing sounds and friendly graphics — featuring bright, bold, big-eyed animals who look really happy to play — this is an incredibly approachable (if not very engrossing) app to teach simple matching and sorting skills.

Available for iPad (requires iOS 5.1 or later); $3.99 for full version, free for four-game "lite" version. Recommended for preschool users.