There are dozens of ‘learn to count’ apps and so it takes quite a few bells and whistles to separate one from the pack. I think a new winner has emerged.

Count the Animals! by Dutch publisher Appracadabra is exceptionally pretty and exceptionally clever. For a start, why learn to count to twenty in just English? This app also has Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovakian, Spanish, Swedish and Swiss German. Neat party trick when your three-year-old counts in Slovakian!

Count the Animals! is illustrated by Caroline Ellerbeck, a renowned Dutch illustrator. It’s visually very appealing – simple but quirky characters in a palette of coral, turquoise, plum and black combined with animals that appear and disappear as you count. Rabbits are pulled out of hats, turtles are used as stepping stones and there are butterflies to net (although I bet the first thing your kids notice are the dogs doing a wee and a poo!).

If counting in sixteen different languages doesn’t provide enough variation, know that you can also count in random order or in sequence, you can count backwards or forwards and you can make the numbers appear or disappear.

Count the Animals! is $4.49 and is available through iTunes. Okay, I’m off to refine my Swiss German (I’ve got counting to twenty in German down pat).

Want more lovely apps? Check out our previous posts.

(via Bloesem Kids)