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Teacher Review for Toca Hair Salon 2

Fun, interactive app that encourages creative hair salon play.

Margaret A P.
 Director of STEAM Innovation
The Agnes Irwin School
Rosemont, United States
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My Subjects English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Arts
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My Rating
Learning Scores
Engagement
Pedagogy
Support
My Students Liked It Yes
My Students Learned Yes
I Would Recommend It Yes
Setup Time Less than 5 minutes
Great for Creation
Individual
Knowledge gain
Practice
Small group
Great with ELL
General
Low literacy
How I Use It
I have used this app with Pre-K and Kindergarten students during centers or choice time. The students enjoyed experimenting with the different tools and it was a great discussion-starter to talk about everything from hair styles and professions (e.g., hair stylists) to diversity and accepting people's different styles. The children really enjoyed the ability to take a picture of their character when they were finished styling and revisit it later or use it in their journals.
My Take
This app is another great Toca Boca creation that encourages young children to experiment and practice their new skills. There are numerous options (e.g., scissors, re-grow gel, hair dye) that students can choose to play with as they cut, re-grow, and decorate their character's hair but they are presented in small, manageable groups. One of the things I really appreciate about the app is the fact that it's intuitive and allows for exploration. Children (and adults) don't need instructions or even any literacy skills to use the app. The app also allows for a nice mix of realistic and creative play since there are a variety of characters and children can use real tools to style hair to look like their own or embellish a hair style by adding colors and different hair lengths.