In the world of iPad apps for kids there are a few developers that stand above the rest. Toca Boca is one of those developers. For a while now they’ve been releasing apps for kids that take real-world play and turn it into digital form. The apps are always easy to use, fun, and different from other applications for children.

Their latest release, Toca Band, is more of the same from these great people, and that’s nothing but a good thing. Think of Toca Band as Garage Band for kids. It’s a whole lot of fun, as my kids have not stopped using it, and to be honest, my wife and I have had a blast with it as well.

Toca Band takes 16 fun and crazy characters who each have their own musical ability, and let’s kids place them on a stage of sorts, to create a “band”. There are 3 sections of the stage, and each section varies the ability of the character’s volume. So if you place someone at the bottom, they’ll play softer than if they’re placed at the top. There is top spot which is a large star. This spot shoots the character up and enlarges them. By doing this the user is then in control of their musical ability. Whistling high pitch or low pitch, or playing the stringed instrument faster/higher or slower/lower, singing in to various degrees based on how the user moves a microphone. It’s all done based on the character and what the user does on the screen while they’re “the star”.

The app really takes things to a new level for musical creation for kids, by making it all sound great together. It’s really hard for someone to create a “bad” band here. Toca Boca have made all the sounds and instruments in the same key, so that no matter what, they’ll all sound great when played together.

I highly recommend anyone with young kids check it out. It’s been released today!

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