HippoChomp: Toddler Game

HippoChomp is a quiet little world for a very small person. A hippo stands in a sunny field. Fruit pops up in the grass. Tap one and he waddles over, eats it in three big chomps, and does a happy hop.
That’s the whole game. There is no score, no timer, no levels, and no way to lose. Nothing ever tells your child they got it wrong, because there is no wrong.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TAP

• Tap fruit — a watermelon, pineapple, tomato or banana — and the hippo comes to eat it. Tap several and he works through them one at a time.
• Tap the hippo and he giggles.
• Tap the grass and a flower blooms. Tap the sun and it beams. Tap a cloud and it rains a little.
• Drag a finger and it leaves a trail of sparkles.
• No tap does nothing, and every finger counts — two-handed tapping and a sibling joining in both work.

THINGS THAT LIVE HERE

Butterflies drift past. A bird lands to hop about, and startles off if the hippo lumbers too close. Every minute or two a seal-point Siamese called Sushi strolls through, pauses to take it all in, and carries on. Tap him and he stops for a slow blink and a mew.
A big friendly number pops up after each fruit — 1, 2, 3 — counting the snacks in this sitting. It’s a counting moment, not a score: nothing is saved, and every launch starts again at one.

MADE TO BE HANDED OVER

• No accounts, no sign-in, no ads, no in-app purchases, no links out of the app.
• No data collected. None. The app has no networking code at all — it cannot phone home because there is nowhere to phone.
• Sound respects the silent switch and won’t interrupt music or a podcast.
• Works on iPhone and iPad, held any way up.

Tip: turn on Guided Access (Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access, then triple-click the side button) and the app is the only thing they can reach.