I think I’ve lost my iPad 2.  No, I didn’t leave it in a taxi or on a plane.  I haven’t misplaced it either – actually I know exactly where it is.  The problem is my 5 year old has taken control of it.  She’s got her very own folder set up with all of the iPad apps she likes, most of which come from Disney Publishing.  Her latest favorite is the Princess Dress-Up My Sticker Book.  This application, which runs on both the iPad and the iPhone/iPod Touch, allows children to hear a story and read along then dress up their favorite Disney Princess in whatever outfit and accessories they choose.  Kids can even substitute their own face in place of any of the Princesses too. When they’re done dressing a simple shake of the device clears away the clothes and they can do it all over again.

Read on for the full review.

On the opening screen the app asks you if you’d like to take a photo.  You can also choose to grab one from your device’s camera roll. This photo is used in place of the face on each of the Princesses your child dresses up.  It’s like they get to become a real Disney Princess and get to then dress themselves up (but more on that later.)

The app offers the ability to choose from 7 different Disney Princesses.  Your child we be able to select Cinderella, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Jasmine, Snow White or Tiana. At this main screen you can choose to begin reading the story associated with each Princess, jump to a specific page in each story or head right to the dress up page for each Princess.

The settings page is rather straight forward.  You can choose to have each of the stories read (narrated) or not, choose whether or not the app uses your child’s photo or not and finally you can share a finished picture via email or save it to your camera roll.

As you begin any of the seven Princesses you’ll start out with a brief story about each.  If you left the “read to me” option on a narrator will read the story aloud.  You advance to the next page or return to a previous page by using the navigational arrows at the top.  You can also leave the story and head back to the main menu by tapping the mouse ears in the lower right corner.

At the end of each story comes the dress up portion of the app.  Your child can drag different items from the left panel on the dressing area.  Using her/his finger they move the clothing or accessory items into place on the Princess.

In the larger view you’ll find dresses, shoes, flowers and other items which your child can choose to place on each Princess.

If you tap the necklace in the upper right corner you head to a zoomed in view where different items appear.  These are the accessories such as crowns, tiaras, necklaces etc.  As you can see in the screen shot below we’re now using my youngest daughter’s face instead of using Belle’s.

If you choose to use your child’s own face you’ll see it on all the screens and inserted in on all the Princess’s heads.  When your child is done and wants to start over a simple shake of the device erases or clears all of the clothing and other items off the Princess and provides a clean canvas to begin again.

When you’re child is done with his or her creation you can share it with family or friends by tapping the email button.  You can also choose to send each picture to your device’s camera roll as well.

My five year old asks to play the Princess Dress-Up My Sticker Book more than any other game on my iPad right now.  We’re huge Disney fans so I’m not at all surprised by this.  We have had some occasional issues with the app not loading.  It’ll get stuck on the splash screen but closing it out, clearing the device’s other running apps and then restarting usually solves it.  That aside though, this is a fun app that allows children to step into the world of a Princess and outfit them using their imaginations.  It gets the stamp of approval from Ava, and around here that counts for a lot.

The Princess Dress-Up My Sticker Book is available via the iTunes App Store by clicking here.

MSRP:  $3.99

PROS:  Can use child’s own face instead of Princess’s, lots of different Princesses to choose from.

CONS:  Game fails to load at times.