CTR January 2012
Note: We’ve raised our price. A one year subscription to CTR is now $30/year for 12 issues. Subscribe online for instant access.
On Tap for 2012: Another Exiting Year
Here are some specific predictions, some already starting to come true, for 2012:
• More iOS apps. Apple’s continued dominance of the children’s interactive space will carry into 2012, although Android will gain ground. But comparing an iPad with an Android tablet is like comparing Ben and Jerry’s with ice milk. See the reviews of both the Nabi (p. 11) and the Playbase (p. 13) in this issue.
• More innovation— and increased quality. Good hardware makes good software; and the tablet platform will begin to bear fruit in amazing ways. Consider X-Rays on page 14.
• More tablets with strange names. An increase in quality $200 to $250 Android options, and the Amazon Fire begins to increase.
• Increasingly sneaky ways to get your money. In-app sales, ads, and click to buy links will never go away. Every child will need to develop IASLS (in-app sales literacy skills).
• Two new platforms. Both the Wii U and the Sony Vita will debut, further expanding digital play opportunities. The Vita has two capacitive touch screens, letting you “push up” the screen from the bottom, but it is unlikely we’ll see too many children’s titles on it. Wii U brings a completely new two screen experience.
• Other goodies will include cheaper solid state hard drives and large HD screens; more Kinect titles, and fewer spinning hard drives, as solid state components improve.We’ll see a bump in innovation, as toy companies start to reinvest in R&D, smarter virtual worlds and more augmented reality. in short, this is going to be another exciting year.
As I put this issue to bed, I’m off to a very non-DAP (developmentally appropriate place) for a child—Las Vegas, Nevada, for the annual Kids @ Play conference and KAPi awards. If you’re in the vicinity of the Las Vegas Fashion Mall at 6:30 Thursday evening, please come join us for the awards ceremony, where we’ll celebrate the best interactive design from 2011.
- Know Apple's Keynote? Drop your work into #iBooks Author. I say give it to the kids — let them make their own books. http://t.co/s7Ye4QFQ #
- Calling all education publishers, Apple might make this an interesting week. #hangontight @edpress @childtech http://t.co/cwfKc3hd #
- Know Apple's Keynote? Drop your work into #iBooks Author. I say give it to the kids — let them make their own books. http://t.co/s7Ye4QFQ #
- Calling all education publishers, Apple might make this an interesting week. #hangontight @edpress @childtech http://t.co/cwfKc3hd #
- Bob Tedeschi channels his inner 13 year old and tries at K9 Safe Search #NYTimes com – http://t.co/ZZJtuzve #
- Where am I? Free 1 year sub to CTR if you can guess where this photo was taken. http://t.co/2zcHZrss #
- I disagree @gizmodo on #olpc “complaints can be brushed aside: this isn’t an iPad.” So poor kids get poor quality? http://t.co/twUCuhmM #
- Bob Tedeschi channels his inner 13 year old and tries at K9 Safe Search #NYTimes com – http://t.co/ZZJtuzve #
- Where am I? Free 1 year sub to CTR if you can guess where this photo was taken. http://t.co/2zcHZrss #
What does the inside of a seashell look like? What about an insect, a motorcycle or an iPad? Here’s an app that lets you find out. The app contrasts two images — before x-ray and after x-ray, and every possible gradation between. To move between the views, you swipe with a single finger, from top to bottom. Content includes 26 everyday objects, arranged from A to Z. A double-tap offers a stereoscopic option, or you can pinch to zoom and reveal detail. This app is based on the photography of Hugh Turvey, the Artist in Residence at the British Institute of Radiology. The accompanying text is by author Paul Rosenthal. There are different versions, one for iPad, the other for iPhone or iPod Touch. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
After you log in using the innovative interface (you see yourself rendered inside the menu, and touch what you want), you choose which of up to eight players will play in the three game modes. To play, you must shape your body to match the shapes you see on the screen. The games include Shape Frenzy (mimic the shape that appears on the screen to earn points based on how well you fill its silhouette); Twist & Fit (avoid the wall and fit your silhouette through cutouts coming at you on a moving wall, scoring points by passing through a wall without touching); Break It Down (work your way through a stack of colored blocks by assuming their form. When a shape is removed, the wall above will begin to crumble); and Spot On (Challenge up to three players or four teams of two) in a game of contortion H-O-R-S-E. Create a shape and see if your friends can match it. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Skating/surfing and SpongeBob come together in game for the Kinect (we did not test the DS version). In the game, you must move down a hill (or a river ) and steer to avoid obstacles. In the story, the friends have strayed from Bikini Bottom and landed on a beach. The game features a two player mode that lets you surf or skate side-by-side. The DS version contains a wireless multiplayer function that we did not test (ratings apply to the Xbox version), and a single player mode lets you set off on a road trip with SpongeBob and friends. Content includes 12 courses (six waterways and six seaside streets). The DS version contains 24 boarding maps and 10 unlockable snowboarding stages. Developed by Blitz for Xbox ($50) and by Sabarasa for the Nintendo DS ($30). Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This 7-inch Android tablet is designed to be of use to both kids and adults. It comes from Singapore-based Karuma, and is wrapped in a thin silicone cover for protection against drops that doubles as a flimsy kick-stand for watching movies. It is powered by a 1.2 Ghz processor with 8 GB of onboard RAM. A micro SD card provides an additional route for expansion. Slightly thinner than the Nabi, this tablet has fewer ports (there is no HTMI out). The tablet is both synced and charged through a flat micro USB port. Apps can be downloaded from standard Android stores — two come pre-installed — Soc.io and Applibs, but we found it hard to find anything child appropriate other than a free version of a St. Patrick’s Day-themed version of Angry Birds, in Chinese. Other apps, like the free Pac Man app would run, but only in a phone-sized screen orientation. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Plants HD lets you drag and drop the seven stages of a plant into the correct order: seeds-dispersal-germination-plants and trees-flowers-pollination-fruits. Features of the app include the ability to tap on a stage to learn facts about the process (all text is narrated, a nice feature) and a quiz that lets you earn points. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Helping a child understand long term temporal relationships — things like how a plant grows or how a glacier retreats — has always been a challenge for a parent, librarian or teacher. Now there’s an app for that, and it works. Featuring a very basic design, Painting With Time (called “Paint With Time” in the app store) exemplifies how you can leverage the power of a multi-touch screen to make an abstract concept — in this case time — have meaning. A gallery containing 14 pictures includes such things as A Messy Room (showing how a child’s playroom gets messy over just a few days), Growing a Beard (over 30 days), “Spring Comes to Boston” and “A Glacier Retreats.” Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Content of this two player game for Kinect and Wii includes 30 songs that feature Dora, Diego, and the Backyardigans as models. It is easy for a second player to jump into the dance, say for a mom or dad to dance along. Created by High Voltage Software, published by 2K Play for Nickelodeon Kids & Family. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This 7 inch Android powered tablet isn’t kidding around when it comes to such things as the ability to play Netflix movies, or apps like Cut the Rope. Nabi comes with a Kid Mode that gives parents what they’ve been asking for on an iPad — a parent-controlled, password-protected interface that locks a child inside a gated digital community. This means you can pick the apps, videos and sites you want your child to see, and because the app runs Flash, this can include sites like PBS kids. If you want to use the tablet to watch a movie or check your own email, you start “Mommy Mode” by entering your password. An essential part of the business model is the Nabi App Store, home to 500 pre-selected apps, games and other content, and there’s a direct pipeline to the Toysrus.com app. Fifteen apps come pre-installed, plus some ebooks and movie trailers which helps to make the out-of-the-box experience nicer. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Turn your slippery iPhone screen into a guitar fretboard with this Magic Guitar app with this follow-along style app that lets you mimic various guitar styles. You hold your phone like a guitar neck, and beams of light tell your finger where to go. A shake will bend the tone, and a swipe will give texture. The idea is to match the moving marks as closely as possible to earn points, which are recorded on a leaderboard. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
In the story, an alien spaceship crashes in the otherwise peaceful realm of Planet Pop Star, and its pieces are scattered throughout the land. You must guide Kirby to find the ship’s parts and help an alien return to its home planet. But, this time, Kirby is not alone. At any time during the game, up to three more players can join in and play as Meta Knight, King Dedede, Waddle Dee or a different color Kirby. The game features Kirby’s Copy Ability, which allows him to inhale, spit and transform as he encounters enemies. Other features include classic and new abilities including: Sword – Kirby dons a green cap and wields a sword; Beam – Kirby wears a jester hat and can shoot energy from a magic wand; Whip – Kirby wears a cowboy hat and can lasso enemies; and Leaf – Kirby is surrounded by a whirlwind of leaves. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Slightly larger than a fortune cookie, this robotic creature can “slither” on smooth surfaces, propelled by special offset wheels that give it a unique motion that is best described as “creepy.” It is the sixth of seven Hexbugs. A nose-mounted sensor can detect such things as a leg of a chair, and change directions, accordingly. It is available in five colors, and uses three LR44 button cell batteries. See the video at http://www.youtube.com/childrenstech. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Slip your iPhone or iPod Touch inside this plush holder, and download a free app called Beary Happi. The result? You can turn your iPod Touch or iPhone into a teddy bear. There are ten modes hidden behind the parent options: HappiTaps, Toddler, Nighty Night, Story Time, Sing Along, Peek-a-Boo!, Feeding Time, Rattle & Fun, Sleep and Expressions. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Transform your iPad into a zany Dr. Seuss horn, with eight buttons, arranged as a whole-tone. Content includes 10 songs, including the soundtrack from The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss’s ABC, Hop on Pop and more. There are five horn-style instruments with different voices, and fun effects, including an echo-chamber fish bowl. The GameCenter feature lets you match scores with others. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Loud Crow Interactive and Peanuts Worldwide have partnered to produced a series of digital interactive books based on the cartoon specials. The first in the series, A Charlie Brown Christmas, features narration by Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Brown, along with original scenes and dialog from the 1965 animated classic, and digitally remastered illustrations, animation, and music optimized for your smartphone or tablet. See also “My Charlie Brown Christmas Tree,” a free add on designed to give you a taste of this app; that lets you decorate your own tree. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-charlie-brown-christmas/id484320301?mt=8 Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
The Bob Books app is based on the print editions of a popular workbook series (learn more at www.bobbooks.com). The app presents a step-by-step word-building experience, where the more letters you match, the more the picture fills in. Reading Magic 1 contains twelve scenes for 32 words, presented in four levels to provide increasing challenges to children as they play. Also available is Reading Magic 2, with 12 new scenes, different animations and 50 words. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
In the nine-screen presentation, children help Bizzy Bear on the farm, picking apples (dragging and dropping from the tree to a basket), gathering eggs, feeding the pigs and rounding up the lambs into their pen. As in “The Three Little Pigs”, the narration by children is professionally done. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Each of the 12 pages in this app document Grover’s creative attempts to keep Elmo (and your child) from turning the page and getting to the end. He tries glue (you can rub it off), locks (you match colors to solve the combination) and so on. See also The Monster at the End of This Book. Created by Callaway Digital Arts for Sesame Workshop. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
- I disagree @gizmodo on #olpc "complaints can be brushed aside: this isn't an iPad." So poor kids get poor quality? Not. http://t.co/twUCuhmM #
- Save the Date: Dust or Magic AppCamp May 20-22, 2012, at Asilomar.: http://t.co/q2J44BDw #
- Wanted: Ideas for using the iPad camera for assessment and/or feedback (any brand of tablet is OK for this…: http://t.co/qjknYEmV #
- Save the Date: Dust or Magic AppCamp May 20-22, 2012, at Asilomar.: http://t.co/q2J44BDw #
- Wanted: Ideas for using the iPad camera for assessment and/or feedback (any brand of tablet is OK for this…: http://t.co/qjknYEmV #
- "An estimated 50 billion apps will be downloaded in 2012" from #CSMonitor http://t.co/UijwpbiG #
- #SCHIESEL Video Games Worth Waiting for in 2012: http://t.co/QVVhjBS6 #
- Now We Are Six – The Hormone Surge of Middle Childhood – http://t.co/B26Implb http://t.co/DdAoChux examines often overlooked dev period. #
- App Smart Extra: Top 10 New iPhone Gaming Apps for 2011 – BOB TEDESCHI http://t.co/B26Implb – http://t.co/lsOVEkI1 #
- Our annual #i80 view: white knuckle rain but at least no snow. http://t.co/zuCj2gTv #
- Xmas flight http://t.co/V5DUSJ0k #
- "An estimated 50 billion apps will be downloaded in 2012" from #CSMonitor http://t.co/UijwpbiG #
- #SCHIESEL Video Games Worth Waiting for in 2012: http://t.co/QVVhjBS6 #
- Now We Are Six – The Hormone Surge of Middle Childhood – http://t.co/B26Implb http://t.co/DdAoChux examines often overlooked dev period. #
The Quest for the Best: Announcing the 2012 KAPi Awards
Eight Products and Two Individuals Are Awarded the Kids at Play Interactive “KAPi” Award at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
Grab your fancy shoes and dim the lights. It’s time to celebrate the best of the past year in children’s interactive media.
Welcome to the 3rd Annual Kids at Play Interactive Awards, aka the KAPis; an ambitious attempt to identify and formally recognize excellence in children’s interactive media over the past 12 months. The winners will be formerly recognized on Janurary 12 at world’s largest technology gathering, the Consumer Electronic’s Show in Las Vegas.
Blagojevic, B. (2011). iPads in K-3: Notes From Maine’s Leveraging Learning Institute. Children’s Technology Review, December 2011, Vol. 19, No 12, Issue 141 p. 4-5.
Download this article as a PDF as it originally appeared in the print issue.
Please subscribe and support CTR’s work.
iPads in K-3: Notes From Maine’s Leveraging Learning Institute
By Bonnie Blagojevic
“All kids are rockets. Our job as educators is to ignite the fuse.” Tom Morrill, Former Maine Superintendent
When the Auburn, Maine schools announced last April every Kindergartener in the district would receive an iPad, some people had their doubts. How could such an expense pay off? These questions were discussed last month (Nov 16-18) during a three-day conference, called the Leveraging Learning Institute. In case you weren’t one of the 100 participants, here’s a run through the agenda, along with some links that will let you follow Auburn’s iPad initiative.
- App Smart Extra: Top 10 New iPhone Gaming Apps for 2011 – BOB TEDESCHI http://t.co/B26Implb – http://t.co/lsOVEkI1 #
- Our annual #i80 view: white knuckle rain but at least no snow. http://t.co/zuCj2gTv #
- Xmas flight http://t.co/V5DUSJ0k #
- Just posted @Hexbug Larva video — how it works, how it moves http://t.co/qU3EK5bh via @youtube #
- Why I Love My 3D Printer by Schuyler St Leger http://t.co/hYa5Ocau via @youtube #
- Larry Magid asks if teens are safer since advent of social media like Facebook where porn is forbidden @larrymagid http://t.co/2olew681 #
- Just posted @Hexbug Larva video — how it works, how it moves http://t.co/qU3EK5bh via @youtube #
- Why I Love My 3D Printer by Schuyler St Leger http://t.co/hYa5Ocau via @youtube #
- Larry Magid asks if teens are safer since advent of social media like Facebook where porn is forbidden @larrymagid http://t.co/2olew681 #
This toy/screen experience turns your Nintendo DS into a remote control for a robotic dog. Instead of using standard infra-red signals, however, this dog is controlled by sound, in the form of coded chirps that come out of your Nintendo DS speakers. A microphone in Wappy Dog can “hear” the chirps, which can be sent to Wappy Dog’s computer for different responses. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
The Xbox 360 version of Instant Artist, the title that comes bundled with the $80 uDraw game tablet package, includes all the drawing basics — pencils, brushes, chalk and charcoals, and an infinite number of colors. You can easily fill or undo with one button, and a redraw feature lets you review your painting, as you drew it. A smart pallet system remembers your most frequently used colors and tools. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.