- Check out this cool App — it turns your iPhone into a color sampler. http://bit.ly/aKNjLs #
- iPod Touch –> iPad. Nintendo DS –> Nintendo DSi XL? http://bit.ly/amz4vg #
- Here are some details on VTech’s FLiP — an eBook reader for children coming August. http://bit.ly/bCEuT4 #
- Have a first look at VTech’s MobiGo; a handheld mono-touch screen cartridge based edugaming system for preschoolers. http://bit.ly/b9PZZn #
- On my way to Toy Fair! If you’re at Javits Wed, noon come to press room for a Dust or Magic Huddle & have a marshmallow http://bit.ly/18g8c #
Check out this cool App — it turns your iPhone into a color sampler. http://bit.ly/aKNjLs
Last month Apple released its iPad, a $500 picture frame/clip board/report card/bubble scoring sheet/virtual world portal/music stand/easel/photo editor/browser/movie player/record collection/book shelf/carpenter’s level/subway map/chess board/night light… I’ve already blogged about how it might become a child’s best friend for the New York Times (see http://bit.ly/cHxQG1), and that post has stirred up a good deal of additional questions.
Kids have been talking a lot about earthquakes a lot lately, for two good reasons: Haiti and Chili. So, we’ve put together a special LittleClickers column in our March issue, with links and a YouTube playlist designed to help children better understand the realities of this big and scary, and current topic.
Nintendo's DS lite, DSi and the new DSi XL
Here are some official photos that Nintendo released yesterday about the Nintendo DSi XL (covered yesterday in GadgetWise). The DSi XL (which I’m assuming stands for “eXtra Large” will be in stores March 28, at a suggested retail price of $190. That’s just $10 cheaper than the Wii. According to the release, the screens are significantly larger than those of the Nintendo DS Lite model and feature a wider viewing angle. The new system will come in two colors, Burgundy and Bronze, and comes pre-loaded with two Brain Age titles ( Arts & Letters, Math and Photo Clock) plus a browser and Browser and Flipnote Studio. The stylus is larger (“pen-like”).
Question: Do you think that Nintendo is trying to get into eBooks? Is there any coincidence between the release of the iPad and the XL? What does XL really stand for? And where do you store that big ‘ole stylus?
The larger, more comfortable stylus
Zon is a free (registration required) virtual world — or MMOG — designed to teach English speakers Chinese language and culture through games and chat. There are five levels of play. First, you design your avatar, and then become a tourist at the Beijing Airport. You must pass through customs and get to your hotel, while completing challenges designed to accomplish various tasks.
You start by exploring to learn about myths and legends, investigating famous temples or shopping in public markets. Players can advance to rent apartments, buy a car, or own their own business. The site was funded by the Office of the Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) and Michigan State University. Disclaimer: I (Warren Buckleitner) went to this graduate school; one of the principle designers was on my doctoral committee. Learn more at www.enterzon.com. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Great science and ecology content is combined with low levels of interactivity and a didactic presentation in Wonder Rotunda (www.wonderrotunda.com), a subscription-based ($45/year) web delivered service first released in the summer of 2009. In order to make the site work, you need a Flash-enabled browser and a credit card. No other software or downloads are required. We evaluated the service using a complimentary password provided by the publisher.
After you create a male or female character to represent yourself in the game show portion of the experience, you see a map representing 11 topics including: orchestra, rain forest, great barrier reef, American government, digestive system, Apollo 11, planet earth, kangaroos, healthy eating, the Serengeti and business adventure. By clicking on an area of the map, you launch a 20 minute or so animated adventure, in which pop-up facts appear. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This $30 Nintendo DS game creates a nice extension of the traditional printed picture book (same title, published by Scholastic). Both tell the true story of Winter, a young dolphin who was injured in a net and lost her tail while recovering at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Children unlock parts of the program one chapter at a time, until all 11 chapters are unlocked. Progress is saved automatically in one of three game-save slots. Created by 1st Playable and turtlepond Interactive by Crave Entertainment. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Telling Time is an iPhone/iPod touch app designed to drill children on telling time using both digital and analog clock faces. The best place to start is with Free Play, where you can touch and move clock hands around the dial, and see a digital clock reading at the same time as the analog clock and hear the time spoken out loud. There are three challenge activities: Set the Clock – you must drag the hour hand and the minute hand to the correct setting; Which Time? – you must match the time on a digital clock by moving the hands of the analog clock to the correct position; and How Long? – you have to set the clock to a target time that is earlier or later than the time shown. Each activity has three levels of difficulty. The problems are arranged in sets, and each set is greeted with a round of applause. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Leveled reading curriculum comes to the small screen, with Reading A-Z’s non-interactive leveled readers. Called ReadSmart Edition Apps and sold for $1 each, the titles cover 27 levels, from PreK to 6th grade. The ReadSmart process is designed to refine the fonts of the story to make the print more readable. Each of the leveled books features discussion points at the end. Individual books are $0.99 each, and 12 book libraries are $6.99. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Warning. If you’re expecting to find the charm of the original Reader Rabbit titles, first published by The Learning Company, you’re in for a disappointment. In the game, Reader Rabbit and his sidekick Sam the Lion, are flying their Dreamship when they are captured by a giant bubble wrap. They land in Balloon Town, an island made of balloons where all sharp objects including their airship are locked away in a palace. To free their airship, they must gather the 5 different instruments for the band that have been scattered around Balloon Town and use them to wake up the sleeping bull in front of the palace. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This collection of ten games, for 1 or 2 players, is a mixed bag. The main thing to note is that while the game plays like the other Nick Jr. inspired titles from 2K Play, where you simply tilt the Wii remote like handlebars to move, this is not a side-scrolling platformer. This is more of an activity pack, and the games vary in quality.
After you select the number of players, you choose a Ni Hao, Kai-Lan character to serve as your avatar. There are both male or female options. Next, you see a game-board-like menu representing the games. Prices are $40 for the Wii and $20 for the PS2 version. Developed by High Voltage Software for 2K Play. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
CTR’s Warren Buckleitner talks with Lane Merrifield (aka “Billybob”), the general manager and one of three co-founders of Club Penguin, following his keynote address at Engage Expo. Topics include the future of multi-touch for children.
Lane is also the Executive Vice President of the Disney Interactive Media Group. He oversees five of Disney’s virtual worlds, including the soon to be released “World of Cars.” This conversation took place in mid-February, 2010, at the American International Toy Fair.
This follow-up to the My Baby virtual baby doll games lets you take care of a realistic onscreen baby (yes, you change diapers) from their 1st birthday until they’re 30 months old. You begin by choosing whether you want a boy or a girl and then give your baby a name. Next, you can customize your baby with new items such as outfits, toys, and decorate their room. Made in France by Dancing Dots Studios for Southpeak Interactive. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
If you like follow-the-leader types of rhythm games like DDR, you’ll like this easy-to-learn 100 MB rhythm game for your iPhone or iPod Touch. You first see and hear a sequence of beats, presented in one measure, and then get the next measure to try to copy what you’ve seen and heard. Content includes five rock-style songs with two challenge levels, each. Created for Disney Interactive Studios by Muppet Studios and the Chinese-based enorbus (www.enorbus.com) studios. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This one player, Wii only game puts you behind the wheel of monster trucks as you race through a variety of themed tracks; each set to hard rock music. Content includes six outdoor landscapes including Manhattan Rooftops and a Canadian Forest. You can choose from trucks such as Indestructible Destroyer (a military style crusher) and Yellow Beast (a crazy cab out for vengeance). Created by Team 6 for Zoo Interactive. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
How’d you like to become a sea turtle? This interesting app puts you inside the shell of a large sea turtle, and asks you to explore a 3D undersea environment in a race to label radioactive waste canisters. The game takes place in the future — the year 2016 and scientist have figured out how to turn turtles into living robots. Developed by Hiccup Studios. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This is a collection of follow-along gross motor body puzzles, ideal for children or adults. The puzzles are played from a non-interactive DVD that contains eight songs. There are multiple motions to go with each song, that vary in difficulty. MeMoves is the second release from Thinking Moves. The first, with more complex routines, is sold by FableVision. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
One of the more interesting things I spotted at CES 2010 was a keyboard made of light, formed by a red projected laser. At first I was a skeptic, so I put down my camera to give it a try. Yes, it does work, but it takes some getting used to. For one, I had to separate my letters, because it seemed that my fingers were casting shadows. Compared to my texting ability, however, my Laserkey typing was much faster. Clearly there’s some validity to this concept. The red laser diode keyboard comes in four languages (English, German, French, Korean) and is regular sized. It requires an opaque (not clear) surface, so don’t think of using it on a glass table or anything with a reflective surface. If a laser mouse will work, so will the keyboard. It is powered from your USB port, or an optional battery; and is designed to work with Microsoft Windows Mobile software, Palm OS 5.x, RIM OS (for the Blackberry), Windows, and Symbian OS s60 3rd Edition (for Nokia). Besides having some implications for student desktops or library tables, this type of device could have obvious use with a portable device or perhaps a living room. Teaches: a laser projected keyboard. Celluon. http://www.celluon.com/index.html, $190.
Designed to improve math skills, this math app uses a 3D tile-matching metaphor to deliver practice with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions. The goal is to touch two tiles that have the same amount (e.g., 4 and 2+2). If they match, the tiles disappear, and you search for the next pair, until all the tiles are gone. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Scene from Littlest Pet Shop Online
Update January 2010: Just added to Littlest Pet Shop Online is a new island called Kittywood with more to explore. We had a look using an EA provided account and found the navigation to be clumsy and the entire experience to be limited. While the type/chat options are good, you get the feeling that there’s more you can’t do in LPSO than what you can do.
Available October 1, 2009 from Hasbro, this online world should not be confused with Littlest Petshop, or the related series of games for the Wii and DS. This Webkinz-like virtual world/toy combination found at www.lpso.com will be designed specifically for girls. There will be 12 plush toys, sold and distributed by Hasbro. The world will be designed and developed by Electronic Arts, all in Flash, so there will be no need for downloads or installations. In addition, anyone can register and get in, without a pet. However, you’ll quickly find that your options are limited, unless you have one of the $15 animals and the code that goes with it. Features will include chat, daily events, house parties and different mini-games found on different islands. Children can also customize rooms, build a floor plan & their own wallpaper. Teaches: chat, creativity, spatial relations, reading, typing. Hasbro, Inc.. www.hasbro.com, $15/year. Best for ages 6-10.
Rating: 
or .625%
Best described as a work in progress, Kidos, or “Kid Operated System” is an Adobe Air application that makes it possible to design your own desktop for your child (or children) by mixing parent-and expert selected videos, music, pictures and websites with a iTunes-like store. The store is how the service makes money, by making it easy for a parent to soup up the experience for a child, with a picture of a cute dog ($.50), a non-interactive storybook for $2 each, or a $10 musical album. The store uses a shopping cart model, and your credit card is billed automatically, iTunes style. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Zap moving flies with a frog’s fast tongue, in this fast-moving, thumb exerciser. You see a frog surrounded by moving flies, which can be tapped to be eaten. But don’t wait — the clock is ticking and the flies get smarter. After 60 seconds (marked by audio countdown), the frog burps and the flies escape for another round. Developed by 360KID for People Operating Technology. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
If you don’t mind a bit of a learning curve, this ninth edition of Inspiration contains everything you’d want in a brainstorming package. New to this version: a Presentation Manager, which lets you generate slides that can be reordered as needed, much like a PPT presentation. Other view options include a map and diagram view, and a new symbol library is designed specifically to support curriculum areas.
The price is $69 for a single user (two computers), or you can upgrade to version 9 (before June 30, 2010) for $30. Each install requires a valid serial number. The program comes on a single Mac/Windows CD, and requires 250 MB of hard disk space. Prices for five-computer license packs and up start at $310. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
If you don’t mind the crude drawing resolution of the Wii Remote, the Wii version of Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter ($30) offers a lot of play value, with a creative twist. (Nintendo DS specific comments, later). As you explore, you draw characters and tools needed to find the Artifacts of Power and rid the Raposa village of evil. In addition to the one player side-scrolling platform environment, there are several two player minigames, including soccer, hockey and basketball.
The Nintendo DS version costs less ($20) and you can draw humans, animals or multi-limbed creatures easily, and use them to find hidden coins. Created for THQ by 5th Cell. For more information, visit www.drawntolife.com. See also ScribbleNauts. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This very addicting $.99 app is best described as a vertical maze game, where you tilt your screen left or right in order to move a bouncing bug to the next floating platform. As you bounce higher, you run into harder challenges; some of which require shooting. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Based on the young adult book by James Patterson, this explore and fight game lets you jump into the book, and possess the power of creation in order to save the earth from aliens that are bent on destroying the Earth. The setting looks like an old factory with elevators, boxes, portals, and magical walls. Made by Griptonite Games (A Foundation 9 Entertainment Studio) for THQ. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Apple Harvest Game
Seven simple math games for the iPod Touch or iPhone provide practice with counting and number patterns. To start a game, you simply touch an icon from the main menu, which it is easy to jump back to at any point (tap the “menu” icon). In the first game, Melon Harvest, children first hear an elephant ask for a quantity of melons, from 1 to 9, for example “I need 7 melons.” Next, they must drag the melons to the basket, one at a time, until the quantity matches the numeral shown on the basket.Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This game utilizes your iPhone or iPod Touch’s accelerometer so that you can steer a flying monkey into the clouds by leaning your screen left or right, while collecting stars and avoiding obstacles like flying geese. The idea of the game is to bounce a monkey named Coco to the moon. There is no worrisome content. Note that there is a Facebook icon that links you to the game’s facebook page from the main menu. We reviewed version 1.0.0.1 updated January 28, 2010. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Of the dozens of 2010 cameras from Canon, which are best suited for your curious child? To find out, I grilled the booth reps at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (see the video posted on CTR’s YouTube channel) in search of an auto-shoot camera that is affordable and powerful. In addition, Canon sent me an A495 to kid test (hence the ratings).
The winner? If you don’t mind the AA batteries, you can’t go wrong with the PowerShot A490 ($110) or A495 ($130), a 10 Megapixel, 3.3x Optical Zoom powered by last year’s DIGIC III Image Processor. The camera’s clear color 2.5-inch LCD makes it fun to review the pictures on screen, and it is easy to toggle between still and movie mode. The camera automatically chooses from 13 predefined shooting situations, using the flash as needed. For $20 more, you can get the A495 which includes an additional scene mode that could complicate things.
If you want all these features, plus rechargeable batteries and a slightly larger preview screen, the Canon PowerShot A3000 ($150) is your best bet. In my book, the rechargeable batteries are worth the extra money. Note that SD card memory is not included in the price, and that you’ll want to budget at least another $14 to $20 for memory (for 4 to 8 GB). In addition, remember that these cameras are NOT toys, and they are not designed to toy specifications. For example, the battery compartment can be easily opened, presenting a possible choking hazard, and we noticed that the batteries tend to fall out when changing the memory card, which some children might do in order to transfer the pictures to a computer. Finally, we noticed lower prices online, so shop around. The bottom line? Young photographers have some powerful new options that can easily become the envy of their Grandparent’s eye. Teaches: creativity, digital photography. Canon USA, Inc.. www.usa.canon.com, $110. Best for ages 6-up.
Rating: or .95%
Concentration anyone? This iPhone/iPod touch app delivers a simple game of concentration. Each card shows a picture of an animal, and an associated sound. The object is to try to make a match by touching any two squares. When the squares flip over, the animal displayed makes its sound, and the pictures stay on the screen, a fact that clutters the game. If the animals don’t match, they are flipped back over and you must try again. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
I was surprised by how much I liked MobiGo. The QWERTY keyboard feels real and doesn’t talk down to preschoolers, and there are no surprises in the interface. The big question, of course, is the quality of the eleven software titles that will be released this August, along with the system. VTech’s V.Smile software was famous for it’s chattiness. Based on what I saw, we’ll have to judge each title individually. The USB port is important to note, and the touchscreen looks great. Specifically targeting preschoolers (ages 3 to 7 years), there’s no doubt that this $60 device has the power to deliver a quality digital touch experience; and compares at least as well to if not better than the iXL.
The mono-touch screen is a bit like a Nintendo DS and the burned in ROM activities including coloring, drawing, and some music games. The slide open QWERTY keyboard introduces older kids to text typing skills; an added bonus to the responsive touch screen. Features include volume, an AC adapter, and 11 game cartridges sold for $20 each, including Ben 10, Disney/Pixar’s Cars, Disney Fairies, Disney Princesses, Dora the Explorer, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mr. Men & Little Miss, NASCAR, Shrek, Super Hero Squad and Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3. MobiGo will be available at retail and online at www.vtechkids.com. Teaches: early learning. VTech Electronics North America, $60. Best for ages 3-7.
Coming this fall, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, the next chapter for the series that was one of the first to bring drop-in, drop-out interactivity to the games.
QUESTION
I am writing to ask for some advice with quality mathematics software for 4- and 5-year-old children. I am conducting a pilot research study exploring the potential benefits of educational software in facilitating children’s learning of mathematics. Could anyone help with some quality titles on mathematics software and possibly some good interactive websites??? My focus is mainly on number sense but anything related to mathematics would help. (From the NAEYC TechLearning Listserve)
ANSWER
Here’s a quick listing of about 12 options, from the CTR database. I’m certain this is more than you want. But it makes you realize how diversified the platform choices have become for early childhood math learning. The recent iPhone/iPod Touch apps, for example, where you use your finger to touch, move and manipulate quantities, can be rich with number learning potential and should be studied. Hope this helps! W. Buckleitner, CTR
DJ Hero Renegade Edition Turntable
This game expands on the gameplay mechanics of Guitar Hero but instead of pressing buttons, you use a turntable controller which, at times, has you bending streams of notes to earn a higher score. There are 100 songs highlighted in 93 mixes that blend genres of music, including hip-hop, R&B, pop, rock and electronica.
The turntable controller allows you to use and master various DJ techniques including scratching, crossfading and sampling. So you can learn some real DJ techniques. The game features five levels of play: beginner, easy, medium, hard and expert. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.