Wondering how to talk to your kids about race? Well, as they say, there’s an app for that. Two apps, actually: Who am I? and Guess My Race, both created by Playtime Interactive for Cambridge Diversity Consulting’s Race Awareness Project, a project directed by Harvard cultural anthropologist Dr. Michael D. Baran with the goal of inspiring dialog about race through the integration of art, technology and education. This review focuses on the former app, though both are interesting and reccommended.

Who am I? can be played by two people or teams and is essentially an elimination game in which one party selects a face from a panel and then hands to iPhone to the opposing party, who can ask questions about the person’s appearance, including questions relating to race. “Easy” and “Hard” options are available; “Easy” includes 12 faces, “Hard” includes 24. When the correct face is selected, the face appears on a panel with “I consider myself a particular race, such as White or Asian” and the option to tap the picture to learn more. When tapped, a balloon is launched containing a quote from the individual describing his or her understanding of their own racial makeup. A person who considers themselves white may elaborate that they have Japanese, Irish, and Italian origins.

The individual quotes get at the heart of the message that the Race Awareness Project is trying to communicate: that race is fluid and easy to misinterpret. It may seem, at first blush, a bit hokey to use a computer application to address the topic of race with your children. However, the Race Awareness Project website points out:

“Research shows that even though many parents wish their kids to grow up “colorblind,” kids as young as three-years-old are actively learning about categories of race and ethnicity that they hear in everyday language. Therefore, it is critical that parents learn to responsibly talk about these issues and not leave children on their own to learn about race from the media or from others.”

The “Who Am I”? face elimination game was very fun to play with my 6-year old niece and 4-year old son, and sparked some interesting discussion about racial and gender differences that have lasted well beyond the game.

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Geometrix is a simple collection of 3 games based on various permutations of collisions between circles, stars and squares. The three games include Chain Reaction, Star Chaser, and Orb Assault.

In Chain Reaction, the player taps on small squares to initiate a “chain reaction” which looks like a series of small bubbles. Each chain reaction garners points, Timed and free play modes are available.

In Star Chaser, squares are moved around a grid by taping the screen. The object is to collide with stars, garnering points, while avoiding red circles, which end the game. Options include Free Play, Timed mode in which a clock is continuously counts down to zero and is restored through gathering stars, and Challenge mode which challenges the user to obtain a specific amount of points. Three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Hard) are available.

In Orb Assault, the square is moved along the screen by tapping at the location where you want it to go. Four color options are available at the bottom of the screen; the user chooses a color for the square, and then must collide with the corresponding circles of the same color while avoiding circles of a different color. Three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Hard) are available.

Eight electronic songs options are available.

I found the games to be very challenging and not seem terribly responsive to my taps. My 4-year old got the hang of it much faster than I did (so what else is new?). The graphics are reminiscent of the 1980’s Atari, but this is a solid game with enough depth to engage and maintain interest.

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The app merges two or more faces to create a hybrid face based on the features of the input photos, which can be taken from within the app or selected from the iphone library. Up to six input photos can be selected. Resulting photos can be saved and shared via MMS or email. Faces are divided into six components: eyes, nose, eyebrows, mouth, chin and hair. Mix mode allows the user to shuffle through features or arrange them at will. Play mode will show the user a face and challenge him to rebuild it based on the available features, challenging the player to utilize facial recognition skills.

This all is a great concept, but achieving good results is very difficult in practice. Pictures must have exactly the same lighting and scale to merge effectively. Getting kids to sit still long enough for an unblurred front face shot was more challenging than I had imagined.

Pretty fun, with the caveats mentioned above, I recommend.

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Wee World (weeworld.com) is an online social networking site and virtual world for teens and tweens that utilizes self-created avatars. Players can perform a variety of virtual activities, including finding and chatting with friends, playing games, spending money on products and services related to their avatar, and being marketed to. The site professes to restrict registration to those 13 years and older.

The WeeMee iPhone app is NOT an online companion to the social networking site; it is simply an avatar creator. The avatars can be assigned to contacts, saved, and shared on Facebook and Twitter. The avatars bear a resemblance in size and proportion to South Park figures. Users can start from scratch or can edit pre-fabbed WeeMee’s, tweaking hair, skin color, face shape, eye color, hair style, facial hair, eyeglasses, hatwear, clothing,food, hobby, and environment.

As a mom of a 2 and 4 year old, I downloaded this not realizing it was based on a teenage social networking site. Once I delved into the WeeMee virtual world, I became filled with dread for the dawn of the teen years. The iPhone app itself, however, since it is unconnected to the virtual world, is actually rather innocuous and entertaining. My 4 year son and I had fun creating and saving avatars and trying to fashion them after people we know. A word of caution: there are some in-app purchase opportunities to clothe your avatar in the latest trends, so beware your password security with the kids.

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Most “educational” apps I come across build skills for predominately left-brained thinkers. In my experience, most of the lessons culture systematic, analytical, and logical thinking, and there isn’t much available for those looking to exercise their imaginative and creative, right-brained thinking skills. “Faces iMake…” is a unique application that offers an opportunity for both children and adults to explore their artistic side by making a face collage art using a variety of different materials. To play, you can choose from 20 different face shapes, 150 objects, and you can layer and rotate objects. I found the collage object choices to be quite satisfying and they were easy to navigate on the iPhone screen. My initial pieces of artwork weren’t so great, but as I played, I gained confidence and started to create faces I was proud to save in my photo gallery. The app also offers the option to assign faces to contacts, or to share via Facebook or email. The only negative about his application is that it appears (based on iTunes feedback) to be plagued by a bug that crashes the users idevice during use. Fortunately, I didn’t experience this problem, but it’s something to be aware of and is the reason for many poor user feedback scores.

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For “Spelling Bubble”, you tap on bubbles to spell a Word. There are 3 game modes – Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire, and 12 word categories. When you spell 12 words correctly, you earn a gem stone. Collect 12 gem stones and you will be rewarded with a stamp for your colorful score card. The Ruby level has the word and the definition on the screen to help the child learn the word; when he/she is confident enough, there is an option to remove the word with the definition remaining and a question mark indicating how many letters. The Emerald and Sapphire Gem levels are a bit more challenging and fewer hints are available. The fun part is trying to spell the word while the bubbles are moving and earning a stamp for the score card. I find the picture graphics and the music pleasant and calming. This spelling app is awesome because it encourages children to sound out the words. My 3rd and 4th grade children have given me the silent seal of approval by playing it over and over again, and this makes me smile because they’re learning.

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HOW GOOD IS YOUR MEMORY? This game will test just that! Train your brain while you play by watching the computer carefully as it creates sequences for you to repeat. If you make a mistake in the sequence, the game goes back to the beginning. There are four speed modes – normal, fast, faster, and fastest. There are also four sounds to choose from – original, piano, digital, and silent. The silent mode is good to train your brain on visual memorization, however if you combine the sound with the images, you benefit from both visual and audio memorization. “Memory Block” offers excellent early learning skills for new readers. The shape of the computer buttons are colorful and pleasing, and large enough for the littlest fingers. This is a keeper of a game because it has learning benefits for every age. It helps the young ones to develop future skills for reading, and helps the older ones to sharpen memory skills. Remember – our brain is a muscle, so keep working it while having fun!

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Can you find the differences between two pictures? Each set of pictures has 5 “differences” and the object of the game is to find them as quickly as you can. The quicker the differences are found, the more points the player will earn. The player has the option to use hints if they get stuck and 3 hints are available per game. The game gives the player 10 chances to guess incorrectly before time runs out. Find the difference, touch it, and a green circle will appear. If the player guesses incorrectly they will lose time points. If time runs out and the differences were not found, red circles will appear to inform the player where the differences are located. The nice part about this game is that the picture will appear again and again until the player successfully finds all five differences. This is a visual brain game; some of the pictures can be tricky and challenging. Luckily – if you’re stuck on a picture – you can use the magnifying glass to get a hint. The pictures are appealing and an exciting part of the game is wondering what the next picture will be. It could be anything from a child in a snow storm to a scuba diver in the sea. With each new update more more photos are added. “Find the Differences PRO” is never ending fun and a visual brain workout. What a fantastic app for elementary age children!

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Ok, it’s time to get a little selfish…. here is an app for Moms. Have you ever been frustrated with your hair and wanted to change either the style or color but were too chicken? Have you ever cut your hair all off and regretted it? Well, I did. I cut my hair off to a short hair-style after the birth of my third child. It was easier to take care for but I didn’t like the style and I cried for days. If I only had this app! “Hair Style” is a risk-free way to see what you would look like with a change of style or color. Within the app you take a photo of yourself, line it up and choose a style length – short, medium, or long. There are 45 different choices per length. You have several options on color but the quality is a little off and the tones are not realistic. It does give a good general idea of the shade you may want, though. Save the picture with and bring it to your salon. Touch the “about” button on the style choice and all the information is there for your stylist to achieve the look – the hair type , face shape, styling products used, styling technique, and styling time. I have tried this app out on friends and we were laughing in moments and found new styles for everyone. There are styles for men as well. If you want to see what your man or yourself would look like in a different hairdo then I recommend the app.

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A classy classic puzzle game that never gets old. It has been around for centuries and is still used in our educational systems today. “Lets Tans…” is a visual spatial puzzle game that makes people of all ages use the ole’ brain. This app has 3 different puzzle modes – Classic, Replica, and Arcade. There are 7 brightly colored shapes called tiles and they fit together to make a perfect square “the basic Tangram.” The 7 shapes assembled can form thousands of different shapes. There are 110 different shapes to form in the “Classic” puzzle mode. Drag the shapes inside the large shape, tap once to turn the shape in the direction you want it to go or tap twice to flip the shape to it’s other side. After each shape is assembled, the player is rewarded with an applause or some type of celebratory sound and then on to the next puzzle. Whether you’re in the car, waiting room, restaurant, or just hanging out and your child has their head buried in your iPhone playing “Let Tans…” – RELAX… they’re learning!

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