Animal Planet Hide & Seek Pets is a lovely application young children can explore, as this app includes a variety of pet-centric activities.

This app opens up to a unique menu page, that of a hamster on a wheel which when tapped will spin and ultimately land on one of six mystery animals who are introduced by both simple word questions and related icons, such as a bone for a dog, bubble for a fish or yarn for a cat. Later children play a game of hide and seek to find the animal in question, be it with a flashlight to discover a turtle, tap to remove flower petals to uncover a rabbit or cut tall grass away to find a hidden dog.

Once the animal is discovered, children will be able to interact with photo realistic animals, moving them around the page, dedicated to each of these creatures such as a fish in a fishbowl, complete with classic underwater toys such as a castle, chest of gold and a vintage diving man.

I really appreciate how many fun facts are included, heard when triggering a hotspot and complete with highlighted narration – a very nice element that children and adults can learn a lot from.

On the bottom of the screen, children have access to some fun activities, such as a puzzle to complete, a tracing section and a hide and seek activity. Each of these sections has both “easy” and “hard” modes, and is thematically specific to the animal in question, be it about a bird, turtle or bunny.

Also included is a painting section with a large variety of pictures to choose from and brushes to use, including a paintbrush, chalk, crayon, spray paint and “paint bucket” mode where a section of the drawing is filled in with a single tap.

A music area complete with animal piano is included, as well as a section with re-sizable stickers that one can move around the screen and a learning section for parents that includes topics of conversation to share with their children.

I appreciate how this app is intuitive and thoughtfully designed, avoiding some of the pitfalls I have seen in other applications. Coloring pages are often included in other such apps such as this which can seem like an afterthought, but very nicely done within Animal Planet Hide & Seek Pets.

I love the choice of the soft, sheer coloring choices of the watercolor paintbrush and the chalk, as these colors can be layered and mixed together while coloring for a very nice effect, and I am also impressed by the simple decision to allow children to “erase all” with a “yes” or “no” instead of red or green “X” or check – signs that adults may understand but that can be confusing for children.

Also of note is that when coloring within a specific section of an image, one cannot color outside the border of this section – wonderful for children who hate the sloppy look of coloring with a finger because without this feature, staying within the lines of a picture can be frustrating and difficult.

An eraser as well as “go back” buttons are included, and it is also great that the colored-in pages are also saved within this app to be worked on further in the future, as well as giving children the option to save to the camera roll of their iPad.

I also really like that within the tracing section, when children trace either the first letter of the pet, both in upper and lower case letters or the entire word in the harder section, this app includes the direction children should trace as well as being quite sensitive to the movements of the finger creating the tracing. It will not accept random scribbling over the template – an issue I have with most over-tracing apps.

There is definitely a lot of content to keep children occupied, with a fun mix of realistic animals as well as bright and colorful illustrated spaces for them to occupy and explore.

Because of this, Animal Planet Hide & Seek Pets is an easy app to recommend for toddlers and young preschool children who love animals, coloring, and other activities.

Animals, Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Just For Fun, Music, Nature, Preschool, Reviews, Social, Toddlers

I would like to introduce readers to a trilogy of dinosaur apps from the Ansel and Clair series of educational applications.

I am a huge fan of these apps, as Africa and Paul Revere’s Ride, and now the dinosaur time periods have each been visited by Ansel, a travel photographer from the planet Virtoos and Clair, a Virtoosian robot companion in order to gather photos to teach about these moments in history back on their home planet.

There are three sections broken up into different times, specifically the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, that each goes back to explore the world, learning about the unique dinosaurs what differenceates each of these periods seen in the landscapes of each of these apps, such as the Triassic period which was less green and more barren than the other periods of time

Narration, extensive facts, interactive animations, photos and more are also used to create wonderful multimedia experiences that take advantage of all the iPad has to offer.

Each of these apps includes a dinosaur dig site where one can meet a paleontologist who explains about the site and gives information about each time period using a time line as well as explaining all about fossils and giving children a chance to dig up dinosaur remains themselves with the use of tapping and swiping.

These bones can then be used to help the time machine that Ansel and Clair fly in to identify the correct time period to explore, bringing the duo back to a time long, long ago, wonderfully demonstrated with bright and colorful landscapes.

I do appreciate a great deal how these apps follow the same blueprints, allowing one to tap around the page to search for hidden hotspots that add slight movement to the dinosaurs around the page, but also how each creature includes a triangle to tap, bringing readers to a more detailed section about each dinosaur, as Clair explains all about the history of each creature, again using videos, photos and interactive animations, often helping Ansel interact in some way with these subjects.

These apps could have easily been overwhelming with information, but the format of Ansel asking questions that Clair answers keeps this information light and conversational as users help this team take photos of each dinosaur as Ansel needs to complete his photo album before flying home. Stickers are also collected after tapping to learn in even greater detail about some of these dinosaurs – a nice touch.

Everything these apps have to offer is perfectly realized in terms of delivering education material dealing with paleontology. This app will be adored by children of all ages as well as adults and pre-readers alike.

The illustrations are bright and colorful and also include the phonetically written dinosaur names and well-spoken narration to aid users in correct pronunciation of these names. I have noticed that the dinosaurs and other objects found in this app can be a little buzzy around the edges – a minor note in an overall wonderful set of applications.

Also included in the Triassic and Jurassic apps is the chance to build one’s own custom dinosaur with included elements such as head, body, or tail – a section to be added into the first Cretaceous app at a later date.

Four different user accounts can be created, great for school and families to allow small groups of children to work on this app at their own pace – a nice inclusion in this high-content group of apps that may need multiple sittings to explore all that has been included.

I cannot be more enthusiastic about recommending this app for children and adults of any age who are interested in dinosaurs. This app is comprehensive as well as charming and fun. I hope to see more adventures of Ansel and Clair in the future as this format is highly educational as well as engaging. Do check out each of these three apps for more details in iTunes.

Animals, By Age Range, By App Feature, Geography, Just For Fun, Nature, Preschool, Primary School, Reviews, Science, Social, Toddlers

Sleep Well My Pet! is a simple and sweet collection of sleeping animals, relaxing to children, hopefully helpful in lulling them into slumber as well.

Easy to use, one can watch a slide show or scroll through these sleepy, charming images of animals such as dog, panda, pig or lion – all with their eyes closed as they rest. Non-mammal animals are included such as flamingos or green frog which are interesting as well as peaceful images.

Parents are also able to select or de-select images to focus on dogs or cats if they wish or to avoid an animal if they see fit.

One has a few musical choices to accompany this app, my favorite being the classical music piece Clair de Lune as well as an unnamed selection using the tankdrum instrument.

The images included here are lovely and are sure to be enjoyed by children of all ages, but I did notice as an adult that some of these photos, although nicely detailed, do have areas with a shallow depth of field which can create focus problems as well as an audio loop point that I found distracting – issues that I think would pass over the heads of the children this app is geared toward.

Even with this note, this app is a nice idea and may be effective in calming babies and other young children at bedtime or before their naps.

I do think, however, that the current price of this app at $3.99 is a little high compared to the content of other apps at this price point.

Having said this, Sleep Well My Pet! is a nice idea and may be effective in calming babies and other young children at bedtime or before their naps. Adults will also enjoy reading the included text with some insight as to how the idea for this app came about as well as some interesting information about the sleep habits of animals – a nice touch.

Animals, By Age Range, By App Feature, Health, Just For Fun, Nature, Preschool, Reviews, Social, Toddlers

Otzi – App for Kids – Play & Learn is an interesting universal app which introduces children to Otzi the Iceman, a mummified man found frozen in a glacier in the Otztal Alps, near the border of Austria and Italy.

This interactive app is nicely intuitive with different sections to choose from such as how Otzi was found in the ice, allowing children to swipe with a finger to help find his body as well as including a close-up of Otzi in a museum setting, also nicely showing what he presumably looked like when alive, which I found quite interesting.

The protective clothing he wore is also touched upon here, as users can dress Otzi as well as read about the clothing offered, such as the material used.

Be aware that close-up images of this mummified man are included after discovering him in the ice as well as in a tattoo section which allows children to use a magnifier to see the tattoos and other details of Otzi’s body. I think the educational value of this app is great, but I must admit I was momentarily taken aback by the close-up viewing of this ancient dead body, making this possibly not an app for all families. I would not, however, hesitate to show this app to my son when he is a little older, knowing that I will need to further explain what he is looking at and the causes of Otzi’s death a very, very, long time ago.

An “Insights” section is included which discusses possessions Otzi would have found important, such as a birch bark container to transport embers to light new fires with ease, as well as his dagger, used often in a multitude of ways, or even the use of a fungus found on birch – the birch polypore that can be used as first-aid to stop bleeding as well as an antibiotic – a detail from Otzi’s world that I found most fascinating. Also of interest is the “cold cell” used to further preserve Otzi.

Those with a camera on their device can also take a photo of a face that will be added to the illustrated body of an iceman such as Otzi, offering both a frozen icy backdrop as well as a more temperate landscape. It is worth noting that this app while using my iPad 1 without a camera crashed when I tried to use this photo function, an issue that I hope can be worked out in the future, possibly removing this section from devices that will not support picture taking instead of the app closing abruptly.

Developed in collaboration with the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, this app contains a nice amount of information with German, Italian and English languages offered, as well as being able to mute wonderfully atmospheric music and sound effects if one so chooses.

As this app is without narration, children will need to be able to read this text themselves or with the help of an adult – not as issue as this app is geared toward children 7-10 years old. Even with this age range given, I do think younger children as well can get a lot from this app if they are ready to view the mummified remains of Otzi.

I have enjoyed this app about Otzi, and without this application, it is doubtful that children would have such a close up view of this Iceman, also giving children topics that they can research further themselves.

By Age Range, By App Feature, Nature, Primary School, Reviews, Science, Social

Meet the Insects – Village Edition is an excellent educational app that contains a vast amount of insect facts that will delight all ages from toddlers up through high schoolers and beyond.

Few apps have such a wide age range as Meet the Insects – Village Edition – one in series of bug-related apps. I am very impressed with the inclusion of narration for the majority of this app, making reading not a requirement to enjoy this application, although there are a few areas that will best serve older children who can read and write.

From the home page, one will see this app broken into six sections. I personally think that this app is best appreciated if one starts off with the “Insect Story,” which covers such topics as explaining what insects are vs. other creatures such as spiders – that are not, as well as insect life cycles, how insects pollinate flowers, the sounds insects make, and other interesting facts about flies in a household setting.

This section includes illustrations with light animation as well as video clips of insects and delivers a plethora of information which will make entomologists smile. I have learned a lot from listening and watching this video, with very good, clear and concise narration. I was simply blown away by how much information has been delivered this way.

Once this terrific overview is finished, venture over to “See the Insects” which will introduce users to different orders of insects such as Hemiptera insects which have needle-like mouths, or Diptera insects, with a single set of wings. Selections can be made by tapping insects directly or by choosing an order to scroll the different bugs to learn about. I love how butterflies are also represented as well as beetles and crickets and other types of insects that make noises.

Each of these insects is represented with well-written and narrated text which further explains a great deal about these bugs including a description of their appearance which can be seen in photos or video clips. A tap of the insect in question may make it move slightly for a great effect as these bugs look as if they come alive for a brief moment, as well as sometimes having the chance to use a magnifying glass to look at the creature in question up close. Fun facts are included which add whimsy to these insect areas as this app takes its bugs quite seriously. I am glad that cute yet still factual info is also included such as “Why do grasshoppers hate spinach” to keep this app light and cute for kids to enjoy.

A multimedia area is also available to see all the included photos and videos of insects accessible from a single place – each impressive in their details as well as the colors that can be seen in each insect. The videos include a simple narrated description of what is being seen, while the text found in the photos offered from this section are not narrated so parents may need to assist children in this area.

The Quizquiz is an area that uses tests to determine what children have learned with insect photos in this fun and interactive mini-game consisting of both multiple choice as well as a true and false question mode. These written tests without narration makes these quizzes great for older children or those who might need help from a parent as well.

An observational journal allows children to take a photo or use one from the photos on their iPad to then write about a subject – presumably about insects. I enjoy this opportunity for older students which can be saved and looked at in the future.

I enjoy being able to explore this app in both daytime as well as nighttime settings found on the home page, allowing for the nighttime bug sounds to be heard as well – a nice touch – as is the other glossary of insects that one can use to search for these insects by order as well as color, also including insects not covered in this specific app but may be covered in the other apps from this series.

There is a tremendous amount of information about insects in this highly educational application. I recommend this app to all families who enjoy insect information. I look forward to more of the apps from this series as well as other apps from this developer in the future.

Animals, By Age Range, By App Feature, High School +, Middle School, Nature, Primary School, Reviews, Science, Toddlers

Rounds: Parker Penguin is a delightful universal app that nicely blends elements of Life Sciences into the story of penguin life in Antarctica, the second in a series of Rounds apps from Nosy Crow.

Rounds: Parker Penguin wonderfully captures the life cycle of these creatures from birth to procreation, depicting three generations of offspring.

There are two basic ways of exploring Rounds: Parker Penguin. In Read and Play, follow along with highlighted text as one listens to narration. Tap the screen to interact with surroundings, especially looking for blue dots used to highlight interactive hotspots, also keeping in mind that Parker and other characters may also speak if touched.

In Read to Myself, the use of sound effects and music are still included, but the text is silenced allowing children to read to themselves, including the added dialogue of the penguins, now seen only as speech bubbles.

I really appreciate all the polish that has been included within the Rounds apps, as the interactions bring not only richness to this story but their actions often propel the narrative and are never random or distracting in any way and sometimes going beyond a tap or drag to create wonderful moments which add important facts or details to this application.

The palette used of blue, white and shades of grey captures Antarctica beautifully, as do the stylized illustrations with a heavy use of circles and half circles that I have come to expect from the Rounds series.

I admire the slow pacing of this app, as children will need to take their time allowing moments to unfold, tapping characters more than once to hear extra penguin facts. The included musical score, sound effects and whale sounds found within the ocean all work together to create a thoroughly relaxing experience children and adults will enjoy a great deal.

Although one can turn the pages at any time, this function is asleep and needs to be tapped twice to forward the pages before everything has been explored within, then becoming black and bouncing, letting readers know it is safe to turn the page – an inclusion I greatly appreciate.

As gentle as this app is, children will also have a lot of fun with the speed Parker can slide or swim, yet maintaining the serene environment – an element that has mild arcade elements while sustaining a relaxing tone. Likewise, I enjoy helping Parker feed, as he swims after little fish yet avoids larger fish who may also be hungry, nicely touching upon predator and prey in a way that is sensitive and age-appropriate.

As this app progresses, Parker grows into an adult and goes on a march looking for a mate. I love the music and dance used to express the mating ritual of these animals as well as the egg passing made famous by the movie March of the Penguins.

When it is time, help the egg hatch with a tap, learning about baby penguins along the way as this new penguin grows into adulthood as well, mating and becoming a father himself.

Three generations of penguins are included with different names but same life experiences as this app cycles over to great effect. I do wish, however, that parents had a choice to end the app after three generations if they choose to in order to create an endpoint often found helpful in reining in their children, especially at bedtime.

Even with this mild note, Rounds: Parker Penguin will be a wonderful addition to any digital library. The writing is thoughtful and is quite conversational, delivering facts about penguins that will stay with children for a long time.

I have also greatly enjoyed the first app in this series Rounds: Franklin Frog. I hope to see more of these apps in the future as they are top-notch in every way and are screen time that adults can feel good about.

Animals, Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Just For Fun, Language, Nature, Preschool, Primary School, Reading, Reviews, Science, Social, Stories, Toddlers

I am very excited to tell readers about a new Dr. Panda role-playing app for kids – Dr. Panda’s Veggie Farm – which does a lovely job teaching children where their food comes from.

This delightful app opens up at a farmers market with familiar animal characters from other Dr. Panda apps that arrive and ask for fruits and vegetables to buy from Dr. Panda, now a farmer as well.

From here, play a nice selection of mini-games which allows children to grow good things to eat, be it in a corn field, tapping clouds to make rain, protecting the crops from pests and shucking the cobs once grown, to the planting of raspberries in small pots presumably on the window sill of a home. I do love how realistic this app is, asking children to rip open a bag of seeds, plant them in soil and even turn them in sunlight to help them grow.

Fans of the other Dr. Panda apps will especially enjoy the five recurring animal customers included who may ask for any of the twelve foods available to grow. My son likes to pretend that the food grown here is brought to Dr Panda’s Restaurant or taken home for the little animals from Dr. Panda’s Daycare to enjoy.

Children will find this app utterly engaging as they watch the detailed growth over seconds that would take weeks to form, all with their own active participation, as this app includes twenty mini-games – each a step in the growth process.

I really enjoy so much about this app as each food to be procured includes a nice number of steps to work through, showing at least some of the hard work that farmers experience when growing plants.

The look of this app is bright and colorful and the game play is utterly intuitive, as are the other Dr. Panda apps.

It is also nice that different sized operations are also depicted, from a small amount of fruit grown by a window or in backyard garden to a larger operation, adding interesting variations as well as two other related activities such as a puzzle game where one puts tools away in their correct locations in a work shed.

Sometimes the animal characters will also ask for seeds or for help to grow a plant which they bring to the farm – nice touches.

I am happy to see so many new role-playing apps for children now available. We find them great for creative minds to immerse themselves in, as my son loves to play with play food, sometimes selling his wares or pretending that he is a farmer. My boy can live out these fantasies now on the go or while lounging in bed without any toys cluttering the bed or couch.

This is one of a few great role-playing apps from Dr. Panda. I home to see more of these kinds of apps from these developers in the future. They keep my son engaged as well as encourage him to re-play these activities later with toys as well.

By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Just For Fun, Nature, Preschool, Primary School, Reviews, Toddlers

Bambi: Disney Classics is a charming retelling of this classic story that children and their adults will greatly enjoy, complete with vintage illustrations and a lovely Disney musical score.

What I appreciate the most with this version of such a classic story is how very family-friendly it is. Until now, Bambi is not a movie that I have shown to my son as the idea of Bambi’s mother being killed by hunters, along with the forest fire, would be too stressful for my sensitive boy.

I enthusiastically accepted the chance to review this application, but I hid it on an iPad that my son does not have unsupervised access to – unlike the one fully loaded with kid-safe apps that my son has full freedom with, as I did not want him to wander into an application which might cause him needless worry or to sleep badly at night.

I am excited to announce how happy I was to read this application and to find this version of Bambi without any dark material whatsoever.

Many elements are still included from the Bambi that parents remember, such as the cast of friendly animal characters and the episodic coming-of-age moments as Bambi grows from a baby into an older deer able to venture out on his own, making this an utterly relatable tale where one gets to witness such moments as Bambi’s first spoken word and beginning use of language in a most tender way.

I admire how subtly sophisticated the included vintage illustrations are, filling up the page with drawn elements until the image is complete, sometimes also including a pan or zoom to create movement or focus the reader’s attention – all elements that will not register with young readers, yet will still seem more engaging than a stagnant page within a story of equal length.

Simple, sweet, animated moments are also included which bring life to this story without ever being over the top or distracting in any way which all ages can’t help but be smitten by.

One has the choice to read this story, create their own recording or listen to professional narration, following along with highlighted text. The included narration is especially good here, nicely articulated to aid young readers at following along without any hint of condescension that I sometimes hear with other narrations which try hard to be easily understand.

It is not uncommon these days to find a few extras attached to a storybook application. This is the case with Bambi as well, here including coloring pages where one gets to fill in a nice selection of colorless drawings from the story with a good selection of colors using a fine pencil point or thicker paintbrush tip, each including four specific sizes. An eraser is also included, but I do wish this tool also included different sizes as well.

One is also given the chance to tap to zoom into these images to work on smaller details, as well as continued taps that move one to other close-up sections of the chosen image. I appreciate the ability to get close – a necessity when it comes to effectively using the paint bush method of coloring, but I do wish that in the zoomed mode, one could simple swipe a finger to navigate the page instead of tapping to be brought around the page. When complete, users are also able to save work to the camera roll on their device as well as email to others.

It does not surprise me that a “memory” style game is also included – a staple among extras. I do enjoy here how the animations used are in keeping with the period look of this application. To play, tap flower buds for them to momentarily open, displaying their petal colors inside. I enjoy the detailed animation that went into the opening of each bud, especially as different styled flowers are used – a nice touch, as is the Disney score players listen to while playing this matching game.

Another extra is dedicated to music – a great choice as the music found in Disney movies is always a draw in and of itself. Three modes are included as one gets to listen, learn and have a chance at free play involving a lovely musical score, tapping flower petals, rain drops and flying birds to add musical elements to the background music.

The Listening section allows children to see the flower buds and other details highlighted when played, while the Learning section allows children to see the highlighting as cues to tap to play along as well as to improvise as they see fit. The Play section lets children experiment making music on their own without any background music. I do think it would be a nice option to include the background music as well within the free-play section.

It is possible that a cynic or a purist could accuse this version of Bambi as sanitized, but I greatly welcome a version of this classic tale that I can share with my son without any violence or scary moments. I am sure other families feel the same. Because of this, I recommend Bambi: Disney Classics whole-heartily for all ages.

Animals, Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Just For Fun, Language, Matching, Nature, Preschool, Primary School, Reading, Reviews, Social, Stories, Toddlers

Rounds: Franklin Frog is a charming universal app bringing wonderful non-fiction content focused on teaching the life cycle of frogs in a way that will be especially appealing to children of all ages and their adults. Both Read and Play, allowing one to listen to narration while reading along with highlighted text, as well as explore interactions is included, as is a Read to Myself option.

I simply adore Rounds: Franklin Frog, illustrated in a bold style consisting of circles as a whole as well as pieces thereof, as the look of this app is unique and sophisticated yet utterly appealing to children of all ages, as are the soft greens and blues found within, a personal favorite palette of mine.

Rounds: Franklin Frog does a wonderful job of balancing the cute anthropomorphic details and witty narrated lines of dialogue heard when tapping on the frog characters found throughout with some thoughtful facts about these interesting creatures both included as spoken lines of text triggers with a tap, as well as within the narrative itself.

This is the story of Franklin, a young frog who, along with the readers, explores his surroundings as well as hibernates for the winter, finding a mate and beyond – wonderfully narrated, engaging, and relaxing.

The interactions are simply delightful within this app, helping Franklin jump and swim, feeding him bugs with his sticky tongue and later helping Franklin find a mate by tapping and allowing other frogs to hear their mating call – all wonderful details that readers of all ages will appreciate a great deal.

I was taken a back at how moving this children’s story is, as the use of pitch-perfect music and stylized details demonstrates the change of seasons with use of moons floating past the sky, the plants dying away, and the use of snow falling as Franklin is safety tucked away.

Equally poignant was watching Franklin’s mate lay her eggs, watching them develop from frogspawn into tadpoles and later after sprouting legs and arms, developing into a frog after quite a metamorphosis.

Readers should take note that although the text within the pages of this story may have concluded, this app is intensely filled with important animations and interactions, wonderfully polished and beautiful to look at, yet charmingly sleepy in their nature and never over-stimulating.

Do wait for the arrow found at the bottom to become bold and bounce as this signifies that the major animations and interactions have been played out, although one can still enjoy oneself by tapping frogs to hear their added dialogue spoken as well as move them around the page.

I confess that the first time reading this book, I turned the page prematurely, missing out on some important transitions and interactions such as protecting frog eggs from hungry fish, or the full transformation from tadpole to young frog. The pacing of this app can be on the leisurely side – not a flaw at all, as this app does expect a level of concentration waiting out some animations much like one would in nature. Parents may want to familiarize themselves with all that this app has to offer to insure that their children do not turn the pages prematurely.

I also appreciate a great deal how this story plays itself out over three generations of frogs, teaching readers about life cycles as well as being quite interesting in terms of storytelling, but with no concrete ending, parents may find it hard to break their children away from this experience. Possibly an option could be included in the future that lets the three unique generations play out before this app comes to an end, just a thought for a future update.

I have been a huge fan of Nosy Crows and other storybook apps based on classic tales, but I think I enjoy Rounds: Franklin Frog even more. The experience is educational as well simply wonderful in terms of the narration, animated illustrations, interactions and a perfect use of music.

Rounds: Franklin Frog is an app that I highly recommend to both parents as well as teachers. Children will learn a lot about frogs from this application, I know I did. They will also be exposed to a beautiful story that I found at moments quite touching. Parents will be delighted to spend time with their children reading Rounds: Franklin Frog as well as for their children to spend time with this app alone.

I sincerely hope that Nosy Crow develops more non-fiction titles in this style. I could not be more fond of Rounds: Franklin Frog.

Animals, Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Health, Just For Fun, Language, Nature, Preschool, Primary School, Reading, Reviews, Science, Social, Stories, Toddlers

Polar Bear Horizon – Smithsonian Oceanic Collection is an interactive application based on the book of the same name and now part of a series of Smithsonian applications developed by Oceanhouse Media.

Like other apps by Oceanhouse Media, this application includes the choice to listen to narration allowing readers to follow along the included text which becomes highlighted when words are spoken, or to read this book to oneself. Auto-play is also an option.

Do tap around the page to see objects or animal characters labeled by both text and narration when touched – as are single words or entire paragraphs with the tap of a finger, and the zooming and panning of these pages helps focus readers’ attention nicely and at times create moments of an almost animated quality.

There is a lot to really enjoy within this application including superb illustrations, soothing music, gentle sound effects of animals, water and wind as well as relaxing narration.

It is great how this app includes a vast amount of information about polar bears in a way that is still conversational and entertaining in a calm, thoughtful manner.

My son really absorbs science and nature details when he is exposed to stories such as this, which nicely merge nonfiction into storytelling, often relaying information he has learned from others and has really enjoyed this story as well.

I also appreciate a great deal the way the topic of the polar bears feeding off of seals is handled in a way that is very tactful yet accurate, allowing adults to fill in any details children may ask about this subject with information that their families feel is appropriate.

I remember when my son heard from a TV show that dolphins, a favorite animal of his, were “predators” – really heartbreaking for him to have this information explained in this way, until I told him that by this definition we too are “predators.” I am glad to say this this story doe not use such heavy language, glossing over the actual killings of the seals which are totally off screen and never truly explored, making this app very age-appropriate for preschoolers and up. It does, however, lack some of the details older children may feel are necessary to properly tell this story.

For me, it is lovely that this app also includes a moment of text and narration that explains how the baby polar bears are nursed by their polar bear mom, although not expressed directly within the illustrations.

I also love the choice to include the Northern Lights for a beautiful effect – a special moment within this book – as well as mild moments of drama and suspense when they come across other animals in the wild.

An additional section is included, “About the Polar Bear,” offering more interesting facts about these creatures, all of which may encourage children to learn more about these animals as well. For these reasons and more, I recommend that parents and teachers look into this application.

Animals, Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Just For Fun, Language, Nature, Preschool, Primary School, Reading, Reviews, Stories, Toddlers