Flat Stanley

Review by Laura Hiestand

Price: Free

This application brings the book of Flat Stanley to the digital world.  Teachers have used Flat Stanley for years to teach children about travel and to discover different cultures around the world.  Teachers would have students create their own Flat Stanley using paper and pencil and then mail their Flat Stanley off to different places for people to take pictures with him in different locations.  This application makes it so much easier and saves you on postage!

When students first get into the application, they will be able to create their own Flat Stanley (or Flat Stella for all the girls out there).  They will be able to give it a different name as well as change their hair, hair color, outfit, facial expression, to make it suited for them.  After you create what your Flat Stanley looks like you can fill in information about him/her.  

When you have you Flat Stanley created you are ready to go out and take pictures.  You can add Flat Stanley into whatever picture you want to take.  After you take a picture you can share it through email, Twitter, Facebook, or flatter world (flatter world is Flat Stanley’s world).  With the sharing feature you can find other peoples pictures from around the world where they visited with Flat Stanley.  You also have the option to see other Flat Stanley’s that are around the area with the map feature.

You can incorporate so many different lessons using the Flat Stanley app.  Teachers can have their students take different pictures with their Flat Stanley and then create a story using another app.  They can also have students create a story using others’ pictures.  The possibilities are endless. This application is a very easy app to use where I believe kids young and old can learn to use and enjoy!

Ansel & Clair's Adventure's in Africa by Applicable2U

Ansel & Clair’s Adventures in Africa
  by Cognitive Kid, Inc.

Recently, educational travel apps are slowly becoming more popular to find in the Apple Store and  today’s review will let your 4-9 year old travel the wonders of Africa.  With a Dora the Explorer or Diego feel, twisted with a little Blue’s Clues, this adventure series educational app will truly stimulate all senses.  Seamlessly, this educational app incorporates a variety of curricular areas in a textbook like app for children.  While on this virtual field trip, children will be developing their language and vocabulary, critical thinking and higher order skills.  Cognitive Kid has recently launched Ansel & Clair’s Adventures in Africa.  With original music and two very adorable characters, Ansel, the intergalactic travel photographer and Clair, Ansel’s brilliant side kick who happens to be a robot. Both friends are from the planet Virtoos and with the help of their spaceship, Marley Peterson, they will explore the continent of Africa.

As Ansel and Clair were traveling the world, Marley, their spaceship broke into many pieces over the continent of Africa. One of your missions is to locate the missing pieces as you explore three regions in Africa: Nile Valley, Sahara Desert and the Serengeti Plains.  Along the way, will never need to question what something is or its role.  Cognitive Kids has incorporated a wonderful page-by-page help guide as well as auditory explanations from Ansel. This African simulation can store up to 4 players as it remembers your achievements along the way.  Amazingly illustrated with life like art, or 3D images, users won’t even realize that learning is actually happening.  Our motto that we try to abide by,”Gaming for a Reason“, is certainly met with the integration of this app on our iPad device.

Applicable2U was amazed at the vocabulary development that this application provides.  In order to find Marley’s missing pieces, users will become familiar with the oceans and rivers surrounding Africa, visit a number of monuments and landmarks as they grasp the various animals and plant life found in Africa.  Navigation within each region is guided by “tracker” buttons. Tracker buttons are either active, not yet completed or completed interactions with objects from that region. Through differentiated instruction, users will listen to Ansel and Clair explain each finding. However, if at anytime, a user(s) requires additional support, simply press the light bulb attached to the tracker and Clairvision will offer a deeper understanding with pictorial hyperlinks, dialog and text.  All explorers have a backpack, inside Ansel’s is a camera and travel log.  Users will collect 29 gorgeous images of animals, landmarks, and bodies of water.  Each stored and arranged in a journal for future viewing.  We were pleasantly surprised to find added games and puzzles that integrate math and science which keeps to the theme of Africa as we explored the various regions.  Who knew that in one simple download that my student(s) or child could travel the world, learn to tell time, and develop a wide range of science and social studies skills.  The integration of mobile learning to any home or school setting is truly effective!

Cognitive Kids has certainly hit home with this travel educational series.  As an educator, Ansel & Clair’s Adventure’s in Africa can most certainly fit into an elementary setting as it meets the academic standards of both Social Studies and Science. Overwhelmingly, Applicable2u can see this is an application that could appropriately fit into a whole, small or individual group setting.  Ansel & Clair’s Adventures in Africa provide opportunities for extended discussions, questions and a true understanding of key vocabulary.  With the integration of such technology, various learning styles are met and content is understood, not just covered.  Learning can happen in a variety ways.  Simply connect your iPad device to a large screen and open the opportunities for a scavenger hunt or webquest like activity where children can discuss content and respond to questions via paper or even a documentation app on your device.  As continents are learned, use this app for research purposes rather than having students freely out on the Internet as it supplements those hardcover books from the library.  Interested in developing science and social studies curriculum at the same time, create a “Find the Definition Of” interactive game as you incorporate an interactive whiteboard to your lesson or unit.  The possibilities are endless which explains why this is gaming for a reason!!!

Applicable2U would definitely recommend downloading this educational app.  Currently it is being offered at a discounted price, so get it while you can!  We are encouraged to see that this app is one of a series and we look forward to future apps added to the iTunes library.  To learn more about Cognitive Kids, Inc., please visit theirwebsite here. Or you can begin on your African adventure today, by clicking here.

Please be sure to read - How Can Teachers Help Make Great Apps?  

Reviewers website: www.applicable2u.wordpress.com

Go Kids Save Paris!

Go Kids Save Paris!
by Fun Educational Apps

Chief Commander Froochapaka says, “Special Agent Applicable2U I am sending you on a mission. There is a diabolical plan being conjured up by the Gloopies. The Gloopies will be invading Earth and it is your job to Save Paris before the Gloopies gloop Paris to oblivion.  Are you prepared to take on this top secret mission?”

Save Paris! is the first in a series of kids travel games for ages 7 and up developed by Fun Educational Apps.  As you navigate through this educational app, you will find it to be very interactive, provide humorous characters and also very informational.  Within the Apple Store there are thousands of educational apps on the market, but how often do you find one that will turn you into a special agent that can travel the world.  There are so many wonderful wonders of the world that we might not necessarily see in our lifetime. With the help of Fun Educational Apps, your child or student can now experience France is whole new way.

As you begin each mission, there are a total of 10, you will be presented with a microfilm of information that will guide you through each level.  Be sure that you read this information carefully or else the mission might fail.  Once you feel confident with the knowledge that you have been provided, you will go on a matching hunt.  If successful, your mission will continue with a game similar to one that you might see at a carnival where you have to strike or “whack” objects, in this case, gloops and medicine kits.  Just be sure that you are on your toes as you loose points when you hit people.  Each successful mission will unlock a new one where you continue to learn more information about France while also stopping the evil colorful Gloopies!!!

As a classroom teacher, I could certainly see this fitting in nicely to a French class.  If an iPad were accessible, connect to a large screen and complete the mission(s) as a whole group.  Navigate through the informational pieces which could provide further discussions amongst the class.  What a great way to either introduce or reinforce a lesson(s) on France of such things as: information, word/phrases, and landmarks to name a few.   Another way that I see this playing out in the classroom is: with an option to add four agents, students could work individually via an iTouch and work at their own pace throughout each mission.  Or do you happen to home school your child(ren)?  If so, this would make a nice addition to a history unit as you begin countries of the world.

Applicable2U believes that this educational app can apply to you!  In searching for educational apps that are worth downloading, we would give this a thumbs up!!!  For those that have not or can not travel the world, this application provides a virtual field trip like experience in a fun way.  We are excited to see what other series are added in the future.

If you would like to learn more about Fun Educational Apps, please visit their website.  If we have tempted you enough and would like to begin your download, then click here to begin Saving Paris! now by going to your iTunes library today!

Reviewers website: www.applicable2u.wordpress.com