Eva and I received a copy of the new PBS Kids iPad App: Dinosaur Train All Aboard. This is an app that let’s kids put dinosaurs of different sizes into train cars. Kids need to estimate the sizes of the dinosaurs against the train cars. I like this app because it helps kids learn about spatial relations. I personally have always been good about putting things together in the best way possible. For example, when I clean up the play area I find the best way to fit everything in its proper place. I can visualize how to do this easily. An app like this can help kids think about how things fit into place and take that skill outside of the game.
Eva was very happy to play this game. I left her to her own devices with the iPad and she played this game over and over even after I stopped playing. The game does have a two player mode so that I can play with her as well. There are a few levels and the game gets progressively more complex with dinosaurs that may or may not be of equal size and kids need to think more critically about what they are seeing. Eva did really well playing this game and we enjoyed playing it together.
Eva and I got to check out a new PBS Kids app for the iPhone. This is an app where kids play the part of photographer who is photographing birds and flying dinosaurs in a specific order. This helps to teach kids sequencing and patterning skills. The child also learns some motor skills as well as they have to turn different ways in order to find the different birds and take their photos.
In the Dinosaur Train Camera Catch! App (pictured), players snap photos of flying dinosaurs by moving their iPhone around. Kids “catch” the dinosaurs with their phone’s camera function in a designated pattern, building patterning skills. The PBS KIDS app was developed in partnership with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of the Ready To Learn Initiative.
Eva found this app to be pretty fun. She picked up on the patterns quickly and she already loves taking photos. I’d love to see this app use some augmented reality so that she could take photos of the birds around her actual environment. It is a pretty easy app with enough challenge for preschool kids.
PBS Kids is supplying underserved communities with free copies of this app to help the children of those areas catch up to kids like Eva who do have access to iPads, iPhones and computers. Please read the Press Release below. Continue reading Dinosaur Train Camera Catch iPhone App Review→