How Can Teachers Use It?
Use Animals ! Life sciences educational games for kids in Preschool and Kindergarten by i Learn With as a hook activity before starting a unit on animals. You'll be able to access what kids already know and get them excited about learning more (and you'll be able to go into more depth than the app offers). Work with kids in small groups to practice listening and observing skills as well. Though kids can easily manipulate the game on their own, for a meaningful learning experience, they'll need a teacher supplementing the information or guiding them.
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What's It Like?
The premise of the game is for kids to play hide-and-seek with an animal, answering questions about some other creatures the hiding animal sees along the way. Appearance deals with animal traits, such as claws, fur, and skin. Habitat deals with where animals live and spend their time. Living Habits delves more deeply into habitat information, additionally asking about classifications of animals (mammal, lays eggs, etc.) or what kinds of food animals eat. Three levels of difficulty are included in each category. Incorrect answers are corrected with a gentle beep, as the incorrect option turns gray, so if kids don't know the answers, the app will guide them. Baba, the Meerkat, repeats the questions and offers help as needed. The detailed progress reports show what kids have worked on and how many questions they've answered correctly, and compares their scores to the average.
Though Animals ! Life sciences educational games for kids in Preschool and Kindergarten by i Learn With is offered as a free app, the learning games require a $1.99 in-app purchase. Additionally, other educational games (billed as "prizes" when the rocket ship is tapped) are included in the progress reports.
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Is It Good For Learning?
Kids can learn about animals, their traits, habitats, and living habits, and develop listening skills as they follow verbal instructions. Baba, the Meerkat, is always available to help and repeat clues as needed. Kids will hear words like mammal, savannah, and jungle, but they're expected to already know what the words mean as Baba's clues don't define them. Kids will become familiar with simple maps as they follow the trail left by Bruce, Wanda, and Wendell. After a few rounds, the traits and questions get repetitive, however. The actual life science information isn't very deep, but kids will strengthen their listening and observing skills through play, which can build better readers.
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Choose from animal traits, habitats, or living habits.
Touch the picture of the animal that answers the verbal question.
Incorrect choices fade out and kids get another chance.
Detailed progress reports show how kids' performance compares to others.
