Use Ansel and Clair: Cretaceous Dinosaurs (and its two companion apps Ansel and Clair: Jurassic Dinosaurs and Ansel & Clair: Triassic Dinosaurs) as a tool to help kids gain visual impressions of the different dinosaurs in the three main periods of time in which they lived. Talk with students about the pronunciation hint that appears above each dinosaur, so kids can learn how to say those giant-size names correctly syllable-by-syllable and understand why pronunciation keys are useful. Encourage kids to use the in-app Travel Log (a photo album/journal) to write using digital technology, and to combine images and words to present their ideas about what they're learning.
Continue readingEditor's Note: Ansel and Clair: Cretaceous Dinosaurs is no longer available for download.
Ansel and Clair: Cretaceous Dinosaurs is a well-designed learning experience that lets kids dig into facts about dinosaurs while touching lightly on science, social studies, and writing skills. Create a user account (the app can store up to four) and watch the cool intro. From the main page, kids can decide whether they want to explore the dig site or go back in time to the Cretaceous Period. Kids can learn about dinosaurs from that time, including the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Oviraptor, and the Sarcosuchus, a giant crocodile. As they look for the dino-pointers and trackers to tap and learn information, when they hear or see something that grabs them, they can tap the in-app backpack and journal to add photos or write a note about their favorite dinosaurs.
There's so much for kids to learn about dinosaurs and Earth in the prehistoric times on this app. Ansel and Clair talk about each dinosaur in detail and often instruct kids to do something interactive after the explanation, such as wiping away sand from the Oviraptor. Kids can go on a dusty dinosaur dig or travel back in time to the richly flowered Cretaceous Period with the dinosaurs. The unfamiliar globe shows the continents split into Gondwanaland and Laurasia. Kids can watch a volcano erupt and start a meteor shower and then learn about why scientists believe the meteors, not volcanoes, played a role in dinosaur extinction.