Peek-a-Zoo - by Duck Duck Moose

Peek-a-Zoo is a questions-based app that, among other things, helps link sound and visual cues with vocabulary. Who is yelling? Who is sad? Students view animals smiling, crying, winking, waving, barking, eating, and more. They see animals standing backwards and upside down. Peek-a-Zoo also gently encourages young students to analyze the animals for clues to answer questions and come to conclusions. For example, "Who is Linus the Lion?" requires kids to make the cognitive jump from seeing a lion on the screen with no name attached and noticing there's no other lion on the screen. Even if they don't recall the lion's name from the intro, kids can surmise that this lion's name must be Linus, and then tap the lion to answer. Through the questions, kids are encouraged to identify emotions, label feelings, and take note of specific actions. The questions on Peek-a-Zoo are written as well as spoken, which helps pre- and emerging readers. Questions are repeated depending on how much time students spend with Peek-a-Zoo.

With its easy-to-use format and creative yet simple animal animations, Peek-a-Zoo supports teachers in providing kids with all-important lessons about social and emotional cues, which can be applied in endless situations in and out of the classroom. It may be useful in future versions to add some zoo visitors (humans) to the mix so kids can see human faces portraying these actions, messages, and emotions. Peek-a-Zoo can spark further discussion and help teachers reinforce a message they're conveying to kids in everyday teaching moments.