The Archives
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05.07.13iDinosaur and iSolar System books have augmented reality appsAugmented reality (AR) technology involves seeing digital characters and/or information superimposed on the real world when you look through a smartphone or tablet, using its camera. Plenty of adults are sceptical about AR's usefulness, but we suspect 'entertaining children' may turn out to be one of its key uses. Two new books from Carlton Publishing Group – iDinosaur and iSolar System – show why. The books are educational, telling children about dinosaurs and the Solar System with a mixture of bitesize text and images, targeting kids aged six and upwards. Continue Reading...
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03.26.131000 Adventures app plays with pirates, cowboys, dinosaurs and moreWe've seen a number of apps starring pirates, dinosaurs, superheroes and aliens. Rarely one with all of the above though. 1000 Adventures is that app. Released by developer DADA Company, it's a colourful series of scenes starring a young boy with an active imagination. Each scene starts in the real world, but gets your children to tap on different objects and people to change them to a fantasy scene. Continue Reading...
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02.14.13National Geographic launches freemium Dino Land iOS game for kidsWoah, National Geographic! At any point during the development of your new freemium game for kids, Dino Land, did nobody suggest that offering £69.99 in-app purchases of virtual bones was a bad idea? Seemingly not. Dino Land was released today, and looks like a fun game where kids collect dinosaurs in a cartoon landscape, learning facts and unlocking pictures of each creature as they go. Along the way, they create new species in a DNA splicing lab, and build shops and decorations to make their landscape look nice. Our children love dinosaurs, so we'd love to love this. Continue Reading...
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02.12.13VTech’s Switch & Go Dinos Get Free Augmented Reality AppVTech has released an app featuring its popular Switch & Go Dinos toys – but you’ll need access to a printer to use it. To use the app, you must first download and print a poster from VTechDinoDen.com (following the Dinos Alive! link) - there are seven different dinos to choose from. If you then view the entire poster on your iPad or iPhone screen, the augmented reality app reveals a 3D, movable dinosaur to 'play' with - by touching the screen your child can make the dino move, roar and transform. VTech’s Switch & Go Dinos is suitable for children aged three ...
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01.25.13Ansel & Clair get Jurassic in new dinosaurs iPad appDinosaurs have an enduring fascination for children, whether in books, TV shows and films, or in the flesh (well, bone) in museums. They're also pretty appealing in apps. Ansel & Clair: Jurassic Dinosaurs is the work of developer Cognitive Kid, and follows four previous apps in the Ansel & Clair series – including one on Cretaceous Dinosaurs. They've been winning awards, so a new addition is well worth a look. This time round, the dinosaurs include Allosaurus (a meat-eating ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, apparently), Archaeopteryx, Brachiosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Stegosaurus and others – for us, it's all about the Stegosaurus here, but kids will have their own favourites. ...
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08.01.12Dinosaur – Picture Me makes your child prehistoric on iPhone and iPadDinosaurs: amazing. Children dressed as dinosaurs: amazing. Digital photos of children's faces superimposed on virtual dinosaurs on iPhones and iPads? Probably amazing too. That's the idea behind Oceanhouse Media's latest app: Dinosaur - Picture Me. Aimed at 2-5 year-olds, it's based on the popular series of Picture Me books, which have apparently sold more than 30m copies. The prehistoric story has plenty of dinosaur outfits to superimpose your child's face on, but like other omBooks (the word Oceanhouse uses to describe its book-apps), there are also features focused on early literacy, such as words being highlighted as they are read. Continue Reading...
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07.26.12Natural History Museum launches NHM Evolution iPad appI'm not sure how many times I dragged my parents to the Natural History Museum as a child, but they still go pale if they even think of a dinosaur bone. Generations of kids have flocked to the museum in London, but now it's got an official iPad app. NHM Evolution is heavyweight, it's fair to say. It costs £9.99, but you get 750MB of stuff about the last 600 million years of life on Earth for your money. "Starting from the first signs of ancient life in Strelley Pool, Western Australia, swipe, pinch and tap the illustrated Timeband to explore at ...
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07.01.12Fisher-Price Imaginext Dinosaurs gets prehistoric on iPhoneThe App Store is well-stocked for educational kid-apps about dinosaurs, what with Oh Say Can You Say Di-No-Saur?, DK Dinosaur Stickers and the excellent March of the Dinosaurs. Now toy brand Fisher-Price is getting in on the action. It's just released Fisher-Price Imaginext Dinosaurs, an iPhone app aimed at children aged 3-5. It's a mixture of facts, x-rayed (cartoon) bones and a minigame. The game is simple, as you'd expect for this age group. It's a maze game that involves tilting the iPhone to guide a Triceratops through a maze, avoiding a hungry T-Rex en route. There's also an 'Either Ore' movie to watch. We're ...
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05.10.12Puzzleosaurus unscrambles dinosaurs on iPhone and iPadOur children still keep coming back to developer EduGame's Bumbles Jumble puzzles app, so we're always keen to see new apps from the company. Puzzleosaurus offers a jurassic take on digital jigsaw puzzles. It's all about piecing together eight dinosaur pictures on-screen, with between eight and 13 pieces each to rotate and slot into place. When each puzzle is completed, your child gets some facts about its size, weight, diet and where in the world it lived. Oh yes, and the app roars like a dinosaur as they slot pieces into place correctly. A small but marvellous touch. Puzzleosaurus is on sale ...
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02.22.12The Cat in the Hat gets Jurassic with Dr. Seuss dinosaurs appThere has been a steady flow of Dr. Seuss apps over the last couple of years, proving just as delightful as the books. Oh Say Can You Say Di-No-Saur? is the latest example. Hosted by The Cat in the Hat, this is an educational and entertaining look at dinosaurs, with facts galore, and some special appearances from other well-known Seuss characters. Or, as the App Store puts it: "Search each page for hidden information cards from Thing One and Two, tap images to extend a ladder or measure the length of a brachiosaurus, and access an instant glossary by tapping on special ...
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