Enjoying the First Day of Spring

See a photo a day on BenSpark's ShutterCal
Photo-A-Day #2537

Today was an exceptionally warm day for the first day of Spring. Allison took the kids to the park and I started cleaning up the backyard. I”m doing this Spring cleanup a section at a time. So far I have all of the sidewalks cleaned as well as one half of the backyard. I’ll try and get the rest of the backyard and then start on the front later this week. Gotta get things ready for the city pickup at the beginning of April.

Dinosaur Train Camera Catch iPhone App Review

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.

Dinosaur Train Camera Catch iPhone App
Courtesy of PBS KIDS. DINOSAUR TRAIN TM & © 2012 The Jim Henson Company. All Rights Reserved.

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