Friday, December 26, 2014

Website & App Review: Curious George

The CURIOUS GEORGE website and apps provide endless hours of fun and learning for young children.

The free website is attractive and easy to use. The GAMES section contains 18 games featuring Curious George. While some activities focus on a learning activity such as matching or patterns, others seem to have little educational value. The STORIES section contain a few e-books to read online. The CREATE section contains fun writing, drawing, recording, music, and art activities. The CURIOUS ABOUT.. section provides a collection of activities based on a theme such as zoo animals. Questions are provided for adults working with children. The PARENT and TEACHER sections include lots of on- and off-computer ideas.

Eleven apps are available with the Curious George character. They include an interactive story builder, interactive books and games, literacy learning activities, drawing tools, an interactive picture dictionary, and a reader collection. The Curious Reader app contains a collection of interactive books with read-to-me and read-to-myself options. The books are purchased separately.

Both the website and apps are published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The website is free, but the apps are sold individually or in two, 4-app bundles.

To explore the website, go to http://www.curiousgeorge.com/.

To access the apps, go to http://www.curiousgeorge.com/store/apps.