National Geographic Kids has produced it’s first iPad app: Ultimate Dinopedia: The Most Complete Dinosaur Reference Ever. Dinosaur loving kids will love it. Parents will be grateful for it.
Ultimate Dinopedia app home page
Fifty-eight years ago my family had to make an emergency drive from Houston, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia. I remember two things about the drive itself. We drove straight through, and my sister and I passed the time singing 99 Bottles of Beer on The Wall, and Found A Penny. There were no super highways in 1952. It was a long trip. I’m not sure my parents ever recovered from the concert.
When I started looking at this awesome new app from National Geographic Kids, released December 17, 2010, that trip popped into my mind, and I thought how fortunate todays kids are to have access to both iPads and quality apps like this one. Any kid obsessed with dinosaurs will find almost anything they ever wanted to know in this one app.
Ultimate Dinopedia: The Most Complete Dinosaur Reference Ever, can be found in the Books category and sells for US$5.99. It requires iOS 4.2 or later, is compatible with iPad and is available in English only.
Ultimate Dinopedia app icon
The section on Meat Eaters covers family trees, weapons, predators, and individual pages on each different kind of dinosaur that falls into that family. There is also a section for Plant Eaters, followed by sections on discovering dinosaurs, definitions, where they have been found, habitats, fossils, hatching, caring for the young, migration, courtship, dinosaur hunters, dinosaur finds, digs, discoveries, extension, etc.
Using the app
As one would expect for any iPad app designed for children, this app is very easy to use. Pages turn with finger swipes. The pages that feature stats, audio, facts, and picture information all have touch buttons shaped like rocks at the bottom of the page. There are also videos associated with some pages, although a few users have complained that running the video’s caused the app to crash. I have not experienced that problem.
A typical page featuring audio, facts, and stats
Sample page explaining fighting techniques
Do I recommend it?
I do. This app combines learning with fascination. There could be the problem of the new electric train on Christmas morning where Dad is so busy playing with it that the kids don’t get a turn, but other than that they should love it and there is enough information to keep them interested for a long time. And, it’s a whole lot better in the car than 18 hours or so of Found A Penny. The quality of the illustrations is excellent as is the amount of information included. Recommendation: Get headphones or earphones for the kids to use in the car.