The Top 3 Ecology Apps for Kids

Getting your kids excited about ecology can take some doing, but the result is worth it. How can you get your precocious youngster interested in this most fascinating of subjects? Encourage him to ask questions and help him discover the answers for himself? Of course! How about toys that make the subject more fun than a shelf of heavy scientific tomes ever will? Not a bad idea. But you have something better than plastic toys right there on your palm. That’s right, your smartphone or iPad and the loads of free ecology apps and games for kids just waiting to be downloaded. Here are 3 of the top ecology apps for kids that help your budding scientist learn more about ecology and the environment.

1. Marine Missions: This is a free iPad app designed by National Geographic for kids aged 4 – 7. One of the most vibrant colorful games for kids, this app teaches the little ones about ocean-dwelling creatures and the importance of water conservation. Young players are responsible for cleaning up the polluted oceans of the world – they can make oil spills disappear with a swipe, banish trash to recycling centers and learn about blowholes, whirlpools and tidal bores. As your child explores the watery world with Jacques the hermit crab, he is learning about biodiversity, different ecosystems, and how a healthy ocean is actually a healthy world.
   
2. WWF Together: This is another great free app for iPad and has featured in the iPad Apps for School in addition to winning the Apple Design Award 2013. The app features interactive stories centered on endangered animal species from around the world and some really stunning videos and images of bison, polar bears, gorillas, snow leopards, and other exotic animals. It also has useful facts about different animal species, their habitats and the ways in which they struggle for survival. Your child can click on any animal species for additional facts and pictures. Definitely seems like one of the best ecology apps for elementary school kids!
   
3. Kids Discover Space This free app is an interactive book compatible with 2nd, 3rd and
   
   4th generation iPads and iPad Mini. Kids interested in learning about space and its marvels love this app for its rich graphics, diagrams, spectacular images and the loads of fun surprises it offers. Users are introduced to a wide range of topics - from the early astronomers, the solar system and all the planets (including Pluto and its reclassification) to a detailed timeline of space exploration. Your child gets a rare opportunity to experience the beauty and mystery of space. Kids Discover Space is a deserving 3 time winner of the Parents’ Choice GOLD Award. These cool and fun games for kids are sure to get your child excited about ecology!

21st Century Education – Significance of Game-Based Education

Childhood memories are often filled with images of textbooks and piles of homework. But

those days are now gone! The classroom has seen a revolution of sorts and has reshaped education and showed its fruitful results already.

Game-based learning in the classroom has revolutionized the faculty’s approach towards teaching and training kids. Game-based curricula are designed to perfectly balance games with education to help students retain the subject matter and apply it successfully without much strain and effort. 

Game based learning (GBL) is based on three cardinal principles:

• Competitive exercises that pit students against each other in order to motivate them to learn more and better 
• The feature of ‘fantasy’ in kids’ games online that engages kids in the learning activity along a concrete storyline, and
• Elements of engagement and cognition whose end-result is acquisition of knowledge 

Kids’ Games Online – A Resource of Game-Based Learning

Kids games online motivate students to learn and seep them in curricula so that they learn more effectively. Online kids’ games give them scope to fail and learn from their mistakes, unlike classroom activities. 

Kids’ games provide continuous challenges to students that keep them ‘hooked’ to the game. It is easy for kids to lose interest mid-way while studying. However, since game-based learning is designed by professionals specifically with the aim of retaining kids’ interests, they are successful in keeping the kids engaged for longer periods. 

As a parent, make sure the games that kids play online have more than one way to accomplish the goal. Only one approach toward the goal can be stifling to kids who might not discover the path to victory very easily. Flexibility is another important feature that makes kids’ games online fun, challenging and every bit of a learning experience. 

Kids’ games that combine fun and realism to teach a particular subject matter can engage kids successfully and send the learning curve shooting. Simulation games for kids online provide fun, engagement and just the right amount of curricula to teach kids effectively. Some games online give players constructive and spontaneous rewards that help them move forward in the game. But the biggest reward is not the points that kids get, but their interest and learning as they play the game!