Educational Games with AR

Every kid loves their iPad and mobile phone. As electronic devices become part of every household, educational games with AR or Augmented Reality are one of the best ways to maximize every child’s screen time. Yes! Instead of complaining that our kids are always on their iPads, why not maximize their experience with these electronic devices.

Just like any ordinary family, my kids love their ipads and tablets. We do limit screen time for the kids (Click on the link to find out more) but when the kids get on their tablets, they do enter another world. Right now, we have just designed a few hoops for them to jump through before they head on over to “Brawl Stars”.  We are going to set up some exercises for them, using these educational games, where they will need to tell us about what they have learnt before we give them the license to enter the “Brawl Stars” arena. Yes! I am definitely trying to get creative in my parenting.

Here are some educational games with AR that I have discovered on Apple’s iOS. For the blog post, we are going to introduce 5 Educational games with AR and 1 an additional bonus game.

My wife asked me … Why the games today so complicated … must have Augmented Reality?!? … It’s all part of the strategy. Get them hooked both on tech and  education at the same time! 🙂

Educational Games with AR

1. Civilizations AR

What happens when you can’t visit the British Museum or any other museum in London. We bring the Museum and the artifacts to you via AR.  Civilisations AR is a collaboration between BBC Arts, BBC R&D, Nexus Studios and around 30 museums and galleries from across the UK. This Civilizations AR app features 40 artefacts at the moment.

I really enjoyed seeing the artifacts coming to life in my living room and with AR, it means that you can move around artifacts like an Egyptian Mummy. The AR is wonderful, as I could even see the hole that tomb raiders carved, in order to steal the artifacts from the mummy. Once a child visits a particular museum piece, he/she has certain “buttons” or “hot spots” to look for.

The “hot spots” encourages you to poke around  and discover more. For example, you can shine a virtual torch on your subject and tappable yellow buttons appear. Kids get to learn more through a voiceover which describes the artifact. Occasionally, you get to ‘restore’ an object like a bashed up old helmet,

In my book, this app scores a 10 in the cool factor and I recommend every parent to try it out for themselves. Best of all, this app is available for free.

2. JigSpace

Parents need to know that JigSpace is an augmented reality (AR) educational experience where kids can explore 3D models and learn at the same time. Great for kids 11 years and older, kids can learn anything from “How a battery works” to “What is a heart stent”.  For more advance kids, you can even build your own model and build the library of Jigs available.

The app includes a growing library of animated 3D graphics with accompanying text that you can explore to learn how certain objects function. After selecting a tutorial, such as “How a Piano Works,” the app will scan your surroundings for a flat surface that it can virtually place the object on. Once it’s done this, you can pinch to zoom-in on the graphic, then rotate it to view it from any angle.

I found the app interesting and fun. However, the number of models is limited at the moment, but as more educators contribute, the library is just set to grow and help us understand the world around us.

3. Bookful

My daughter is a reluctant reader and this educational app with AR brings new hope to help  encourage her to read. Imagine Dinosaurs, rabbits or the characters in the story book coming to life. Click on the video to watch the app in it’s full glory:

Users are given options where they can  view the book in 3D mode or AR mode – you can zoom in and out as well as move around the objects appearing on the book for a better look. The app does bring fun to the normal boring book and it is aimed to instill interest in the young reader.

4. MathNinja AR

Every Asian parent will love this. Get kids to learn their Math in a fun way. Using AR, kids just pick a spot in the room, tap, and they enter a little town. Kids see the addition problem and tap the character with the correct answer.  Music is fun plus there are cute characters to excited every child.

I am going to make this game mandatory for my daughter before she can watch TV 🙂 Don’t worry, there are easy and difficult levels to let the parents adapt the game for your kid.

5. Wonderscope