Gear Diary New Nosy Crow App Rounds Parker Penguin Life Science for Kids photo

So, okay: My bff is an actual, honest-to-god Rocket Scientist with a degree in Astrophysics.  One of the smartest guys I know.  And as part of his doctoral research (He’s “Dr. Tim”, thank you very much!), he had to spend several “summers” in Antarctica, gathering data from a huge array of telescopes that are, no kidding, pointing down. (This experiment is on-going; you should read about it.)  So believe me, when I see a news item that has “science” and “Antarctica” in it, it gets my attention, even if–heck, especially if–it’s intended for kids:

Independent publisher Nosy Crow is delighted to announce its life science book app, Rounds: Parker Penguin, is now available on the App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Illustrated by Barry Tranter and written by Emma Tranter, this interactive, multimedia app is recommended for children ages 3 to 6.

Rounds: Parker Penguin is the second app in the innovative Rounds series about the life-cycles of animals. The first Rounds app, Rounds: Franklin Frog, was named an Editor’s Choice app by the App Store (Education Category). It received an Editor’s Choice Award from Children’s Technology Review, a Kirkus Star, and was shortlisted for a FutureBook Award (Best Children’s App). USA Today awarded the app four out of four stars, saying, “It is fabulous. We can’t wait for the next one.”

Rounds: Parker Penguin combines narrative storytelling with lots of educational information and interactive fun, making it perfect for both the home and the classroom. The app takes the reader through the stages of a penguin’s life from birth to parenthood. The child can help Parker to grow up, move around the Antarctic environment on land and in the water, hunt, avoid predators, march to his breeding ground, meet a mate, protect an egg and hatch a chick before starting all over again with Parker’s son.

 Rounds: Parker Penguin has:

•    Well-researched and accurate educational content
•    An age-appropriate story told in accessible and carefully-chosen language
•    Stylish but child-friendly graphics – the circular story is told using art made of circles and parts of circles
•    Hundreds of interactive elements triggered by tapping, swiping and tipping the screen (tipping the screen helps Parker slide around the Antarctic slopes on his belly and dive into the water, for example)
•    Hundreds of lines of dialogue voiced by child actors
•    Rich animation (you can watch the penguins do their mating dance, for example)
•    Original music by BAFTA award-winning composer, Robin Beanland

Availability and Pricing

Rounds: Parker Penguin App is available for $4.99 (£2.99) from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

Device Requirements

Compatible with all iPads. For iPhone and iPod touch, requires minimum iPhone 3GS or 3rd generation iPod touch running iOS 3.1.3 or higher.

Sound like something your kids might like?  Well, surf on over and check it out, then!  And if you do, be sure to let us know what you think below!

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Doug is a nerd from way back, falling for a Commodore PET at the age of 15, and never looking back. Riding the nerd wave, he got a Computer Science degree and entered the tech industry at a young age, deciding after a year and a half of front-line phone technical support that he should try something, *anything* else. He settled on technical writing, and has been cranking out documentation for companies like Unisys, SGI, Cisco, Juniper, and many others ever since. He is nothing short of ecstatic to be working for H-P from his home base in Austin.


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