As a former high school math teacher, and now professional developer for teachers, I knew that today’s learners – with access to constant information – were different. Today’s “digital learner*” is exposed to ongoing media, and the iPhone is the digital “butler” of games, infowhelm*, and 24/7 connectivity. The iPhone captures the attention not only of my 6-year-old son but also now my 2-year-old. Of course as an educator, my primary focus is on educational, yet captivating, experiences for them both. (* term coined by Ian Jukes)
Enter the app, Remembory – a basic memory card game designed for toddlers. Written by a self-proclaimed amateur programmer, Remembory succeeds in a couple of ways where others (to my knowledge) have not: first, there are no cartoon-based images but the images are of real objects from eight sets of cards; second, and most importantly, you can choose to customize the card images by either using the camera within the app or from an image from your photo album!
By customizing the six (2×3) to 20 (4×5) cards with photos of persons, personal objects, and items that interest my toddler, I was able to create a deck with photos of my son, his brother, a firetruck from my photo library, a christmas tree from the app-supplied images, and a random image choice from the other categories (numbers, animals, letters, etc.) that held my toddler’s independent interest for over 5 minutes. By comparison, the other basic memory card game app with cartoon images on my iPhone has never held his interest without my monitoring and encouragement.
Remembory has a simplistic, minimalist design focusing the toddler’s attention on the cards and not a score or turn count (the educator in me cheers aloud). There are no flashy graphics like other memory games that indicate a successful match; instead a child’s voice celebrates “woohoo!” while the cards’ images darken (an option that can be toggled off). A delightful toddler’s voice (who sounds remarkably like my son’s) also speaks, “new game” and “settings” when you push the corresponding buttons, as well as a cheerful “You Win!” at the conclusion of the game.
What might be improved? There seems to be some glitch when trying to select the most-desirable “Custom” card theme after the first time. If you want to further customize the deck, you have to scroll to a different card set, and then back to “custom” to activate the submenu. I’m hopeful that an update will correct this, as well as the addition of developer-promised future card sets in the near future.
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Remembory is available at the App store for $0.99
Remembory was provided by Silly Robot Software for review on Just Another iPhone Blog. For further information regarding our site ‘s review policies, please see the ‘About ‘ page.
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