MIXIMAL
MIXIMAL gallery
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that MIXIMAL is a simple app based on those traditional flipbooks that allow kids to mix and match animals. Kids swipe through three sections to create silly animal combinations, or match all three parts of the same animal. Each section, and each completed matching animal, comes with a little animated movement. Kids can also tap to see and hear the animal's name segmented by syllable. This function is available in five languages: English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian.What kids can learn
Making giggle-inducing combinations of animals is sure to engage and delight. And those silly animal names add another layer. Yet this one-trick pony may not be enough to capture kids' attention for very long.
This app is more about fun than learning. Kids can use their imaginations to create different animal combinations, and the animal names may help them work on segmenting words by syllable. Five language options also introduce some vocabulary in foreign languages.
Play is easy and well supported and five language options make the app accessible to kids who speak those five languages. Kids can't save or expand on their creations though.
What's it about?
Animal drawings are segmented vertically into three parts. Kids swipe left and right to scroll through different animal heads, midsections, and bottom sections. Combine the head of a crocodile with a gorilla's chest and a flamingo's legs, for example. Tap to see and hear the name of your animal: Croc-ri-go in the case of the CROCodile, goRIlla, flaminGO. Each animal section makes a little movement, and there's a silly animation when kids match all three animal sections.
Is it any good?
Cute graphics, silly animations, and a large number of ridiculous animal combinations make for great fun and lots of giggles. A sweet rendition of traditional flipbooks, it has an added twist of sound and animation. The language options are a nice touch for kids to work on segmenting syllables, or learning animal names in other languages. Though there are a good number of available animals, making for even more possible animal combinations, the appeal may be limited: There are only so many times kids will want to mix animal parts and laugh at what they've created. A photo option would be nice so kids could capture their creations, and some space for commenting on or describing these new animal combinations would round out the game and offer some ways to keep kids more engaged. Yet, overall, it's is a sweet and entertaining game.
Families can talk about...
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Families can talk about what kids create. Ask them about the animal they've made with the bird's legs, the bear's torso, and the elephant's head. What can this animal do, where does it live, what does it eat, how does it move, what sounds does it make, and so on?
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Explore the animals names, both the silly versions, and the completed real ones. Help kids segment the syllables -- e.g., by clapping -- and decode the name combinations. Explore the real animal names in foreign languages and learn something new together.
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Have kids draw or create their own animal combinations on paper or with craft materials.
App details
| Devices: | iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad |
| Price: | $1.99 |
| Pricing structure: | Paid |
| Release date: | May 21, 2014 |
| Category: | Education |
| Topics: | Wild animals |
| Size: | 32.60 MB |
| Publisher: | Lucas Zanotto |
| Version: | 1.0.2 |
| Minimum software requirements: | iOS 6.1 or later |
