Kalley's Machine Plus Cats
Kalley's Machine Plus Cats gallery
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Kalley's Machine Plus Cats is an interactive book inspired by a drawing created by a real four-year-old, Kalley. Kalley drew a picture of a machine that would make food so her dad didn't have to leave home to commute to a new job anymore. Rather than make the machine, her dad helped her turn it into a story with impressive interactive features that demonstrate several science concepts. This storybook app invites kids to tap and explore and discover, and it's a delight for all ages.What kids can learn
Every page features new interactions that control the machine and influence the cat's funny responses to what's going on around him. Kids will love exploring Kalley's creation.
Kalley's artistic and engineering-oriented thinking is inspiring for boys and girls. Kids are empowered to explore the machine on every page, seeing the effects of each interaction.
The developer's website includes the background on how the story was created along with a list of concepts that parents can explore more with young, interested engineers.
What's it about?
Kids can read the story, narrated by Kalley and her father, with Kalley explaining a different part of the machine she's invented on each page. A crank makes it go, and levers and dials control it. A boiler maintains the pressure, and bashers and pokers smash and poke objects that look a lot like marshmallows as they go down an assembly line. A shrinker shrinks the marshmallow objects, and an oven cooks (and sometimes burns!) them. Then kids can paint them, mixing colors using combinations of red, yellow, and blue, shape 'em, pick 'em, and present them as the machine's product: food.
Is it any good?
Kalley's excitement about her cool machine is contagious, and her passion, even at the end of the book when her dad explains that he works for reasons beyond food, is undeterred as she exclaims, "That's OK. I'll make machines for those too!" The machine is really cool, with interactions that are fun and educational. Kids adjust dials, flip switches, and turn cranks to control the machine. Oh, and a cat is there, too, doing what cats do: watching and interacting. Options are controlled by levers and switches, letting kids choose to highlight text, read aloud, turn sound effects on or off, and even turn the cat on or off. KALLEY'S MACHINE PLUS CATS is a delightful interactive book that kids will want to read, or at least explore, over and over.
Families can talk about...
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Ask kids what they might invent to make their worlds or lives better, just as Kalley invented the machine so her dad wouldn't have to go to work.
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Take the time to look at some of the interactive features (cooking/burning, color mixing, gears, vacuums, pressure, and temperature) more closely and explain the concepts to kids.
App details
| Devices: | iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad |
| Price: | $2.99 |
| Pricing structure: | Paid |
| Release date: | September 24, 2014 |
| Category: | Books |
| Topics: | Cats, dogs, and mice, Great girl role models, Science and nature |
| Size: | 38.60 MB |
| Publisher: | RocketWagon |
| Version: | 1.0.2 |
| Minimum software requirements: | iOS 6.0 or later |
