Kids addicted to their iPads? Don't get me wrong, the tablets in our home are used for far more than just zoning out to repeated episodes of Peppa Pig. In fact, Peppa features relatively infrequently. David has autism and he uses his iPad as a way of learning new skills, understanding and coping with the world. What I can find disappointing is there is no way for me to interact with him on the device. But I've recently found a way, through iPad enabled flash cards.
4D+ Augmented Reality Flash Cards are a set of physical flash cards covering a range of topics from space or dinosaurs to alphabet animals and occupations. Show the flash card to an iPad or other tablet, and once you've downloaded an app, it brings the cards to life on the screen. Suddenly we had a physical tool to use with the iPad and engage David in a two person interaction.
And it wasn't just David that engaged with the cards. David and I could play, Jane and I could play and even better Jane and David could play together. Jane was like the teacher holding cards for David to take and play with on the screen. This is quite unusual and lovely to see. I was even allowed the iPad while the kids showed the cards. A rarity indeed.
David's favourite pack was the dinosaurs, he loved listening to their lifelike figures roar. Anthony loved the space set - he loved matching what he was learning in school to what he saw in 4D+ and space and tickets are a hot topic for him, full of speed and numbers. Jane's favourite was definitely the A-Z animals. She loved using the food cards that coordinate with the animals and meant the creatures would go find the food on the screen. I love that she reenacted this with her toys, yet another expansion in her play repertoire.
We even gave a few packs to David's specialist school to try with the kids as a way of being more interactive with their rewards. David uses a token economy at school, where he works for tokens to get a reward and the iPad features highly as a motivational tool for him. Now, instead of this being a solitary reward, it can be another opportunity for the teachers to engage him with fun flashcards. It's a win-win.
This post contained a giveaway which has now closed. See details below.
We received a sample of the 4D+ Augmented Reality flashcards for the purposes of running and writing the competition. As always all thoughts and opinions in this post are independent and my own. My general disclaimer is at the bottom of my site. This is also listed on #Blog_Giveaways
Great review! I am glad you liked the flashcards. Good luck to all those who enter the competition :-)
ReplyDeleteFab would love to win dinosaur 4d for my son
ReplyDeleteI think the Animal 4D would be ideal for my grandaughter
ReplyDeleteWhat a fab review and I love the sound of these. Perhaps we could use these as a resource in school too. Thank you for linking up to #ablogginggoodtime 🎉
ReplyDeleteThe space theme would be super for my boys
ReplyDeletethe dinosaur 4d would be fab!!
ReplyDeleteThe animal 4d would be great
ReplyDeleteWhat a fab concept, these sound amazing!
ReplyDelete#marvmondays
they look amazing and the concepts good i like the animal alphabet ones, my little grand daughter is animal mad so these would be great, i will cross my fingers for myself but good luck to everybody.
ReplyDeleteDinosaurs 3d for my nephew
ReplyDeleteI struggle as a parent who raised 5 children with a good set of exam results and now in good jobs as to why we need screen time to be educational all the time, kids learn from a variety of activities and would benefit from playing more with their parents, friends and being in the great outdoors.
ReplyDelete#TriumphantTales
Thanks for your comment. While it is true that some children learn through a variety of activities this is not the case for all children and not the preferred method for perhaps a surprising amount of children. I think engaging with kids in activities that they enjoy, like being on an iPad is a great thing. And having another tool and way to learn is worth it's weight in good for us.
DeleteI absolutely love these. My son and I play lots of education apps on his tablet. He would love these, I wonder if he could battle the dinosaurs by moving the cards around, just his type of thing!
ReplyDeleteThey sound like fun #SSAA
ReplyDeleteMy little girl is dinosaur mad so I'd prob pick that pack. Here's hoping there's an ankylasaurus card lol xx
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fantastic idea. I need to get some of these for my students I think!
ReplyDeleteOh these flash cards sounds like super fun! I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with D's iPad using when he gets older. Basically he needs to learn about the technology but there also have to be limits in it :D
ReplyDeleteGreat review. They sound fantastic. Thanks for linking up to #TriumphantTales, hope you'll come back on Tuesday :)
ReplyDeleteid like the dinosaur set
ReplyDeleteWow these are amazing. We need these in our life, just to be able to 'play' together with the ipad and these cards. I might have to get some with Ethan's birthday money
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up with Small Steps Amazing Achievements
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These sound great x
ReplyDeleteFab idea....much more interaction involved. Ideal
ReplyDeleteOh and we would choose animals as my daughter loves any and all types of animals.
DeleteI agree with you totally about calming through routine my daughter loves her iPad an sometimes I feel she spends to much time on it but it's feels like her way of relaxing after school . Sometimesshe comes home from school and it's like complete overload for her but half an hour on her iPad and you can see the difference
ReplyDeleteI think my girls would love the 4D dinosaur one. They're dino mad.
ReplyDeleteI think it would have to be the dinosaur set. My son is Dino mad.
ReplyDeleteThese are amazing; I really thing the dinosaurs and animals ones would be fantastic.
ReplyDeleteMy son wants to be an astronaut so he'd love the space set.
ReplyDeleteThe animals!
ReplyDeleteThe space theme would be super for my nephew!
ReplyDeleteI'd love the dinosaur cards for my 7 year old, he too has autism and is totally obsessed with researching dinosaurs on his iPad x
ReplyDeleteThe Dinosaur cards would go down a treats in our school. #PostsFromTheHeart
ReplyDelete