My children don’t usually play much on tablets or phones, they rather watch TV but as they are both really keen on animals I thought they’d love to try the Virry App.
Virry is an award winning educational app that lets the children connect with meerkats, wild lions, giraffes and rhinos through live interactive footage. The first noticeable thing about the app is how incredible real the animals look, the quality of the footage is very impressive and it makes the children keen to playing with it.
There are two main types of content, the live webcams, where you can see what the animals are doing, and the pre recorded interactive videos. With the interactive videos children can either feed the animals, learn facts and even call them out and give them instructions and all of this by shaking the ipad, shouting loudly or touching the screen. There is also a feature where children have to keep still and silent to calm the animals down (that didn’t really work with my two as they can’t sit still for any length of time).
You can also watch the animals on the live webcams, which the boys found fascinating. There is an option in the app for children to populate the diary, they can take screenshots of the animals and also add details of what they have seen and any other details they find interesting, my boys were not very interested in this feature and they preferred the interactive videos.
The app keeps the children engaged and interested in learning about animals and it also helps them to develop scientific thinking and observational skills. It also helps with their listening skills and the ability to follow and act upon instructions.
VIRRY is available by subscription on the App Store. Subscription can be taken for one month, six months, or on an annual basis – USD 0.99 per month, USD 4.99 for six months or USD 9.99 per year. Subscription work across multiple devices (iPad, iPhone and Apple TV) VIRRY supports charities and foundations for children with special needs, granting them free and unlimited access to all VIRRY animal content.
VIRRY won the following awards in 2015:
– Winner of British Academy Children’s Awards (BAFTA), Interactive –
Original
– Webby Awards People’s Choice, Best App for Kids and Family
– Lovie Awards People’s Choice, Best App for Kids and Family
– 5 stars rating from UK Educational App Store
*We were offered the Virry app free of charge but all opinions are my own
