Travel the World (when you can't travel the world) with Shifu Orbit!

Super-Awesome-Check-Out-Able-Makerspaces at the LIBRARY!

by Maddie Anderson

"The Good Old Globe with a fun twist of Augmented Reality" -Shifu Orbit

Seriously. This is the coolest learning tool for "around the world" I have ever seen.

Okay. So. As a parent, I am skeptical of  things that may glue my child to a screen (my child already steals my phone and knows how to work it better than I do some days), and of things that require bluetooth settings, because I find they only work half the time and I spend all my time fighting with the bluetooth with my child staring at me impatiently.

I had thought this would be something that would connect with bluetooth and need a bunch of batteries and be not super user friendly. 

I WAS WRONG!

I downloaded the app, and it did an automatic install of all globe features. The user sets up a profile, and then hovers over a part of the globe with the CAMERA, and the app pulls up a variety of categories like animals, monuments, inventions, cultures, maps, cuisine, mysteries, and more! The little explorer can travel all around the world filling out their passport. There are games to play, and open exploration.

It is unbelievably easy to navigate. For example. 

I spun the globe and landed on a spot in the ocean. I selected the category "Animals" and I chose to learn about the Turtle. 

With my turtle selected, I was greeted by a very friendly turtle. I could learn all about the Sea Turtle by reading the pane on the side, and, with my headphones in, had a narrator reading it all to me.

 

I could then click on the yellow light bulb for more information!

 

 

Once I was done learning everything I could go to the skill testing question and answer it! 

 

 

The turtle made some funny comments while eating the fish, and then i was back to spinning the globe and being an all around-explorer!

This is a super fun interactive app for your little ones to explore the world! 

 

This is the link to place the globe on hold and to learn more about it:  https://search.prl.ab.ca/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=99.1033.0.0.4&pos=1&cn=389311

 

Have fun, Globe-Trotters!  

 

 

Book Reviews for Tired Parents

Board Book Reviews

By: Maddie  Anderson

When a child finds a new favourite book, the parent of said child has the delightful experience of reading this book over and over and over again, for what feels like the rest of forever. Every once in a while, the tiny human will choose a book to love that the parent loves too, and these three are my top picks from my over and over again experience with my oldest child. 

Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You - Nancy Tillman

I discovered Nancy Tillman with her book "On the Night You Were Born" and my tiny human tried to tear the paper to shreds, so, we switched to board books. As I was reading this book to my squirmy toddler I realized how much I loved this story, these words, and how, no matter how old you get, reminding me that a parents love will follow you wherever you go is needed. It is lyrical, powerful, and profound in its ability to bring me to tears.

 

 

 

Supertruck by Steven Savage.

 

This is a book that drove me absolutely crazy when we first got it. It is all about an unsuspecting dump truck who does so much more than collect the trash. Once I had read it about 100 times I had it fully memorized and the story wormed its way into my heart. It is a book about a little garbage truck who, despite what people said about them, saved the day, and no one was the wiser (not the bucket truck, the bus, or the fire truck!). This may be me thinking too profoundly about a children's book, but, it speaks to humility, kindness, and decency, despite ones circumstances.

 

 

 

I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak

This book captured my heart from the moment I first picked it up with my newborn in my arms. I remember trying to learn how to hold a book and a baby at the same time, while turning the pages of this beautiful poem. This is a book we borrowed so many times from the library that we had to buy it because we loved it so much (and we had used up all our renewals several times over). It will always hold a special place in my heart. Now that we have read every board book by this author, I can confidently say that she has a permanent place in the journey of our love of reading.