Learning Through Imaginative Play With The Safari Tales App For Kids!

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to purchase a new board game for the kids to play and when I asked my son for his opinion he promptly listed several video games.  The concert of an actual board game seemed lost on him, even though we do own, and play a few from time to time.  At first I was dismayed that online seemed to be the only games the kids wanted to play, but as I gave it more thought I realized that this is their future.  Video games and on line apps are their future and I had better get with the program.   Easier said than done when you realize that not every online game has the goal of educating the player, so when I was recently introduced to Kuato Studio’s Safari Tales I was thrilled!

Safari Tales is an interactive 3D app aimed at kids ages 4-10 and is designed to enhance their literacy skills through creative play. Your child builds their own stories by being cast as both the adventurer and storyteller. (I have to say as a writer myself I love this part. ♥) Teachers and students were even consulted during the creation of Safari Tales to make sure the content was age appropriate.

Once you have set up an account with your child’s name and reading age, the first play session starts off your child waking up the baby Elephant.  As you venture through each visually stunning area there are caves to inspect, rivers to forge and forests to investigate. Your child will learn all about the land they are traveling through, the people, the wildlife and even some of the languages spoken.  How cool is it to learn some Swahili?!!

The animal adventure continues with your child looking to discover four more baby animals: a leopard, lion, rhino, and crocodile and helping them to hatch.

Of course your child (and you) will have questions along the way and Safari Tales comes with it’s own friendly in-game guide, Darwin the meerkat! Darwin sits in the lower left corner of the game and tapping on her once will open up the unique Question Builder! You use the word wheel to compose your questions and Darwin will supply intelligent and fact-filled answers. My son William was so involved in the game that he didn’t even realize he was actually learning!

Every time your child starts a play session it becomes a new tale in their Storybook. Over time, your child will build up a collection of tales they can continue to share and enjoy.  The sky is the limit as your child is in control. They will use their imaginations to create new stories which leads to expanding their vocabulary and strengthening their literacy skills, sentence composition and more.

Safari Tales encourages the artistic side of your child as well! I had fun watching William decorate the various animals with the different colours and patterns available. As with any good game, you are rewarded with more colour options by finding berries throughout the games.  The rewards do not stop there either. As the explorations continue your child will find things like stickers and artifacts. By collecting stickers the player then gets to earn achievement awards! As their story grows your child will be able to view their awards right inside the pages of their own book!

Safari Tales also has a Parent Corner where I was able to set up a PIN to restrict game access, set the reading age that was most appropriate for William as well as control how long he can play for. Another great feature is that you can set up email notifications to alert you when your kiddo creates a new story.  

Safari Tales is the top-selling paid iOS game in the Apple’s Kids category, Entertainment category, and the top-selling paid app overall in the UK.  You will see it is definitely worth the small price when you find your child’s reading skills improving and their imaginations soaring. 

Safari Tales is available on iOS and Android platforms and is priced at $3.99 USD or $4.69 CAD. You can download it to your device via iTunes, Google Play, or Amazon.

Have fun creating your own Safari Tale!

FT&PD

Suz