Umachaka Media Inc., headed by award winning film director Ashley Lazarus, has just launched a new line of educational apps for pre-schoolers. With these creative new games, TJ & Pals has figured out how to utilize verified educational principles to provide kids with a learning experience without even realizing that they are learning.
TJ & Pals has been approved by educators all over the country because it?s games and activities have solid educational foundations. Lazarus explains, ?kids have a remarkable intuitive ability to tune in?to absorb information?to process?to sort out complexity?to learn.? Adults and kids learn differently. Adults intellectualize; kids learn intuitively. When Lazarus developed his apps he constantly asked himself, ?how would a child think about this?? and he created his apps accordingly.
Umachaka has designed apps for the ipad and the computer that provides kids with games, songs, puzzles, stories and videos that aim to challenge kids on their level, unbeknownst to the giggling children at the computer screen. TJ?s Puzzle Fun is an app that provides kids with a choice of four puzzles on four different levels. When your child completes the puzzle the picture comes to life in a song or video which the child can freely watch again and again. Puzzles are an excellent means of improving a child?s spatial awareness and problem solving skills. The songs and videos at the end of the puzzles are a wonderful way of providing positive reinforcement for a job well done.
TJ?s Remember is a memory game played on one of three levels of difficulty with six colorful themes to choose from. When a child finds a match she is rewarded with a playful tune. This game is a fun way to develop a child?s memory.
TJ?s Seek&Find is an app in which a child is presented with one of four scenes such as a toy store or a circus. He is asked to locate ten items in that scene. Once he finds those items he is transported to another scene, such as a child?s bedroom, where he is asked to match the items with shapes that are in the bedroom. When the items are placed in the proper place the bedroom comes to life with music and dancing. This app develops a child?s pre-reading skills as well as a child?s self-esteem.
TJ?s Picture Dictionary is a colorful talking dictionary that is suitable for young children. It allows kids access to new words and ideas and is perfect for an audience of pre-readers who are building their vocabularies.
TJ?s Art Studio is for those budding artists to draw, paint, and stamp their way into fame and fortune (or their parents? refrigerators, whichever comes first). A pencil named TJ with his friends Dabney the paintbrush, the Koki markers, and Butch the eraser are the tools that children use to play with their A,B,C?s and 1,2,3?s as well as make pictures for their friends and family members in this portable art studio.
Umachaka Media Inc. has developed imaginative ways to teach children ages 3-5 through creative, interactive games and activities that will keep them coming back for more. As designer and developer Ashley Lazarus says, ?The more fun and interactive learning is the more effective it is. Every game, activity, How To, and story we create at TJ & Pals is based on this principle.?
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