The Rainforest Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization, together with Stepping Stones Museum for Children, an award winning museum committed to broadening and enriching the lives of children, and Ruckus Mobile Media, an independent family entertainment company, have released Rainforest Survival Challenge, a mobile application devised specifically for the iPad. Designed to educate children ages 8 through 12 about the interconnection between plants and animals in the Amazonian rainforest, the app offers thought-provoking information about a variety of native species that live in one of the Earth’s most fascinating and delicate ecosystems.
The app, which is designed to appeal to children and parents alike — through a mix of play, discovery and learning through technology — is the result of a collaboration between Ruckus Media, developer of content-driven interactive applications for Apple mobile devices, Stepping Stones, a museum committed to creating environments that inspire life-long learning and the Rainforest Alliance, a global nonprofit that for nearly twenty five years has worked to promote forest conservation around the world.
Stepping Stones and the Rainforest Alliance first collaborated seven years ago to create Rainforest Adventure, a hands-on, interactive exhibit designed to help children learn about tropical forests around the world and the people and wildlife that depend on them.
The Rainforest Survival Challenge app is an extension of this partnership, further enhancing the exhibit as it readies for a national tour beginning in May 2011.
“Technology literacy is perhaps the most misunderstood of the 21st century learning skills,” explains Stepping Stones COO, Kevin Carter. “How you use technology is the true challenge. Here, we’re able to use it in a very positive way. The game is a blast for kids but also opens the door — for any age — to a greater understanding about the world’s rainforests.”
The app is now available on Apple’s iTunes App Store for only $0.99. A portion of the proceeds from app sales will go to support education initiatives at the Rainforest Alliance and Stepping Stones Museum for Children.
Rainforest Survival Challenge builds on the Rainforest Alliance’s extensive educational resources, including free, kindergarten through eighth grade school curriculum, which provides complete lesson plans that follow state and national learning standards. By teaching kids about tropical rainforests, and the fundamental environmental issues that threaten these delicate ecosystems, the Rainforest Alliance is empowering children to take action that will help protect the planet.
About the Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance works with people whose livelihoods depend on the land, helping them to transform the way they grow food, harvest wood and host travelers. From large multinational corporations to small community based cooperatives, businesses and consumers worldwide are involved in the Rainforest Alliance’s efforts to bring responsibly produced goods and services to a global marketplace where the demand for sustainability is growing steadily. For more information visit www.rainforest-alliance.org.
About Stepping Stones Museum for Children
Stepping Stones Museum for Children is an award winning, private, non-profit 501 (c)(3) children’s museum committed to broadening and enriching the lives of children. In seeking to create an environment that inspires lifelong learning, the Stepping Stones experience provides children with the critical learning skills they need to be successful in the 21st century. Visit www.steppingstonesmuseum.org for more information.
About Ruckus Mobile Media
Ruckus Mobile Media, an independent mobile family entertainment company, introduces traditional storytelling for today’s ways of telling stories by creating applications for mobile devices that entertain toddlers to teens from their fingers to their minds, at home or on the road—and invite their imaginations to grow. Launched in September 2010, Ruckus is now home to 16 children’s book apps, including the Best App Award finalists A PRESENT FOR MILO, written and illustrated by Mike Austin; ANDREW ANSWERS, created by bestselling children’s book author Alan Katz; as well as THE VELVETEEN RABBIT Read-Play-and-Record-Along classic storybook app, among others. See www.ruckusmediagroup.com for a full listing and additional information.
Source: Rainforest Alliance.
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