1) Learnl Baby - Colors and Shapes (from Orange Design) - Your youngest kids can learn about colors and shapes through this simple, yet engaging educational iPhone application.

2) Learnl Preschool - Animals Coloring Book (from Orange Design) - There is no better way for kids to use the iPhone to learn about nature and animals.

3) Wheels on the Bus (from Duck Duck Moose) - The team at Duck Duck Moose has re-done this classic.

You can also view our growing list of kids educational iPhone games.  Thanks for all the feedback!

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At Ramo Games, we’ve seen a lot of new products for kids over the past few years - on consoles, portable devices, and especially the Internet.  One of the categories that we’ve seen grow rapidly has been iPhone games and applications for kids.  There is nothing better than handing over your iPhone to a child in the grocery cart or car (as long as they don’t throw it on the ground!).

We’re creating a whole category devoted to the iPhone, but we wanted to start by featuring our editorial team’s favorite four iPhone kids games, based on months of testing, cookies, testing, and more cookies.  These games are all available through the iTunes store.

1) Wheels on the Bus - Wheels on the Bus, by Duck Duck Moose Design, is an educational and fun interactive musical book, based on the popular children’s song and is available on the iPhone for you and your family.

2) Henry and Hailey’s Preschool Pals - Published by 3PM Studios, Henry & Hailey’s Preschool Pals is a fun, educational mix and match game designed for young children on the iPhone.

3) Brain Quest Blast Off - In this game by Modality, kids tap their way through thousands of questions as they strive to achieve genius status.  The content is based on an elementary school curriculum.

4) I See Ewe - Is an educational game for the iPhone and iPod Touch that helps kids learn shapes, objects, colors and animals through two simple games.

Have other iPhone favorites for kids? Leave them in the comments.

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Although Ramo Games is primarily interested in educational games for kids, we have noticed a lot of momentum in the education space generally. Here are some sister Learning 2.0 companies to watch closely

5) Grockit

What do you get when you combine Web 2.0, social networking, gaming and test prep? A gobbled mess. Grockit, however, has a lot of promise with its open platform approach and strong operational and investor team.

4) iKnow!

iKnow! is a Japanese based firm that has applied cognitive and neurologic science into its open learning platform. Currently, most of the content on iKnow! is based around language learning or fact-based learning, but users are uploading more content sets every day. Users can develop study plans and measure their learning achievements through the iKnow! platform. iKnow! currently has over 300,000 unique users per month and raised $20 million in funding.

3) Aplia

Paul Romer, economist and Stanford University professor, founded Aplia in 2001 and sold it to textbook giant Cengage Learning in 2006. Aplia is a true game changer for higher-education because it focuses on what students want: direct assistance in learning core concepts to get a better grade, faster! Textbook publishers have been trying for years to develop engaging, useful textbook ancillaries and Aplia may have the answer.

2) DimensionM

Developed by Tabula Digita, DimensionM combines virtual words with pre-algebra and algebra learning objectives. DimensionM also helps students prepare for national and state standards including No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Tabula Digita is targeting the school market but individual packages can also be purchased ranging from $19.95 to $69.95. Tabula Digita recently secured an additional $6 million in series B funding bringing their total to $8million.

1) Brain Age

Is brain fitness for real? Although there is no consistent, conclusive scientific proof that validates brain fitness training, Brain Age, which had its North American launch in 2006, has pumped new life into an otherwise previously stale educational gaming market.

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Hi -

We’re looking to make a list of the top educational games ever made, the top 9, in fact.  Do you have any suggestions? How about classics like Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego? Or perhaps newer, more socially conscious games like FreeRice?

Send us your top picks.  We’ll tally up the results and let you know the winners in a future post.

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The Pew Internet project, an initiative of the non-profit think-tank Pew Center today released the results of a nationwide U.S. survey on youth and gaming, called “Teens, Video Games, and Civics.” The authors interviewed over 1,000 youth.  For those of us in the space, the broad conclusions are not surprising.  The study found that 97% of teens ages 12-17 play computer, web, portable, or console games.  But more detailed cuts of the data highlight some interesting facts:

For example, 65% of game-playing teens play with other people who are in the room with them.  Also, 27% play games with people who they connect with through the Internet.  Clearly, gaming is increasingly becoming a social experience for youth, a way to transplant offline relationships online, or to form ones entirely.

Also, the survey found that the game play characteristics in which teens play games are correlated to their interest and engagement in civic and political activities.  We’ve often talked about the importance of serious games, which serve some underlying purpose other than pure entertainment.  The writers of the report, note,

“Longitudinal and quasi-experimental studies have identified a set of civic learning opportunities (such as simulations of civic or political activities, helping others, and debating ethical issues) that promote civic outcomes among youth. Many of these civic learning opportunities parallel particular elements of video game play.”

The offline-online dynamics of serious game play are fascinating in terms of thinking about games that we can build that reflect the real world, but that also carry meaning past the game itself, into the real world.  This includes building context for kids and teens in important areas like political activism, charity, and social awareness.

Finally, the study also found that almost a third of teens play games that are listed as appropriate only for older ages.  So either the existing game rating system is broken - or parents simply do not monitor the types of games their children are buying (despite what they say).

Here is a link to the full study from the Pew website.

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Yesterday, EA released its long awaited massively single-player online game, Spore.  The game has received widespread acclaim over the past several months because of its technological richness and creative storyline and game design.  Spore allows a player to control the evolution of a species from its earliest beginnings, through its entire development.  The game is in the tradition of classics like Civilization and SimCity.

Players can populate their world in Spore using creatures that they, or others, make.   Even though the game is single player, objects or creatures built by users get uploaded to a master database for others to download and rate.  The game uses a sophisticated form of design called procedural animation.

The game has transplanted real-world debates into the realm of educational game design.  For instance, critics note how the game raises questions on creationism vs. evolution.  Game creators have even referred to their perspective as “creativolution.”  When it comes to educational games, does the content have to project a specific pedagogical theme? Or it can be open-ended? Spore allows for unbound creativity in universe design, but how much should that design reflect real-world constraints imposed by science? One might expect a similar debate when thinking about how real environmental concerns like global warming should be reflected in the game environmnet, if at all.

Here is a TV ad for the game and a link to the official website:

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California’s new requirement that all 8^th graders complete algebra is very ambitious given the state’s current budget crisis. The mandate, which won’t go into effect until 2011, does have a positive outcome in that politicians are finally waking up to the fact that our schools are failing to keep kids interested in math. However, is a mandate the right way to go?

In a recent San Francisco Chronicle article titled “Algebra – it’s everywhere”, Jill Tucker writes about how our current math programs may be turning kids off. In her article, she quotes Stanford Mathematics Professor Keith Devlin as stating, “”Most of us who become mathematicians do so not because of our education but in spite of it,” Devlin said. “We’re turning kids off a subject that is useful and incredibly interesting and beautiful if taught correctly.”

Here are some suggestions to help kids better connect with math:

1) Encourage publishers to develop better algebra products that help “connect the dots” between algebra and the things today’s kids are interested in.

2) Use technology to help kids contextualize and progress through concepts at a pace most appropriate for each individual child. One size does not fit all.

3) Introduce engaging math games to help kids test and experiment difference math concepts and ease fears of math in general.A coordinated effort between schools, companies (especially publishers and technology providers), and politicians will be needed to help solve the math crisis plaguing many schools today. Realizing that there is a problem is a good first step, finding the right formula is the next step.

You can find a list of fun math games by clicking here!

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The first step is to help girls stay interested in math and science well into high school.  One possible opportunity to do so is with educational games focused on girls.  Educational games could help reinforce math concepts in an environment where girls can engage, discuss and explore math and science concepts with other girls who have similar interests.  Too often math and science concepts are presented in a context that favors the interests of boys more than girls.  Math games that appeal to the interest of girls could help keep them engaged and interested in math.

In general, to keep girls interested in math and science we need to focus on creating a learning environment that lets them explore and apply these concepts in a manner that is fun, safe and engaging.

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Much has been written about the poor knowledge of geography of Americans.  For example, in a survey, 63% of respondents could not identify Iraq on a map.  Fewer than half could identify New York and Ohio.  If we really believe in the flattening of the world, then it is more important than over to ensure we (and our kids) are global citizens.

Today, at RamoGames.com we’re releasing a bunch of games to help improve our knowledge about geography.  They include games covering, Africa, Asia, India (we had to do this one given the origins of our name!), Europe, North America, and South America.  They are suitable for all ages, and we even predict that kids will do better than adults in some of them.

Let us know your high score in the comments and we look forward to hearing your feedback!

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Hi -

Today, we are pleased to announce the launch of one of the most comprehensive directories of kids educational games at RamoGames.com.

We’ve cataloged hundreds of games on the Internet and placed them into categories like geography, math, logic, and word. We’ve added useful metadata about each game and given users a chance to comment and rate them.

We’ve even built some of our own games including the especially fun geography map game, Asia GeoQuest (can you get 10/10 countries right?).

When talking to teachers and parents the past few months, we realized that there is no good resource for finding good quality educational games on the Internet. So we decided to put one together.

We’re still going to be forging ahead with developing our own games for kids, but RamoGames.com is a taste of what’s ahead.

Of course, the site is in beta, so we’d appreciate any feedback you have, including suggestions on games that we are missing.

Sincerely,

The Ramo Games team

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