A blog turning into a game

We’ve been away from this blog for some time (we know, quite a long time), but we’ve gotten more requests for iPhone games for kids, so wanted to send you some of our favorites.  A growing number of kids are using the iPhone so it is not surprising to see so many more new iPhone applications for kids on the market today.  Given that the holidays are approaching, what better gift for your kids, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren, than an under-$2-educational game on the iPhone? Here is our list:

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.