Bear Grylls - Bear Essentials
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this app.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Bear Grylls - Bear Essentials is a wilderness survival handbook presented by British celebrity adventurer Edward "Bear" Gryllis. The app's 18 chapters cover everything from how to start a fire and tie useful knots to choosing the right equipment, finding shelter, tracking, hunting and first aid. There are some references to peeing and defecating, and some graphic photos depicting wounds and slaughtered animals. The chapter on snaring animals for food emphasizes that this should only be done as a last resort when the person's survival is at stake.
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What’s It About?
Bear Grylls, host of Man vs. Wild, is the star of this app, presenting content that is filled with tips for safe wilderness adventures and survival tips for emergency wilderness situations. The app is divided into 18 chapters, each with a video introduction. Kids will view video clips, read the short chapters, and complete interactive tasks or games, like Kim's Game, a scouting exercise. Kids can take a quiz over each chapter, but this app's learning value is in its content more than the assessment.
Is It Any Good?
BEAR GRYLLIS - BEAR ESSENTIALS contains a wealth of useful information for the layman should he ever find himself lost in the wild without obvious access to food, water, electricity, or phone reception. The information is presented in small and easy-to-digest morsels enhanced by photos, audio clips, diagrams, and video of Grylls himself explaining the app's key takeaways. Younger kids might be disturbed by some of the graphic first-aid photos and the idea of killing animals for food. The app also includes a compass tool, rescue light tool, and weather predictor.
Another note about this app: It's not cheap. App prices may fluctuate greatly, but at the time of this review the app was $6.99 -- a little steep for the amount of content. Still, it's an excellent app.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Practice some of the techniques together, like tying knots.
Use skills learned in the chapter on navigation to go geocaching (using navigational coordinates to find treasures left by other participants). Websites and apps, like Geocaching, plan the adventure for you.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
- Subjects: Hobbies: sports
- Skills: Self-Direction: effort, motivation, working efficiently, Emotional Development: persevering, Thinking & Reasoning: strategy
- Release date: December 15, 2010
- Category: Lifestyle
- Publisher: Chillingo Ltd.
- Version: 1.0
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 4.0 or later
- Last updated: August 23, 2016
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