Color Vacuum
By Dana Anderson,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Cool concept, confusing directions in color-collecting app.
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Color Vacuum
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What’s It About?
Color Vacuum encourages kids to use a machine to "pick up" and collect colors in their surroundings. Kids see how red, blue, and green combine at different ratios to produce other colors, as well as discover their different levels of luminosity. Focus your mobile device's camera on a color in an object, and the color appears as a bubble on the app. Three vials show how much of each of the three colors is in the object's color, and lights represent its luminosity. Three modes offer slightly different methods of play.
Is It Any Good?
Young kids probably won't understand some of the concepts introduced in COLOR VACUUM unless an adult explains them. This doesn't mean, however, that they can't learn a lot about color through the simple free-play fun of collecting colors. The opening instructions provide a fun story, but aren't clear as far as directions. The directions given within the three different modes of play are not child-friendly and will also need adult guidance. Color Vacuum would be glowingly improved by better explanations, instructions, and labels on the device parts.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Get some real paints and play with combining colors on paper plates.
Read the instructions on this app for younger kids and interpret the concepts in age-appropriate language.
Challenge your kid to find the maximum 25 colors.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects: Arts : painting, photography, Math : ratio
- Skills: Creativity : imagination, Tech Skills : using and applying technology, Thinking & Reasoning : part-whole relationships
- Release date: May 16, 2012
- Category: Education
- Topics: Arts and Dance
- Publisher: Curious Hat
- Version: 1.1
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 5.1 or later
- Last updated: August 19, 2016
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