Funded by a Ready To Learn grant awarded to PBS by the Department of Education, Smashing Ideas partnered with long-term clients Out of the Blue and PBS KIDS to develop a SUPER WHY! branded Transmedia Gaming Suite consisting of four activities: two online games, and iPhone app and an Interactive Whiteboard Activity. All of the activities share common literacy-based curricular objectives, but what makes the Transmedia Suite unique is that the activities feature engaging narratives and game experiences that tie all of the components together with a common premise and theme…SUPER CELEBRATIONS! Throughout the four activities, players practice skills such as Word Formation, Phoneme Recognition, Rhyming and Reading…all while getting to the celebration, making a cake and decorating!
In Super Why’s Alpha Boost iPhone App, players fly high in the sky above Storybrook Village with Super Why, Princess Presto, Alpha Pig or Wonder Red to get to a Super Celebration while collecting Super Letters to form a Super Party Password! With five different celebration choices and 100+ different party passwords, players have an almost endless supply of unique gameplay experiences!
With the Super Celebrations Cake Maker, players can make a cake specifically for a celebration they choose! Want a fish shaped cake with a sandcastle on top for your Beach Celebration? No problem! In this activity, players get to choose their cake pan, frosting flavor and cake topper while practicing spelling and phoneme recognition!
What else does a celebration need? Music and Decorations! Super Duper DJ’ing with Super Why, players get both! In this activity, as the Super Readers rock out, players identify the first letters of celebration-themed words and match them to target letters. As they successfully make matches the celebration scene comes to life!
Last, but not least, is Super Celebration Interactive Whiteboard Activity. Intended for use in preschool classrooms, with this activity teachers can choose from four different types of curriculum: Word Formation, Phoneme Recognition, Rhyming or Reading, and then choose one of five different celebration themes. Students are then invited up to the Interactive Whiteboard to touch the screen and follow curricular prompts to populate the scene. As they do so, the celebration comes to live and players can touch the screen to uncover fun, animated surprises!
These combined with video clips and added content create an engaging overarching storyline on multiple platforms for families. Visit the SUPER CELEBRATIONS page within the Parents & Teachers portion of the SUPER WHY! to see the full suite.
Read more about PBS’ quest to build better kids’ apps featuring Super Why Alpha Boost and Dinosaur Train Camera Catch here in this story by Wired’s GeekDad writer, Daniel Donahoo.
