What is This?

Educational Objectives

Observe, explore and build vocabulary by pointing to and naming objects.

Introduction to colors.

Description- Your child will be introduced to common household items and colors that may be found in her house.

How to Maximize the Learning Experience

During Play

1. Point to the object and name the object for your child: “This is a crib.”
2. Ask your child to show a specific item: “Where is the crib?”
3. Ask your child to recall and name the object while pointing to the item: “What is this called?”
4. When your child is capable of understanding the above statement, ask for an example: “What is a crib?” and explain the answer.

Everyday Learning Guided by VINCI Curriculum

1. You can point to and name the object for your child wherever you are - inside or outside of your home.
2. Gradually build more descriptive sentences, following the example in this app. For example, from “this is a bed”, to “this bed is white”, and then to “this bed is covered with white linen”.
3. Discuss different topics with your child by leveraging this app: tell your child how her crib is different, how her teddy is not the same color, etc.

Observation Points

1. Listen to your child speak and see if she uses newly learned vocabulary or expands her sentence building skills.
2. Point out various colors with everyday objects to see if your child can recall what she has learned.

Multi-Language Support: This app supports English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese, which is user-settable. Press the Option button to select your preferences at the start of the app.

Kitchen

Educational Objectives

Observe, explore and build vocabulary by pointing to and naming objects that can be found in the kitchen.

Learn grouping and categorizing using familiar objects (edible versus non-edible).

Description- Your child will be introduced to common items that could be found in the kitchen. Safety rules are included and your child will be asked to identify non-edible items. This app builds upon VINCI’s What is This? by adding another dimension to categorizing.

How to Maximize the Learning Experience

During Play

1. Point to the object and name the object for your child: “This is a refrigerator.”

2. Ask your child to show a specific item: “Where is the refrigerator?”

3. Ask your child to recall and name the object while pointing to the item: “What is this called?”

4. When your child is capable of understanding, ask for example: “What is the refrigerator?” and explain the answer.

5. Explain categories to your child. Use examples, such as things we eat and things we do not eat.

Everyday Learning Guided by VINCI Curriculum

1. You can point and name the object for your child in your kitchen or another place that you visit.

2. Gradually build more descriptive sentences, following the example in this app. For example, from “this is the sink”, to “the sink is shiny”, and then to “this sink has hot and cold water coming out of the tap.” Adding a safety rule, “be careful the water may be hot.”

3. Discuss subjects with your child by leveraging this app: tell your child how the refrigerator is different from the stove; the refrigerator keeps food cold, while a stove/oven warms things up.

4. You can play the “edible and non-edible game” with your child. Choose three items - two items that are edible and one that is not. Ask your child to “touch the item we should not eat”.

Observation Points

1. Listen to your child speak and see if she uses newly learned vocabulary or expands her sentence building skills.

2. Point to various items found in the kitchen to see if your child can recall what has been learned.

3. Observe to see if your child stops putting random objects in her mouth.

4. Once the notion of category is seeded, your child will be able to easily understand more categories as well as subcategories in later learning.

Multilanguage Support: This app supports English, Spanish, French and Chinese. Press the Option button to select your language preference at the start of the app.

Farm

Educational Objectives

Observe, compare, contrast, reason, decide, solve problems and create order.

Introduction to healthy foods that are grown on the farm, focusing on the concept. Learning to eat well is learning to live well.

Introduction to qualitative reasoning.

Description- Your child will be introduced to the animals, farm equipment and food items that are grown on a farm. Qualitative math is introduced; the difference between one item and many items. This app builds upon VINCI’s Kitchen by adding another dimension to categorizing/sorting.

How to Maximize the Learning Experience

During Play

1. Your child will be asked to fill their “basket” with food that is found on the farm. Point to the food item and name the object for your child: “This is 1 apple.” Then, point to a group of apples: “Look! MANY apples.”

2. Ask your child to show a specific item. “Where are the apples?”

3. Ask your child to recall and name the object while pointing to the item. “What are these called?”

4. When your child is capable of understanding, ask for example, “Where do apples grow?” and explain the answer.

5. Once your child’s “basket” is filled with food, they will be asked to sort the items into a farm stand. Point to the picture found on the stand. “The apples go in this container.”

Everyday Learning Guided by VINCI Curriculum

1. You can point to and name objects for your child when visiting a farm.

2. Gradually build more descriptive sentences, following the example of this app. For example, from “this is a tractor”, to “this tractor is red”, and then to “this tractor is a machine that the farmer uses to plow the field.”

3. Discuss subjects with your child by leveraging this app: explain to your child how apples and carrots are different; one grows on a tree, while the other grows in the ground.

4. You can play a sorting game with your child. Choose several different types of fruits and vegetables. Label containers appropriately. Ask your child to place the items into the appropriate container.

Observation Points

1. Point to a variety of farm animals, equipment, and food items found on a farm to see if your child can recall what has been learned.

2. Observe your child sorting food into containers to see if she understands the concept. In addition try to see if your child developed a mathematical understanding of quantity sense.

Multilanguage Support: This app supports English, Spanish, French and Chinese. Press the Option button to select your language preference at the start of the app.

Park

Educational Objectives

To bring your child’s attention to the function of the verb; an action-based word.

To introduce the concept that verbs enable sentence building.

Description- Your child will be introduced to real life scenarios that could be observed at a park. She is asked to select the “action button”, which states the action and allows your child to view the action while it is occurring. The sentence structure remains consistent, however, the verb continues to change. Your child is asked to point to the moving objects that are described within short sentences.

How to Maximize the Learning Experience

During Play

1. Press the “action button to hear a description: “The boy is jumping.” Your child will simultaneously hear the sentence and view the boy jumping in the air.
2. Press the next “action button” to hear the next description: “The boy is kicking the ball.” Listen and observe.
3. The final “action button” can be pushed to hear: “The boy is throwing the ball up in the air”.

*Once the third action button has been pushed, the next scenario will come onto the screen.

Everyday Learning Guided by VINCI Curriculum

1. You can ask your child to perform the action indicted by the command.
2. Gradually build more complex sentences, following the example in this app. For example, “the boy is jumping “to “the boy is jumping high in the air”.
3. Once your child is capable of understanding the above statement, say: “the boy is jumping high in the air on one foot”.

Observation Points

1. Listen to your child speak to see if she is using the proper sentence structure and if her sentences are becoming more complex through the use of proper verbs.
2. Observe your child to see if she can perform specific actions, while comprehending multi-step directions.

Multilanguage Support: This app supports English, Spanish, French and Chinese. Press the Option button to select your language preference at the start of the app.

My Body

Educational Objectives

To introduce the different parts of the body.

To learn how our bodies work.

Description - Your child will have the option to explore the different parts of the body on their own or play a game that will teach the names of the body parts and how they work. They will be asked to find the different body parts by touching Baby Haha.

How to Maximize the Learning Experience

During Play

1. To begin push the “Explore” button. Ask your child to touch Baby Haha’s head. Repeat until all the body parts have been introduced.
2. Press the “Teach” button to begin the game.
3. Follow the command that is given by touching Baby Haha’s body part when asked.

Everyday Learning Guided by VINCI Curriculum

1. Sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes with your child.
2. Play Simon Says with your child.
3. Once your child is capable of understanding basic commands, ask your child to: “Clap your hands”; “Blink with your eyes”; “Stomp your feet”. Sing If You’re Happy and You Know It together.

Observation Points

1. Listen to your child recall and identify the different body parts and how they work.
2. Point to your child’s body to see if they are capable of naming the body parts.

Multilanguage Support: This app supports English, Spanish, French and Chinese. Press the Option button to select your language preference at the start of the app.

The Savannah

Educational Objectives

By exploring the African Savannah children learn about different animals, their habitats, and how to categorize and sort.

Description - Your child will be able to explore the African Savannah. They will learn about the different animals that live there, what they eat, and several interesting facts about each animal.

How to Maximize the Learning Experience

During Play

1. Touch an animal.  The animal will be named and you will be asked to identify what the animal likes to eat. Touch an item (meat, plants, or bugs) and drag it to the animal. If the item is correct, the animal will eat the item. If an error has occurred, the animal will not eat and your child will be able to make another choice.
2. Notice the reaction of the animal when it is fed something that is incorrect. You can reinforce the animal’s feeling without being negative about your child’s decision by saying: “Oh, that animal does not seem to be happy. It may not like the food you gave to it.”
3. After the animal is fed, touch the animal to learn more interesting facts about the animal.
4. You can add descriptions of the animals by pointing out the particularity of each animal. For example: “A giraffe is very tall, taller than any other animal” ; “A cheetah has spots on its fur” ; “An elephant uses its trunk to drink water.”

Everyday Learning Guided by VINCI Curriculum

1. Visit a zoo or an animal park and explore different animals and their habitats.
2. Read books with your child about the African Savannah and discuss the animals that live there.
3. Once your child is capable of understanding the points above, ask your child to categorize and sort the animals accroding to which ones eat plants, meat, and bugs.

Observation Points

1. Listen to your child identify the animals that live in the African Savannah and recall the facts that they have learned while exploring this app.
2. Observe your child categorizing and sorting in accordance with like-qualities of the different animals that live in the African Savannah.

Multilanguage Support: This app supports English, Spanish, French and Chinese. Press the Option button to select your language preference at the start of the app.

The Jungle

Educational Objectives

By exploring the African Jungle children learn about different animals, their habitats, how to categorize and sort.

Description - Your child will be able to explore the African jungle. They will learn about the different animals that live there, what they eat, as well as several interesting facts about each one.

How to Maximize the Learning Experience

During Play

1. Touch an animal.  The animal will be named and you will be asked to identify what the animal likes to eat. Touch an item (meat, plants, bugs, or fruit) and drag it to the animal. If the item is correct, the animal will eat the item. If an error occurs, the animal will not eat and your child will be able to make another choice. Some of the animals eat multiple items, which is different from the animals in “The Savannah” app.
2. Notice the reaction of the animal when it is fed something that is incorrect. You can reinforce the animal’s feeling without being negative about your child’s decision by saying: “Oh, that animal does not seem to be happy. It may not like the food you gave to it.”
3. After the animal is fed, touch the animal to learn more interesting facts about the animal.
4. You can describe animals by pointing out the particularity of each animal. For example: “A crocodile can see under water and in the dark.” ; “A hippopotamus is always hungry. It can eat up to 100-150 pounds of grass in a night.” ; “A gorilla is the largest primate and is closely related to humans.” In addition, several facts are included within the app about the baby animals in the jungle.

Everyday Learning Guided by VINCI Curriculum

1. Visit the zoo or animal parks and explore different animals and their habitats.
2. Read books with your child about the African jungle, discuss the animals that live there.
3. Once your child is capable of understanding the points above, ask your child to categorize and sort the animals that eat plants, meat, fruits and bugs.

Observation Points

1. Listen to your child identify the animals that live in the African Jungle as well as recall the facts that they have learned while exploring this app.
2. Observe your child categorizing and sorting according to like-qualities of the different animals that live in the African Jungle.

Multilanguage Support: This app supports English, Spanish, French and Chinese. Press the Option button to select your language preference at the start of the app.

Animal Race

Educational Objectives

To learn about comparatives such as faster and slower, both in terms of language and science, and gain an initial understanding of time.

Description - Your child will learn the names of different animals. They will be asked to choose two animals that will race. Through prediction and observation, your child will be asked to identify the winning animal. The concept of speed will be discussed (“faster”/”slower” speed and the amount of time will be determined at the end of each race. In addition, which animal took more time to finish the race will become evident).

How to Maximize the Learning Experience

During Play

1. Choose two animals that will race. The animals will be named and you will be asked to predict which animal will win the race.
2. Once the animals are ready, push the button with the flags to start the race. Observe the animals running.
3. You will be asked, “Which animal is the winner?” Touch the animal that won the race. If the animal is the winner, you will be told, “Yes, the _______ won the race. The _______ was faster.”
4. You will then be asked, “Which animal took more time to finish the race?” Touch the animal that took the longest amount of time.

If the wrong animal was identified as the winner, your child will be told, “No, that animal was not the winner. That animal was slower.” Children will have another opportunity to identify the winner.

Everyday Learning Guided by VINCI Curriculum

1. Visit a zoo and observe different animals moving. Discuss the speed at which the animals move. Make comparisons between different animals. Which animal moves faster and which animal moves slower.
2. Run with your child. Take turns winning the race.
3. Once your child is capable of understanding the points above, ask your child to perform simple commands, such as “run faster”, “run slower”, “clap faster”, “clap slower”.

Observation Points

1. Listen to your child discuss the concept of faster and slower.
2. Observe your child doing simple commands to see if they understand the difference between faster and slower. Ask them to determine which action took more time to complete.

Multilanguage Support: This app supports English, Spanish, French and Chinese. Press the Option button to select your language preference at the start of the app.

My Alphabet

Educational Objectives

To introduce letters and sounds, both in uppercase and lowercase formations.

To learn how to form letters and write letters of the alphabet.

To become familiar with sound and symbol relationships.

To introduce initial sounds and objects that correlate with specific sounds.

To become familiar with the use of a keyboard.

Description -Your child will begin this app by looking at a keyboard. He/she will be invited to choose a letter that he/she would like to work on. You can start by writing the letters of his/her name. You can choose whether uppercase or lower case letters are used by touching the key that has Aa; found in the lower left hand portion of the keyboard. Once a letter has been chosen, it will be named and used in relation to a word that begins with the letter. The letter formation will be displayed and your child will be invited to form the letter after observing the model. He/she will then compare his/her work to the model to see if he/she has formed the letter correctly. Once the child is satisfied he/she may move onto the next letter.

How to Maximize the Learning Experience

During Play

1. Choose whether you want to work on upper or lower case letters by pushing the Aa key found in the lower left-hand portion of the keyboard.
2. Choose a letter by touching the keyboard, then touch the green arrow on the lower right-hand portion of the keyboard to begin.
3. Listen to the letter name and watch the letter being formed. The picture that correlates with the letter will be named (e.g., "E" as in elephant. This is how I write E").
4. You will be invited to try to write the letter yourself. Write the letter.
5. Touch the green arrow once you have formed the letter.
6. You will be asked if your letter looks the same as the model. The letter sound will be repeated: “E” sounds as "e", as in "elephant".
7. You will be invited to try another letter.

Note: In the current version, the program is showing "G" as in "Giraffe", "I" as in "Ice". Encourage your child to find "G" as in "Gold" or "Gate", "I" as in "Igloo" or "Italy" and congratulate your child for the great findings. Instill a sense in your child to look beyond what has been taught. By doing this will greatly benefit her/his future achievements.

Everyday Learning Guided by VINCI Curriculum

1. Practicing letters can be done in many ways: using paper and pencil; finger paint; sand on a beach; or a dry eraser board with markers - just to name a few. Model a letter for your child and have them form it on his/her own. If he/she is having difficulty, write the letter using a yellow marker and have him/her trace over the letter.
2. Helping your child realize that the letters have sounds is the first step to beginning reading. Play a sound game with your child. Have them form a letter on a "sticky note". Ask them to find something that begins with that letter- e.g. Have your child practice writing the letter "b". Hand the sticky note to your child. Say the sound aloud. Ask your child to find something in the room that starts with "b". He/She could label it as a "banana", or the "bathroom" door. Take turns at being the teacher.

Observation Points

1. Observe to see if your child is capable of forming the letters of the alphabet.
2. Listen to your child to see if they are able to name a letter and the corresponding sound.
3. Listen to your child speak to see if they are capable of identifying objects that begin with a given sound.

Multilanguage Support: This app supports English, Spanish, French and Chinese. Press the Option button to select your language preference at the start of the app.