Kinect with National Geographic Using XBOX 360

by Lori Cunningham (@wellconnectdmom)

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Earlier this week we published a review on Kinect Sesame Street TV, which received two thumbs up from our contributing writer’s kids.  If you have older children, as I do (ages 6 and 9), there is another new 2-way TV game title that your kids are sure to love.  It’s called Nat Geo TV America the Wild*.  It’s geared towards ages 10+ but my six year old son loved it as much as my older daughter.

Nat Geo includes 8 great episodes from National Geographic Kids Wild channel.   Similar to Sesame Street TV, you watch very interesting one hour shows, teaching kids about wild animals in their national habitat.  But to bring the learning home, Nat Geo gives kids the opportunity to investigate animal tracks and choose the direction they think an animal traveled, which animal does a paw track belong to, and more.

Nat Geo TV America the Wild includes 2 playing disks with eight full episodes including:

• Expedition Grizzly
• Stalking the Mountain Lion
• Black Bear Invasion
• Wolverine King
• Project Kodiak
• Inside the Wolf Pack
• Yellowstone Spring
• Yellowstone Winter

Different times during an episode, kids have the opportunity to snap a picture of what’s on the screen, simply by saying “snap.”  Then at the end of the episodes, kids can view the pictures they took during the show.

In this episode about the Grizzly Bear, we learned that bears love to eat moths and they often find them under rocks in the wilderness.    Who would have ever guessed that moths would be a bear’s staple food?

My kids loved to play the fun interactive games…and I loved to sit back and watch them.   Occasionally, they would drag me out of my easy chair to play along.  I was amazed at how exhausting the games were.

I clipped this picture from the XBOX 360 site to show the screen of one of the games in an episode more clearly.  When you see yourself on the camera, you are an actual bear.  Every time you move your hands or head, you bear’s paws or head moves.  It’s really cute and fun.  Kids will get some exercise playing along with Nat. Geo 2-way TV.

In this game, my daughter is the bigger bear on the left and my son is the shorter bear on the right.  They are trying to catch moths to eat, while swatting away bees from biting them.  They played this game again and again.

Nat Geo 2-Way TV sells for $29.96 at Amazon.com with free Super Saver shipping.

A Mom’s Perspective

Initially, I was worried that after we watched through all eight episodes, the kids would not want to watch them again.  And to tell you the truth, that may happen, I don’t know, we haven’t watched all 8 yet.  But I can tell you, watching just several episodes together as a family, we really enjoyed it.  We learned a lot and the kids got pretty tired (from all the inherent exercise) by the end of it.  We still have a lot of learning and fun games to play as we watch the other 5 episodes.  Yet, included with the game is a one-year season pass to further games, you just can’t go wrong with that.

One of our writers, Mike Bowser, who wrote the review on the Kinect Sesame Street TV game, tells me that his kids still love the game and play it every day.  This reminds me, that unlike adults, kids love repetition.  It helps them to become more familiar with the topic, master their skills, and anticipate what comes next.  There is comfort in repetition for them.

If you’re looking for a fun family game that educates and entertains your children at the same time, you can’t go wrong with Kinect Nat Geo.

* I was given a copy of the Kinect Nat Geo game in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.