Three Geography Games in One App
GeoKids USA encourages kids to learn United States' geography facts by exploring three fun game modes.
Adventure Mode
In Adventure mode, kids join a pilot on a trip to answer questions relating to the 50 states. The questions cover location of the state, its capital, other cities, the flag, the state seal, points of interest, rivers, and other landmarks. As the players move through the levels of the adventure, they earn trophies for accomplishing achievements (such as finishing 3 levels) and a diamond for each correct answer. Diamonds are won throughout this app and are used to buy each country on the world map.
Learning and Challenge Modes
In Learning mode, kids choose which facts to drill and how they want to do it. This mode has four activities. In Geo Kid activity, players can select to drill from the following popular categories of state names, state capital's names, big cities, points of interest, and state flags. However, they can also investigate rivers, parks, deserts, mountains, and lakes. In the Quiz activity, they can explore states, state capitals, state flags, state seals, state population, state areas, and points of interest. There is a separate section to learn state flags, and an interactive map.
The Challenge Mode is about accurately locating cities on a map that only shows the outlines of the states. With 50 levels, kids try to tap the location of each city quizzed. If they are close, they earn points. If they are way off, they don't.
As mentioned above, diamonds can be earned no matter what mode you explore. Kids can use the diamonds to acquire different countries. When acquired, the country appears on the map with a marker on top.
App Analysis
GeoKids USA creates an upbeat, gentle vibe in which to learn geography. The music and sounds twinkle, gently swish, and create this feeling of exploring a vast space. In this pastel landscape, showing the map of the United States, clouds float by, and occasionally a plane or spaceship zooms through.
With the three modes, GeoKids USA can support a wide range of learners. All of the questions can be read aloud, so kids as young as age 6 can use this app to learn states and other facts. For older kids, the challenge mode demands specific location information.
While there are game-like aspects to GeoKids USA -- such as levels to complete, trophies to win, and a currency to earn -- this geography app is less about playing a game and more about presenting learning in a supportive and fun learning environment.
Nice touches include an avatar selector, showing a variety of different people from around the world. Also good is the presentation of questions in the Adventure mode where kids see a selection of possible answers highlighted with virtual thumbtacks. By narrowing the field of answers, the app makes learning the geography easier. This app also supports printing of various maps using AirPrint.
Best For
GeoKids USA is a good kids app to use with children who are interested in honing their US geography skills. It offers lots of options of how to learn, from multiple choice to direct questions to locating specific cities on a map. And it has some soft gaming aspects to motivate kids to play. (For geography apps with more hardcore gaming elements, turn to
Stack the States 2,
Geography Drive, or
State Bingo and Road Trip US.)
This GeoKids USA kids app review was written by Jinny Gudmundsen.
All tech products are judged on a five star scale by looking at the following factors: fun, education, ease of use, value, and technical.
