I am a big fan of the Olive the Wooly Bugger series. If you haven’t seen these wonderful books, they chronicle the adventures of Olive the Woolly Bugger as she introduces kids to the great outdoors through fly-fishing. Now, author Kirk Werner is taking Olive to iPad.
Werner set up a Kickstarter campaign for Olive to spread the word and raise some money for this new project. Olive’s stories are critically acclaimed and a big seller in the traditional format. But as Werner explains “apps” are now common place and the iPad offers provides interactive opportunities for kids to learn.
A key point of the Olive books is to get kids interested in learning about fly fishing, and outside away from video games, cell phones and yes, iPads. So, you may be asking, ‘why jump on the bandwagon and become part of the nature-deficit problem?’ I don’t see this as becoming part of the problem at all, rather adopting the technology that kids (and everyone) have already embraced, and using it to communicate the value in getting outside. If kids are going to be sitting around playing with their iPads, they may as well play with something educational and entertaining that still encourages outdoor activity. There’s no app for actually going out and exploring a stream, turning over rocks to look at bugs, and wetting a line—but soon there will be an app that celebrates that.
Help Get Olive on iPad!
There is not much time so I hope you will join me in backing Olive’s project.
You can learn more about it and make a pledge on Olive’s Kickstarter page.
Go ahead, every little bit helps!
Thanks!
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