Digital Field Trip series - TOS Review

People like me just don't have a rainforest in our backyard, or a desert or wetland for that matter. We'd have to pack up the family and take some vacation time several hours away. Having access to the information digitally, though, means we can take a virtual field trip and revisit as often as we like.

Recently, for the purpose of review, I received a product from a company called Digital Frog International. This field trip series takes us through wetlands, rainforests and deserts.

We started using this product by just letting the children explore. Their natural curiosity lead them around quite easily, with an exploration into the Wetlands and Canada's Cloud Lake bog first of all. We were lead around the bog via nine posts where there was a written explanation of what we could see at each vantage point. We also learned about the different types of wetlands, be it a marsh, bog or swamp, as well as a variety of animals that make this habitat their home.

The part that next caught the children's attention was the food web game. It is quite complex, but there's lots we can learn then come back and play this game again and again.

The photosynthesis information was very appropriate to Mariposa's science studies, marrying very well with what she's already been learning, and providing more information we can refer to in the high school years.  We could hear the pronunciation of difficult words by clicking the 'Say It' icon in the definition boxes, too, which was really helpful.

The cd-rom has many screens of information, with Wetlands containing at least 80.  We haven't viewed all those available to us, but that's one reason why I like this product.  We can come again and visit any time, picking up where we left off with or without some homework, or if we're prompted by other studies to use this as a type of encyclopedia.  I actually see that this will be a product we'll be using for several years as it integrates with our science and geography lessons.  It's also a little like a 'choose your own adventure' for the children as they click on various icons and wonder where it will lead, but I can stay in the background and make suggestions if I've already had a look ahead of them.

Another asset on the cd are the workbooks.  We had to check the instruction booklet that came with the cd on how to find these via Windows Explorer. NB - this product can run on BOTH Windows and Macintosh.  A sample of the worksheets are available through each field trip overview page, or you can click here for an online sample.  When you view this sample, you can see the type of concepts that are being taught on the program.  Much of the information in this formal way would be suited to mid-primary years and upwards.  However, the actual field trips and discussion of information would be quite adaptable to younger children with parental help.

You can see samples of what's included in the Wetlands field trip on this page. Look for the grey box on the right, starting with the Overview.  The site also allows you to apply for a FREE DEMO, join the Frogger Club and access the Teacher Resources which helped us navigate our way around the cd-rom.  Whilst in the Teacher Resources sections, check out the related links and gallery with free images for projects. And there is ALSO ... a Frog Blog with information on animals featured in the field trips.

The Rainforest and Desert field trips are of similar setup.  We haven't had a good thorough look at those yet, just a quick overview as we've been away a few weeks, but I'm very keen for us to completely devour these soon!  The quickest way for me to summarise the content of these field trips is with pictures.

Sample pages from Rainforest Field Trip:

Sample pages from Desert Field Trip:

NB - all images were freely available on website via Teaching Resources Gallery or Resellers Resources. 

Please click on images to enlarge.

In Australia, this product is available through Kilbaha Multimedia Publishing. I was able to request a pdf order form through this email address: http://kilbaha.com.au . You may choose to purchase the individual field trips at $130.90AU each. Freight is an extra $5.50AU flat rate. The printed workbooks are also available at $33AU each, but these are available on the actual cd-roms also.
Of course, you could order directly from the Digital Frog ladies, too, via their main website. A combined package as I have reviewed is available HERE for $199US.

Digital Frog International do sell other products, but I have only used and reviewed the Field Trip series.

NB - I received this product from TOS for the purpose of review. There is no other compensation and the opinions are my own. Thank you to TOS and Digital Frog International for the use of this product. If you'd like to read further reviews on this product, please click HERE.