As the Jewish world prepares for Channuka tonight, many messages and educational opportunities emanate from this unique holiday.
With the children of today well and truly ensconced in the world of technology and readily available resources on hand held devices, non profit organization Jewish Interactive (JI), originally a South African organization, now a global organization registered in the US and UK which invests in Jewish educational technology has launched a new application, under the name of My Menorah.
The new ‘My Menorah’ App by Jewish Interactive aims to transform a child’s screen time into a educational tool that offers fundamental skills and core Jewish values.
Children aged between two and five can interact with the animated Menorah and spin the dreidel to learn about colors and numbers all in the context of the holiday of light, and with each success, children win gelt and receive gifts.
According to JI, My Menorah is a 3D, interactive, animated game that young children will not only have fun with, but also acquire core skills such as numeracy, foundational Hebrew, ability to match color and sequence, and learn new Chanukah songs.
This colorful and beautifully designed App intends to bring Hannukah alive, adding to the valuable educational experience for children, whilst parents can expect to benefit from from the supporting educational material offered on the site and via social media. This content is focused on enabling parents to teach core values using each of the 8 days of the holiday as an opportunitity to teach and inspire.
‘My Menorah “ is offered free of charge as a download via Apple’s Appstore and iTunes, and a PC version is also available.
JI concentrates its efforts on providing investment for technology for children of all ages, and has already released seven applications whilst working with over 200 schools. In terms of operations, the organization develops interactive multi-platform applications, provides educational technology training for educators and provides students opportunities to create their own digital products.
“Our goal is to create a comprehensive digital library for Jewish children so that any child ,anywhere will be able to get a fun, relevant and meaningful Jewish education to help build a unique sense of Jewish identity” stated the CEO of Jewish Interactive.
“Jewish educational technology is far behind our secular counterparts and it is our hope that JI will contribute to building this field raising the bar of Jewish engagement, personalized learning and a solid pedagogical 21st century education” he concluded.
(This is a totally impartial article, I am neither associated with, nor sponsored by Jewish Interactive – Ed.)
Read more: The festival of (electronic) lights! | Andrew Saks-McLeod | The Blogs | The Times of Israel http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-festival-of-electronic-lights/#ixzz3MF6IVVed
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