Van Gogh and the Sunflowers
App Name: Auryn – Van Gogh and the Sunflowers
Overall Rating: 5/5
Mom’s Rating: 5/5
Kids’ Rating: 5/5
Recommended Grades/Ages: Kindergarten, Grades 1-6
Skills Developed: Picture Study, Art History, Coloring, Puzzles, Read Aloud, Reader
Available On/Price: iPad – $1.99 (introductory price)
If you’d like to preview this app, a free lite version is available so you can try the first few pages for yourself!
Reviewed on: iPad
App Description:
Based on Laurence Anholt’s print title van Gogh and the Sunflowers ($8.99 softcover) – an early art appreciation picture book recommended by Veritas Press - Auryn – Van Gogh and the Sunflowers is a gorgeous reinterpretation of this title for the iPad packed with rich, value-filled features.
Auryn – Van Gogh and the Sunflowers includes the full text and beautiful watercolor illustrations of Anholt’s original work along with professional narration, word-highlighting, sound effects and soundtrack, animated characters that can be colored, gear-based ‘behind-the-scenes’ puzzles that unlock the character animations, and more. A page navigator is included as well.
Based on the true story of Vincent van Gogh and his relationship with Camille’s family, this digibook explores the lack of understanding for van Gogh’s work in his own time, and the high esteem his art is now held in. The brief period of time covered in the story presents a rather sunny view of van Gogh’s personality (no mentions of the ear episode), though it does hint at some of the misunderstandings and sadness he experienced in a way that is appropriate for children.
Actual works of van Gogh’s are included in the illustrations and when tapped they reveal an interactive art gallery filled with text that explains the significance of each painting. The paintings included in the gallery are those that coincide perfectly with the story’s events and setting – a painting of the yellow house van Gogh lived in, portraits of Camille’s family, the sunflowers Camille brought him etc.
What We Liked:
Van Gogh and the Sunflowers is an incredibly beautiful living book that serves elementary aged children well as an introduction to van Gogh’s life and work. Its transformation into a digibook has added so much interactivity to Anholt’s work that his story has become an amazing, not-to-be missed app for art appreciation.
The animated characters can be tapped to reveal gear-based movement within their frames, they can also be colored (on top of the original art or in a black-line blank outline) using a set of well done coloring tools (colors, stroke width options, eraser, zooming in etc.) and that coloring can then be set in motion. The gear based puzzles can also be revealed in three ascending levels of difficulty – completing these unlocks the character-based animations.
The app can be enjoyed with full audio turned on, or a button can be touched to turn the audio off at any point. When the audio is enabled the words highlight one by one as the narrator reads the text. Whether the audio is on or off, early readers can also tap individual words to hear them read – a very valuable tool for early literacy. I love apps that help emerging readers with individual words that might be difficult for them to read.
What We Didn’t Like:
In the latter half of the book I found the soundtrack and sound effects to blend together in a rather chaotic way. It would be nice to have an option built in to turn these audio options on and off independently of the narration. While younger children will enjoy the story, they will need an adult or older sibling to unlock the puzzles (they are timed with many pieces) for them so they can enjoy the animations on each page (the first seven are unlocked, but the other puzzles must be completed before freeing the animations).
Overall:
Van Gogh and the Sunflowers is an incredible buy for only $1.99! You get the full, narrated, interactive book which is gorgeous in its own right for teaching gentle art history and picture study, characters to color that animate, and a wealth of puzzles to solve. Van Gogh is a beautiful, well-designed app filled with rich, integrated educational possibilities that shouldn’t be missed. I hope to see many more apps in this vein from Auryn!
Buy this iPad app now for $1.99!
Have you downloaded this app? Let us know what you and your children thought – leave a comment!
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About Me
For homeschoolers, by a homeschooler. I'm Jennifer Bogart, a homeschooling mom of four, 8 months - 8 years. I'm an app-loving, aspiring geek dedicated to helping you hunt down the best homeschooling apps for your children. There are a lot of apps out there, let me help you narrow them down. 
