Horton and the Kwuggerbug - the Video Game

Seussville.com is featuring a brand new video game to celebrate the publication of Dr. Seuss's newest book: HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG.  While Dr. Seuss passed away in 1991, Random House is still publishing new books that are compilations of short stories that were originally published in the magazine REDBOOK between 1950 and 1955 and than were never seen again.  The newest of these books, HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG, was released this month featuring 4 short stories with original writings and artwork by Dr. Seuss.  One of these short stories, "Horton and the Kwuggerbug,"  which is also the title of the newest book, tells the tale of how Dr. Seuss's popular elephant character, Horton, confronts a crafty and manipulative insect known as the Kwuggerbug.  These two characters are also highlighted in a video game bearing their names that is embedded in the official Doctor Seuss website and is playable on PCs, tablets, and mobile phones.

I often find that games embedded in websites don't work well on my iPhone or iPad and really need to have their own independent apps to download for the games to work well so my kids and I tried out this Horton and the Kwuggerbug game on all three platforms to see how well it worked.  I have to give the game a lot of credit in that it worked very well on all three and there was seamless integration when accessing the website from my iPad and iPhone on Internet browsers (we used Chrome and Safari) to play the game.  Thumbs up to the development team that is managing the Seussville.com website for doing an exceptional job.

This game is designed for preschoolers with a focus on helping with color identification, counting and sorting skills.  Players must shoot over to both Horton and the Kwuggerbug equal amounts of the same colored beezlenuts through the spring loaded sling shot on the screen so they must sort out and count the appropriate number to give each character to win a level.  While this game was way too simplistic for my 5 (soon to be 6) year old twins to have much interest in and enjoy when we were monkeying around with it, I'm sure they would have loved it when they were younger.  I would recommend this game for children 2 to 4 years old who will enjoy the Dr. Seuss theme and get some benefit from the basic skills incorporated in the game that assist with dexterity (players have to aim the sling shot), problem solving (players have to sort and think out how they are going to deliver the beezlenuts to finish each level) and math (players must count out the appropriate number of beezlenuts to deliver to both Horton and the Kwuggerbug).

CLICK HERE to play HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG on SEUSSVILLE.COM

This website also has an overview of the catalog of Dr. Seuss's work, an interactive gallery that lets you explore Dr. Seuss' office to learn more about the author, a hall of characters to explore, and a variety of other activities and games to play with.  If you haven't made a trip to Seussville, A Geek Daddy recommends you give it a visit.

Happy 109th Birthday Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel ( aka Dr. Seuss ) was born on March 2, 1904  and he would have turned 109 years old TODAY! Theodor Geisel passed away in 1991 but still lives in the hearts of everyone who has ever read, or had read to them, childhood classics like the Cat in the Hat, the Lorax, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, and If I Ran the Zoo.  During his career as a writer, poet, and cartoonist his use of imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of trisyllabic meter was highlighted in 46 books that were published under the well-known pseudonym Dr. Seuss.  These books have both educated and entertained generations of children.  I know they are prominently included in my children’s library. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss and thank you for being you!

This month KOHL’S is selling in its stores and online through its Kohl’s Cares foundation Dr. Seuss  books and toys for $5 each.  Kohl’s  department stores sell designated Kohl’s Cares kid-friendly merchandise with 100% of net profit from these sales donated to children’s health and education initiatives within the United States.  Since 2000, more than $208 million has been donated to charitable causes through the Kohl’s Cares program.  The Dr. Seuss items on sale are books (The Cat in the Hat, ABCs, Horton Hears a Who, Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book, Happy Birthday to You, and the Dr. Seuss All Occasions Note Card Set) and stuffed animals (The Cat in the Hat, Horton, the Alligator and Red Rhino from ABCs, and Snoozapalo from the Sleep Book) are $5 each. Click here for more information.

 

I read to my 4 year old twins Dr. Seuss's "ABCs" book every day to help them with learning their letters and numbers.  As they have gotten older though, we've begun letting them use our PC and iPad to play with and learn from educational apps. Oceanhouse Media has done a nice job of publishing Dr. Seuss' works as interactive storybook apps for mobile IOS, Android, and Nook devices. We have several of these that we enjoy loaded on both my iPad and iPhone. In recognition of Dr. Seuss birthday they are giving away this weekend FREE two of their Dr. Seuss apps, Dr. Seuss Camera & Cat in the Hat Camera. CLICK HERE for more information.

 

The Dr. Seuss Camera apps let you use the camera on your iPhone or iPad to create images  personalized with your own photographs and incorporating Dr. Seuss’s artwork and characters. The apps feature:
 

• 16 cards based on original artwork by Dr. Seuss
• Take a picture with your face in the cutout or alongside the characters
• Load images from your Photo Library
• Add crazy borders and stamps to your cards
• Move, rotate, scale and delete stamps to further customize your cards
• Save cards to your Photo Library or e-mail them to family & friends

 

 

Dr. Seuss book publisher Random House also has an official website dedicated to the author www.seussville.com which is full of interactive features plus fun and educational activities, crafts, and learning tools for your kids.