Augmented Reality Animal Masks


So I'm going to kick off with a lovely lesson I did with Year 2 but it is good for any age from Nursery to Year 6 and beyond! I love using augmented reality, which for those of you who aren't sure, is when you can see a computer generated image or layer on top of real life. Augmented Reality is a new technology being used in businesses and schools all over and has so much good potential.

I always like to make my lessons link with what the children are studying in other subjects so they can use exciting technology like AR but for a purpose. The children at Elsley learn about Animal Habitats and had been studying how animals have adapted to live in their environment.  For example, the polar bear has thick fur to keep it warm, it's white to camouflage in the snow from predators and prey and has sharp claws for moving in it's harsh environment and attacking it's prey.

A good activity I have seen before was children wearing cut out masks, pretending to be the animal and explaining how they have adapted. I took this a step further and used the app MSQRD on iPads to give the children augmented reality animal masks.

MSQRD App Store link
MSQRD Google Play link

These masks react with the child's face and shape around them. They have a strong element of realism and so engage the child more in the reality that they are the animal.

MSQRD is a free app and available on the App Store and Google Play. There are lots of other apps like it as well but with this one, I liked how the AR masks were arranged into categories, one being animals and the choice the children had was great.



The children couldn't take their eyes off the app and enjoyed experimenting with different faces. Once they found an animal whose adaptation features they could describe, they recorded each other and made a great display using photos of themselves wearing the AR masks. 

Check out the videos below:

 

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