Quiver with Excitement

Over a year ago, I wrote a post about a couple of things, including some augmented reality apps that I like. I also added an augmented reality page to my blog so I can stockpile resources for using AR in the classroom. One of the apps you will find in both places used to be called ColAR Mix. In the year since the post, the app has been renamed as Quiver. It remains one of my favorite AR apps to show people. Imagine my excitement to learn that they now also have a Quiver Education app.

Like the original ColAR Mix, er . . . Quiver, the app offers coloring pages that you can download online. The app brings them to life with the augmented reality experience and the objects dance around on the mobile device screen decorated in the way the artist colored them. My children, including my reluctant to color 12 year old, were happy to oblige me when I suggested we try out this new app. 

We tried out several pages - the world map, a create your own flag, a tetrahedron, the volcano, and the animal cell. The world map can be brought to life with or without border lines (shown here with border lines). The Earth spins as the colored portions are displayed. The flag flies on a pole and can be raised or lowered. Both of these also allow the user to explore traditional images of Earth and flags. 

The tetrahedron is one of several available platonic solids that can be virtually thrown like dice. Each time you throw it, you could get a different side. That could be a fun way to choose something in a classroom! 

The volcano and the cell have the 3D experience that users love about Quiver but they also contain an added bonus, a quiz. You can view the image as you colored it, but you can also be quizzed on parts of the volcano or the cell. The app asks you to identify a feature and gives you a selection of choices to tap. If you tap the wrong one, it shows the correct one. It is a fun way to check on progress.

As with the Quiver app, I love the incentive of coloring the page when you get to see the image come to life. Even without the quiz, the animal cell is so great because you can see it in three dimensions. As a science teacher who struggles to help students see 2D images and envision them in three dimensions, I love this. Another feature I like is a drawer that pops out to reveal a camera and video icon to make for easy recording. This is much easier to use that to hold the device still over a sheet of paper and try to simultaneously tap the home and sleep/wake buttons!

No mention of an app would be complete without the price. Quiver Education might seem pricey at first glance: $7.99. That price, though, gets you all the coloring pages that will be available without in-app purchases and is eligible for the volume purchasing program. For an app of this quality with a promise of future content, that price is a deal.

Thanks to the friends at Quiver Education for gifting the app to me. I appreciate the chance to use it and tell people about its awesome potential.