Naoise Guerin

DUBLIN, 12th April 2012 — Marino Software, the iOS developer of some of the US’s favorite children’s and eLearning apps is proud to have developed US publishing giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s CURIOUS GEORGE AT THE ZOO, an exciting new fun & learning app for iPad, now available in the App Store. 

Curious George at the Zoo is another in a line of apps Marino has developed for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and follows on the success of HMH’s iPad series ‘Singapore Maths, Bar Models’ (grades 2-5).

Curious George at the Zoo is ideal for parents looking for a fun, entertaining and engaging app for their children.  The first section, ‘Sunny Safari’ is available free at launch until May 1st 2012, with additional habitats, ‘Deep Freeze’,‘The Outback’ and ‘Old MacDonald’s Farm’ coming soon.  

“The team at Marino are very proud of our long relationship with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and excited to have helped bring such a beloved children’s character for the first time to iPad,” said Marino MD & CTO Keith Davey.  “This app perfectly combines fun and learning and exemplifies our mission to work closely with brand holders to create high-quality entertaining children’s and eLearning apps.”

“HMH designed this app to bring to life the rich world of Curious George in an engaging digital format. Working collaboratively with Irish animation companies and Marino Software as our development partner, we have produced an app which goes far beyond a passive experience. The app’s interactive features foster a sense of curiosity, allowing children to create and learn through exploration and discovery.” Emmet O’Neill, Creative Director at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Designed by Education Experts

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s early childhood education experts and talented team of app designers came together to create an irresistible app for children as young as two.

Aligned to Head Start

Curious George at the Zoo is aligned to the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework, which means that in addition to being engaging and fun, its features are designed to help children develop key language, literacy, math, science, social, emotional, and creative skills.

Inspires Curious Learners

Curious George is never far from the action, so children will have plenty of chances to play and interact with him throughout the game.

Highlights of the App include:

• Animated characters and a beautiful interactive 3D popup menu
• Lively audio narration by the Man in the Yellow Hat
• Games that help Curious George wake, feed and clean the animals
• Fun videos that teach children all about the animals at the zoo
• A sticker album and a special feature that allows children to add their own photos to the collection
• Tailored to develop hand-eye coordination plus memory, reasoning and sorting skills

About Marino

Marino produces engaging apps for interactive and touch based devices including Apple iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone 7 and the Google Android platform. Along with producing our own titles, we work with clients including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sesame Street and the National Lottery of Ireland. 

We design and develop high quality entertaining apps and platforms for children and adults, with a strong focus on storytelling, fun, gaming, learning and play.

Formed in 2006 by Keith Davey & Naoise Guerin, Marinoʼs experienced team have worked in the software industry for many years with a very strong background in mobile gaming, eLearning, animation and large scale web applications. For more information, visit www.marinosoftware.com

About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

With educational products and services used by 57 million students throughout all 50 U.S. states and 120 countries, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a global education and learning company. One of the world’s largest providers of materials for pre-K–12 learning, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is leading the way with innovative solutions and approaches to the challenges facing education today. Through curricula excellence coupled with technology innovations and professional services, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt collaborates with school districts, administrators, teachers, parents and students, providing interactive, results-driven learning solutions. Its Educational Consulting Services group works to increase student achievement in underperforming schools by developing, implementing and supporting education transformation through sustained district partnerships. With origins dating back to 1832, the Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning literature for adults and young readers. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com

Curious George at the Zoo for iPad is available from the 12th April in iTunes by searching the iPad apps section for ‘Curious George at the Zoo’ or ‘Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’. 

Direct Link to the iPad app… 

Direct Link to the iPhone/iPod Touch app…

Marino Software Contact: Naoise Guerin, +353 (0)1 833 7392, info@marinosoftware.com

RELATED LINKS

www.marinosoftware.com


http://hmhco.com/curiousgeorge

http://www.hmheducation.com/singaporemath/ipad.php

Ooh er… Marino’s Elmo Loves ABCs is #1 grossing educational game and #2 grossing kids game in the US app store.  Get it here.

Elmo Loves ABCs 2.1 is LIVE on the app store!  In addition to being able to track your child’s learning progress and create your own pictures, audio and video for use throughout the game, caregivers can now download awesome new alphabet content and year-round holiday themed games, videos and pictures through a child-proofed in-app purchase button.  If you don’t have the app already, you can download it here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/elmo-loves-abcs-for-ipad/id426747278

We’re really proud of this app, and happy to see that it’s performed consistently well for the lovely folks at Sesame Workshop since it was released in April 2011.  Speaking of which, today it’s ranked at #31 for overall games and #69 for overall paid apps in the US app store!  Go team!

Someones old Amiga booted up this afternoon in the Marino office. Everyone all nostalgic. :)

We are delighted to have designed and developed here at Marino the new updated version of Elmo Loves ABCs for iPad.

You can now personalize play by adding your own objects to the game! Add family members, favorite toys or even pets, by taking photos and recording videos. Grown-ups you will also have access to an all-new tracking area where they can view your child’s progress from how often they play specific videos to how well they are doing in the games.

Also coming very soon are in-app purchases to get awesome new content.

You can get it here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/elmo-loves-abcs-for-ipad/id426747278

or just update it on your iPad if you already have full version.